This study focused on understanding the impact of incorporating digital reader response into a middle school literature class. Through interviews and the use of artifacts, a classroom teacher documented how altering the way students wrote about their readings shaped the quality and quantity of their writing. Outcomes reveal that blogging during…

This study focuses on ways that sixth graders reacted to the question of book awards and awards in general, positioning themselves as reflective inquirers as they engaged in the regular sixth-grade beginning-of-the-year curriculum--reading books that have been nominated for the state book award. The authors focus on four dispositions of critical…

To examine the relationship between the literary responses and the moral responses of 11-year-old children to selected literary works, a study was conducted involving 28 mature sixth-grade readers. The subjects participated in eight lessons where widely recognized literary works containing moral dilemmas were read. Their responses were given in…

Reviews a sixth grader's book report on Paul Fox's "The Slave Dancer" and draws critical inferences about the student's lack of real engagement with literature. (TB)

Describes how a teacher researcher invited her students to be detectives on the lookout for language and to take a critical perspective on how it varies with each speaker, purpose, and context. Suggests that educators need to be careful about how they present language varieties so that their students appreciate them as more than "quaint artifacts…

This study undertook to determine (1) whether teaching sixth grade children elements of style would increase their pleasure in listening to "The Hobbit," (2) whether children who learned the most about style would respond the most positively to Tolkien's style, and (3) what children's preferences would be for selected examples of Tolkien's style.…

As a guide for in-depth study of "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by sixth-graders who have completed the basal reader, this document focuses on ways of enabling each child to find satisfaction and enjoyment in the novel; to develop a greater interest in literature; to gain an understanding of plot development in a story; to realize what…

Describes the ways in which the published results of research can find their way into practical application within the classroom very quickly. (JM)

This study investigated the influence of two approaches to teaching poetry, an aural-visual discussion program and an aural discussion program, on the understanding of and attitudes toward poetry among sixth grade students. The schools, teachers, and 10 classrooms (divided into 20 experimental treatment groups and 5 control groups) were selected…

This curriculum guide is intended to introduce fifth and sixth grade children to the study of poetry. Separate units include discussion of, suggested activities for, and questions about (1) metrics and scansion; (2) rhyme scheme and stanza; (3) diction, denotation and connotation, and onomatopoeia; (4) rhyme (end rhyme, masculine and feminine…

These curriculum guides are designed to introduce drama to students at the fifth and sixth grade level. The teacher's guide for each of the two grade levels presents 41 lessons. Each lesson includes a description of objectives and various exercises, including movement warm-ups, concentration warm-ups, descriptions of the character type to be…

GRADE-SIX UNITS OF THE NEBRASKA ENGLISH CURRICULUM CULMINATE THE ELEMENTS OF ALL PREVIOUS UNITS AND POINT TOWARD A MORE ANALYTICAL STUDY OF LITERATURE. "THE SEVEN VOYAGES OF SINBAD" IS USED TO REVIEW THE FOLK-TALE "PSEUDO-GENRE." LEWIS CARROLL'S "ALICE" STORIES AND "A WRINKLE IN TIME" ILLUSTRATE THE FANCIFUL…

Assesses students' responses to and production of story conventions in detective or mystery stories and explores students' responses to literature as potential connections between comprehending and composing text. (MM)