One public library's storytelling program for fourth through eighth graders and their grandparents has preserved grandparents' stories and fostered family communication. Storytelling was done one-on-one, with each child then writing and illustrating the story. Benefits included preservation of oral history and encouragement of storytelling,…

Describes a workshop in which students read, seek stories to tell, choose one, work through exercises for learning and performing the story, and tell it to one or more audiences. Uses learning logs to prevent the students from abandoning writing during the course of the workshop. (RS)

Criterion-related validity data are presented on 3 methods for assessing reading comprehension, based on 26 learning-disabled middle school students. The standard cloze test and multiple-choice cloze test produced moderate correlations, although the traditional scoring method was considered inappropriate. The story retell procedures demonstrated…

Spiders and insects are studied in both Navajo Studies and science classes at a middle school in New Mexico. In Navajo Studies, students learn the names of ground-dwelling insects and the connection between those names and traditional Navajo stories. In science class, students study arthropods to illustrate taxonomy of life, trophic and biological…

This book provides stories to generate ideas on how to put students at the center of curriculum and how to create a classroom environment that is not based on a "win lest you lose" mentality. This focus is on an inclusive curriculum for all races, ethnic groups, both sexes and all "other" groups. These stories are true, but all student and parent…

Strategies to engage middle school students in listening to stories, retelling them, and improving their communication and social skills are offered. For students with disabilities, teachers should adapt strategies, keep individualized education program goals in mind, and focus on activities that are meaningful to the student. (DB)

Designed for grades 4-6, this teaching unit explores children's rights from a comparative perspective by focusing on the rights of Japanese children as revealed in a collection of stories written by Japanese junior high school students. The unit outlines a series of lessons that explore the nature of children's rights and inquire about the extent…

Stories can have powerful effects on others. An autobiographical account of a behavior specialist's supposed descent into a severe emotional disturbance (SED) is presented here. Written as a narrative, the story opens with a description of what it is like to think differently from everyone else. It is conjectured that either the years spent by the…