Developed by national reading experts for "reading partners" to use with children, ages birth to grade 6, this Spanish-language booklet presents activities that help very young children to get ready for reading and writing, and guide older children to expand their reading and writing interests and skills. The booklet has three sections,…

Presents a five-day study unit that provides positive and negative views of Columbus' voyages. Explains that lessons include reading and writing assignments culminating in a debate of the implications of the Columbian legacy. Offers questions designed to prompt students to defend their views on Columbus. Identifies instructional objectives and…

Describes how one geology teacher relies on written and oral assignments both as learning tools and as a means to motivate students and assess their work. Frequent written and oral assignments dramatically improve the levels of engagement and learning. Presents some advantages of written and oral assignments and includes examples. (PVD)

In this paper, the author discusses an exercise she uses requiring students to view a popular film that portrays a particular mental disorder or a character with a mental disorder. Students analyze the film and write two papers, one about the sociological model of mental illness and a second about possible links between media images and the…

The article deals with the problem of why many students enrolling in correspondence study do not complete the course. In the one-semester-hour courses nearly 13% of students did not submit even one lesson. The figures for the two- and three-hour courses were both over 20%. In the four-hour courses, nearly 32% do not submit the first lesson. A…

A mock-heroic poem as a writing assignment, after a study of Pope. One student's response is included. (AA)

Argues that the perennial problem of boring student writing is solved when assignments provide writers with target readers, enabling students to find their appropriate voice. Discusses a sample assignment in which students explain how to do something they do well to readers who don't know how to do it. (JG)

This study builds on a recent national survey that determined the current status and future trends associated with distance learning in postsecondary career and technical education (Johnson, et al., 2003). The primary goal of this study was to explore, in detail, the effectiveness of distance learning via the Internet as a strategy for providing…

The stories of how educators become readers can lead to insights in the teaching process as well as providing enlightenment as to individual identity. One educator has found that writing his autobiography as a reader leads to valuable insights concerning the reading process. The insights gained through writing an autobiography, titled "My…

Circa 1984 early practitioners in the composition field imagined a potential blossoming of early efforts in computers and writing that subsequent developments in the field have lost sight of. The expense of developing personal programs, the emergence of word processing software that incorporated many of the mechanical aspects of spelling and style…

Schools across the country are struggling with how to group students for instruction. Ability grouping is a divisive issue among parents, teachers, and policymakers. Members of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform have struggled with the many nuances of ability grouping and have come to consensus on this statement of policy,…

Author offers a balm of sweet reading for adolescents jaded by too much gore, social significance and solemnity. (Editor)

Assignment sheets that structure reading activities can be helpful in reading instruction for gifted children. The guides include activity suggestions before the reading (mostly vocabulary), during the reading (questions at the literal and inferential level), and after the reading (questions focusing on analysis, synthesis, and other higher mental…

A flexible, point contract system is described which maximizes the advantages of a criterion-referenced contract system while eliminating some of the disadvantages of standard grade contracts. This model has been used by the author in a variety of high school and college courses. (Author/SJL)