Literacy is a fundamental skill for students in every academic subject area and, most importantly, for navigating the world outside of school. The Long Beach Network for School Improvement focuses on building educators' capacity to support student literacy skills in middle schools in Long Beach, California, with a particular focus on increasing…

In this article, the authors detail a curriculum unit used by Ms. Brown and a second English Language Arts (ELA) teacher, Ms. Smith, with their high school students. The unit centered on a comparative genocide framework developed by the Comparative Genocide Project at Arizona State University. The framework detailed seven key themes common across…

A recent community wide reading program offers a valuable opportunity for students and teachers to respond to literature by attending community wide events, creating art, and developing relationships with community members.

In two projects described in this article, the authors discuss the use of Photovoice and Elder Interviews to draw upon visual and spoken forms of community-based literacy, generate ideas for written projects, promote a connection to community and culture, and engage students in critical analysis of writing process. Both projects took place in…

There is an alternative to conventional teacher mentorship. The authors describe and analyze a promising model of mentorship where multiple mentees and mentors, each with varying levels of experience, engage collaboratively in the study of teaching practice. They have found that well-designed contexts in which beginning and experienced teachers…

Supplemental Instruction (SI) has widely been used in university classrooms around the world. However, many obstacles face SI -- including low student attendance, lack of faculty support, and recognition of today's online generation. This research helps to fill the gap in SI by posing to solve the problems mentioned above by extending SI into the…

A competitive art project which involved high school students in creating a hamburger out of any kind of materials they wanted is described. The results were very creative. In one related activity, students were asked to write a creative hamburger recipe. Some of the rather curious results are reproduced here. (RM)

A creative exchange program between the art department and the creative writing and English department of two high schools is described. The creative writing class submitted their original poems to advanced art seminar students. The poems provided the foundation for an illustration assignment. Examples of the results are provided. (RM)

This paper presents an addendum on Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Academic Support Programs for the fiscal year 2006. This addendum supplements the report submitted in January 2006 regarding MCAS academic support programs for students who had not yet passed the grade 10 English language arts and mathematics MCAS tests…

Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC) is a multi-site action-research project, focused on teaching and learning in pre-collegiate mathematics and English language arts courses at 11 California community colleges. In this report, the author discusses the data gathered over the course of the SPECC project and reflects…

The eight English language arts programs in the six Florida public schools included among the 150 Centers of Excellence in English selected by the National Council of Teachers of English are described in this focused journal issue. Following an introductory essay by coeditor Edward Deluzain describing the Centers of Excellence selection procedure,…

Describes language-arts activities in the "Gemini Project," a program designed to foster creative expression in a mixed group of senior high and elementary school students. (KS)

The teacher inservice education course described is designed for secondary school teachers who are interested in the application of skills and principles related to the teaching of English language arts and literature. Information is included on learning tasks involved in the course and the activities and resources involved. Ordering information…

Describes the three-year development of the Standards Project for English Language Arts. Discusses the context-centered framework, "bad news" from the Department of Education, funding from the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association, working with a more linear structure, and uncertainties in the…

This book describes standards for the English language arts and defines what K-12 students should know about language and be able to do with language. The book presents the current consensus among literacy teachers and researchers about what students should learn in the English language arts--reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and…