The "communication effect" is what happens when we saturate our classrooms with authentic communication, which occurs when students use language to build up ideas and do meaningful things. For starters, authentic communication deepens and increases language development, learning of content concepts and skills, rigor and engagement,…

As a high school English teacher in Ohio and later as a college professor of future teachers in Florida, the author, who loved choreographing dance routines, viewed teaching as consisting of both artistic and technical elements. Like dance which is a combination of artistic and technical skills, teaching also requires the combination of both…

Presents ideas to help elementary school educators teach their students about magnetic force fields by observing how iron filings line up around magnets. The article lists materials needed and offers a student page with suggested student activities. (SM)

This collection of 45 lesson plans contributed by English language arts scholars and practitioners provides activities that have been tested and proven effective with all levels of learners in middle school and high school classrooms. The activities in the collection advocate using unconventional strategies, competitive games, art and multimedia,…

Discusses activities that can help teachers of toddlers to design environments that stimulate and facilitate children's exploration, discovery, and understanding of color beyond the traditional boundaries of sight. Suggests that by incorporating other senses, teachers offer to the older toddlers rich multi-sensory experiences that can nurture and…

The creative process of teaching is discussed. Teachers are artists because they employ creativity when they formulate, select, and organize their ideas into a medium which is called a lesson. This medium, in turn, is the means which provides a learning experience for others. There are eight articles. In the first article, "What is a Lesson?"…