This booklet contains one teacher's experiences with teaching poetry to children, offering suggestions and insights about organizing the subject matter, preparing a conducive physical environment, and practicing with various poetic forms. Sections of the booklet discuss the characteristics and behaviors of writing room teachers, the organization…

Presents three basic tenets of the language across the curriculum philosophy: that language develops primarily through its purposeful use, that learning often involves and occurs through talking and writing, and that language use contributes to cognitive development. Discusses important practical implications these principles have for effective…

Claims that the term "process writing" is used indiscriminately to describe both the naturalistic approach to learning how to write and the process of selecting a topic, drafting, conferencing, and publishing. Suggests that writing to publish should not be the only writing children do. (SRT)

An elementary school English teacher relates her school experiences, both as a child and as a teacher, to explain her attitudes toward teaching writing as communication and not as a corrected/correctable language form. (RL)

Relates some of the observations made of a kindergarten classroom over a two-year period in which teachers simulated as many conditions as possible with respect to a natural "learning-how-to-write" situation. (HOD)

Examines notions and examples of instruction that can inhibit language growth, arguing that reading and writing curricula can be designed so that children are provided the freedom to explore language and grow as language learners in much the same way they learned oral language. (HTH)

Presents a model that predicts writing growth in children as a logical outcome of language acquisition. Provides a list of the kinds of language learning underway in the elementary school years and suggests that teachers may use this list to anticipate where and how such learning will influence the writing processes of children. (FL)

Argues that the specialized knowledge that writing demands can only be acquired through a particular kind of reading. Illustrates how this kind of reading occurs and considers ways teachers can facilitate such learning. (JL)

Children can acquire written language skills and abilities through the natural process by which they acquire oral language. If as infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, children are exposed to rich print environments, they transfer assumptions from experiences with oral dialogue to the more focused situations of print. Discrepancies in the ease with…

Both written and spoken language use need to be understood within a broader theory of language. Some of the core assumptions that would inform such a theory are as follows. First, language is inherently social. Every structural component of language has a history of social discourse that defines it. Second, language is for communication; meaning…

Intended for the language arts teacher, this book focuses on how to develop children's language skills. The opening chapter of the book presents a brief overview of child language acquisition, children's language abilities at a particular age, and how these abilities develop. The second chapter, on the importance of children's literature, is based…

Describes the reading development of a child of average mental ability but with visual memory, auditory memory, and auditory discrimination problems. Concludes that instruction should be tailored to the child's level of development in order to maintain the child's positive attitudes and to progress in reading and writing achievement. (SRT)

Discusses a model for teaching reading and writing in which skilled language users provide support for new language activities in context. Gives examples of typical classroom activities that provide too little or too much support for natural language growth and of activities with a balanced instructional "scaffolding." (HTH)

Five educational leaders--Millie Almy, Carolyn Burke, Jean Berko Gleason, Donald M. Murray, and Neil Postman--offer reflections on significant developments of the 1970s in the areas of reading and writing, their hopes for the 1980s, and references that constitute required reading for elementary language arts teachers. (ET)

The teaching activities presented in this paper focus on expanding children's language. The paper describes (1) a "community journal" activity in which students recorded observations about events occurring in various parts of the classroom, (2) a poetry assignment using Richard Wilbur's book of poetry, "Opposites," (3) an exercise to assemble…