Students, teachers, administrators, community members, and policymakers are collectively responsible for ensuring that the literacy learning required to earn a living and lead a well-rounded life is available to all. To meet that responsibility, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) urges legislators to practice civil discourse by…

Stories have always been the means of making a message, of exploring the relationship between past and present, and of giving significance to events. A noted native artist and writer described the "talking stick" of his tribe as a talisman which gives the person who possesses it the right to speak and hold the attention of the tribe. A…

THIS FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NCTE COMMITTEE ON PROMISING PRACTICES CONTAINS 24 PIECES BY CLASSROOM TEACHERS ABOUT INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES WHICH THEY HAVE FOUND TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH. THE 15 FULL-LENGTH ARTICLES ARE GATHERED UNDER TWO HEADS, "READING AND LITERATURE" AND "WRITING." IN ADDITION, NINE BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF…

Denies that the paradigm shift in composition pedagogy (process/product), apparent in the rhetoric of many journals, has become a widespread pedagogical reality. Gives first-hand accounts of teaching methods in Canada, Great Britain, and the United States showing that pedagogy continues to be product-oriented. (SR)

This paper describes the ongoing process of a partnership project between the staff of an elementary school and senior education students enrolled in a language arts minor. The project detailed in the paper is measuring the effectiveness of a school-based language program and examining the impact of the program on the staff of the school in terms…

Because so many elementary schools are employing whole language instruction, it is essential that graduates from university elementary education programs be prepared to teach in this way. Twenty-five junior and senior elementary education majors enrolled in a block program of 3 courses: reading methods, language arts methods, and a field practicum…

An 18-month qualitative study examined the process of designing, developing and evaluating a video-case laserdisc-based instructional support program for the professional development of English/language arts teachers and focusing on the application and practice of the reading/writing workshop approach. The first step was the creation of a…

Three basic beliefs support teaching: (1) learning is social and individual; (2) learning must be personally meaningful; (3) learning rests upon a knowledge base that is constructed, not transmitted. The first step to creating an environment which supports learning in meaningful ways is for the teacher and students to become better inquirers into…

Focusing on multiple ways in which learners gain access to knowledge and skills, this handbook explores the possibilities of broadening current conceptualizations of literacy to include the full array of the communicative arts (reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing). The handbook pays particular attention to the visual arts of drama,…

Two graduate teaching assistants (TAs)--one taught language arts methods and the other taught social studies methods--who were office mates at a large university in Florida formulated a plan to create one end-of-course project that would both satisfy requirements and combine the social studies and language arts. That way, students could see that…

THIS SELECTED, ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY CONTAINS 90 BOOKS, MONOGRAPHS, JOURNAL ARTICLES, AND UNPUBLISHED PAPERS ON THE EDUCATION OF MEXICAN AMERICANS. ALL DOCUMENTS WERE PRODUCED SOMETIME BETWEEN 1958 AND 1967 AND COVER THE FOLLOWING AREAS OF EDUCATION--PRESCHOOL, ELEMENTARY, SECONDARY, HIGHER, ADULT (BASIC AND VOCATIONAL), AND MIGRANT. A "USER…

First of a two-part series identifying probable changes in English instruction resulting from technology's impact on society and schools. Predicts consequences of interactive reading and writing software, style checkers, teacher-monitored networks in electronic writing labs, computer generated texts, and desktop publishing. (JG)

Second of a two-part series that identifies probable changes in English instruction resulting from technology's impact on society and schools. Provides a review of five books recommended for considering the source, nature, and direction of trends in hardware, software, and "neural netware," or brains. Reports questions used by researchers on this…