Describes radio as a medium with a special power of intimacy, and notes its different eras. Describes briefly eight different classroom assignments using the radio, which can be used as stand-alone exercises, as enrichment for a variety of fields of study, or as a major unit of study on radio. (SR)

Describes how students learn research skills by making "skinny books"--collections of photocopied articles made into a book with all the parts of a book added--on a topic a student wants to learn more about. Describes how skinny books have been used in a unit on the Holocaust. (SR)

Describes a seven-week project completed by the author's eighth-grade science students (as they studied "the chemistry of living things") in which they designed an alien and its world using the scientific concepts that they learned in class. Compares class presentations using PowerPoint software to presentations using posterboard. (SR)

Describes a unit that allows students to recognize diversity, understand why diverse perspectives are held, and harness this diversity to improve society. Describes how students use and refine their literacy skills as they first research and report on Jamaica, and then use a Jamaican-created model to build a play that addresses a serious problem…

Describes how Anna Deveare Smith's "Fires in the Mirror" can be adapted for the secondary level language arts classroom. Describes a storytelling exercise, and then describes the six stages of the project as students adapted personal narrative for performance: theme; obtaining the interview; the peer-editing workshop; preparing for the…

Argues that making a theater study guide is an excellent in-class project, encouraging research, analysis, writing, and creative thinking. Offers a framework for creating one as a classroom project using John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" as an example. Lists further resources. (SR)

Describes the seven-minute, closed-circuit television program for 500 students and teachers which is entirely planned and produced by an eighth grade broadcast journalism class at a McHenry (Illinois) junior high school. (JM)

Offers an alternative to traditional term paper assignments in which poster sessions were used to promote collaborative learning, creativity, and develop research and communication skills. Provides guidelines for conducting poster sessions and their various applications. Finds students prefer poster sessions to traditional term papers. (NL)

Describes having ninth-grade English students work on independent studies units for the final six weeks of class, in which students choose, plan, and schedule their topic, assignments, and evaluation. Describes implementation, and notes pitfalls and how to avoid them. (SR)

Describes the successes and difficulties of a project in which students from ninth to twelfth grades, over the course of a school year, wrote a book on the African American community of Louisville, Kentucky. (SR)

Advocates treating at-risk learners as all learners are treated to improve the chances of helping these learners become successful. Discusses organizing instruction, focusing on concepts, stimulating higher-order thinking, and using content area resources effectively. (SR)

Describes a class project in which students write a detailed story of their family heritage and how they came to live in the United States. Notes that students also paint murals telling the story of their family and present the story and the mural on videotape. Presents four such stories and murals. (RS)

Describes the way one English teacher designed a course by creating discourse community and thereby producing a group publication for a specific audience. Shows the steps by which a large group produced and revised copy for the publication. Argues for the efficacy of such courses. (HB)

Describes an assignment in which ninth graders created a storybook or a textbook for children in grades 4-6 that would link 4 core subjects: math, English, science, and anthropology. (SR)

Offers 50 diverse suggestions intended to offer students new ways to think about a piece of literature, new directions to explore, and ways to respond with greater depth to the books they read. (SR)