In light of an increased focus on the importance of soft skills to academic achievement and success later in life, educators are looking towards social-emotional learning (SEL) as a means for addressing the diverse needs of students. This qualitative study was aimed at understanding how secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teachers use literary…

Australia has recently moved from having curricula developed within individual states to national curricula, including in English. This move in Australia has coincided with debate over Michael Young's call for 'bringing knowledge back in'. English has historically been epistemologically unstable with an ever-contestable knowledge base, and this is…

A national study of English teacher preparation in U.S. colleges and universities revealed that faculty address changes in content and context salient to English education, particularly curricular, demographic, political, and technological changes, through initiatives at both the program and methods course levels. Programs require many hours of…

"Am I a girl?" This question from a long-ago English class (quoted by Kennedy, 1983) illustrates what was once considered suitable practice for language learners. Over the decades, ideas for the content of a language lesson have reflected developing theories of second language learning and teaching. This essay draws on materials,…

This teaching guide concerns a course that should lead the student to realize the importance of language to the individual and to the culture by exploring the possible origins of language, the causes and patterns of change, and the process through which language is learned. The guide contains the following: I. Performance Objectives; II. Course…

This guide for a quinmester course in folklore provides performance objectives, teaching strategies, learning activities, and lists of resources for both students and teachers. The course materials include the fable, parable, fairy tale, American tall tale, and the ballad, as well as some American mythology. (DB)

This language arts curriculum guide for the Sylvania (Ohio) City Schools is designed to provide for the systematic teaching of grammar and the mechanics of writing from kindergarten through the secondary grades. The guide is divided into sections according to grade level. Each of these sections, presented in topical format, emphasizes the elements…

The Quinmester course "How to Study" is designed to help the students learn techniques of studying, such as organizing time, planning a procedure, and completing the assignment. The student examines a variety of test questions, practices taking sample tests, and analyzes the results. The course is a workshop in which the student…

The Quinmester course "Values" includes nine areas of study designed to develop student awareness and development of a personal value system: (1) consideration of a positive self-image as part of a system of values; (2) differentiation between acts of tolerance and intolerance; (3) investigation of the role mental preparedness based on…

Presents data from a survey of the course offerings of 265 midwestern high schools that tend to support the belief that language arts minicourse programs still exist in spite of a trend toward a more traditional curriculum. Listed first in the data is the finding that every high school offered at least one minicourse in composition. (AEA)

Defines and explains the elements of the English curriculum (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and shows how, as integrated, they become the basis for the middle school or junior high English curriculum. (Author/JM)

This teaching guide for the Batavia (New York) City Schools outlines the English program at the junior high level and describes each course, its behavioral objectives, and suggested instructional materials and activities for use in the course. Following an introduction and a general explanation of the department's goals and methods of…

J.E.B. Stuart High School moved into the minicourse elective program five years ago from an anthology-survey oriented English curriculum. The students are grouped into two levels, one offering minicourses for eleventh and twelfth graders and the other offering minicourses for ninth and tenth grade students, with some courses open to all of the…

This book, for grades 9-12, presents primary source materials relating to the poet Nikki Giovanni (including many of Giovanni's poems reprinted in full), easily adaptable lessons and activities, and a resource section for students and teachers wishing to study Giovanni's work further. It is a resource both for teachers already teaching the work of…

Several features distinguish this textbook which was designed for an elementary language arts program: each chapter is introduced with a set of objectives and performance responses; chapters provide numerous examples of both exploratory and systematic instruction; the special role of literature as a tool as well as a content subject is recognized;…