Supports the return of folktales to school curriculum. Provides a list of suggested activities as well as a dozen popular national and international folktale books for use in the middle grades. Claims that folktales can be used to master content-rich material in the middle grades and allow students to explore relationships with their own culture…

This classroom research project focused on 10 fifth-grade students, all of whom had been labelled low-average achievers by their school. Students were encouraged to read, write, draw, talk, tell stories, and play freely. Five case studies emerged from the interactions. It became apparent that the children were shaping literature to their…

Intended for teachers of middle and secondary schools, this book presents folk-stories to provide readers (listeners) with insight into other cultures. The book is organized into eight sections, each featuring a country or a people. Each section has a divider page (which gives the story title, the country or region of the culture, and a map), a…

Intended for teachers of middle and secondary schools, this book presents folk stories to provide readers (listeners) with insight into other cultures. The book is organized into seven sections, each section featuring a different country. Each section contains a divider page (which teachers can duplicate to use as a cover page), a page of…

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…

Presents five pictures of fifth grade low-achieving students involved in reading-writing activities. Presents two alternatives to current classroom practices for nonmainstream students: prize the culture of nonmainstream students; and view storytelling as another literacy. (MG)

Describes an integrated curriculum approach to world history/language arts that employs student filmmaking as its primary instructional approach. Discusses how the production process allows teachers to assess students' content knowledge, writing skills, and research skills. Includes a list of "helpful hints," a model content outline, and…