A checklist is provided for interactive educational assessment in the language arts. Columns list matched sets of performance areas, behavioral indicators, and related concerns, divided into sections on listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Student comprehension, attentiveness, knowledge, expressiveness, and skills are included in assessment…

Discusses how workshops for young authors help to cement the reading-writing connection for students and build their motivation and enthusiasm. Provides a step-by-step outline for educators who are interested in planning and implementing a young author's conference. (MG)

Focuses on fifth- and sixth-grade students writing about music using three types of description: metaphor and emotion, analytic elements of music, and temporal change and sequence. (CMK)

In traveling about contemporary academia, especially the haunts of philosophy and English, one is likely to stumble upon the lair of a new monster, one that bears considerable resemblance to Hawthorne's dreamy vision. The name of this huge miscreant is Critical Thinking--a name uttered by professors and students with more awe than understanding.…

Based on in-depth data from nine demographically similar schools, the study asks five questions in regard to key aspects of the improvement process and that speak to the consequential validity of accountability indicators: Do schools that differ widely according to system performance criteria also differ on the quality of the educational…

This educator's guide to the California Assessment Program's English-Language Arts test describes what California's new reading and editing tests do and do not measure. The guide states that each test form consists of one reading passage from literature, science, or history-social science followed by a variety of questions on word meaning and…

This collection of articles focuses on the use of word processing software programs as instructional tools for students learning writing composition. Section 1 discusses the use of word processors as a composition tools within the process model of writing instruction and includes articles entitled "Should Students Use Spelling Checkers?,""A Recipe…

Reflecting the author's thoughts on trends in the teaching of language arts during the 1970s, 12 articles and talks in this collection deal with the following topics: (1) behavioral objectives; (2) the student-centered language curriculum; (3) teaching literacy; yoga for public school teachers; (5) instructional television for language learning;…

To relate the way in which children structure stories at different age levels to their performance on other tasks or to their general stage of cognitive development, a study required subjects of four age groups to participate in working memory tasks in two different paradigms and to generate stories involving a variety of characters. The structure…

Intended for teachers, language arts supervisors, curriculum designers, and others interested in the teaching of English in elementary and middle schools, this book proposes a way of unifying the language arts in a program that makes literature the center of language studies. The first chapter includes a discussion of the central role that…

Suggestions for teachers interested in helping students learn strategies to cope with adolescent problems through writing are presented in this paper. Among the methods discussed for meeting the students' needs for models, self-competence, and peer status are: arranging for professional writers, or the teachers themselves, to share their work with…

This paper describes a program of interdisciplinary studies for high-school students who are not motivated to learn in the conventional academic setting. The program began with a work-incentive program that used points as the basis for weekly grades in reading, composition, and skill development. Collaboration of teachers of industrial arts,…

In selecting materials for English education (both preservice and inservice), it must be remembered that, although materials alone do not make the difference, selection of resources must be informed and careful. This paper presents guidelines for material selection in the areas of language acquisition, composition, methods for teaching the…

This language arts minicourse guide for Lampeter-Strasburg (Pennsylvania) High School contains a topical outline for a course on technical and business writing. The guide includes a list of five course objectives; an outline of the sequence of instruction in the course; a description of the content, concepts, and writing exercises covered by the…

Recognizing that the enrichment of the child's language arts experience is a prime educational responsibility, this booklet presents language learning materials which focus on teaching as developing awareness, widening the pupil's breadth of understanding, correcting poor habits, and cultivating positive attitudes toward language learning.…