History is an important but often overlooked content area for all students in this current era of accountability. Yet instruction in history can help students become problem solvers and learn to make interpretations from multiple perspectives. This article reports the results of a pilot study examining history learning across three groups of…

This article explores the benefits of the Internet to enhance history instruction for all learners. The authors describe a Web-based learning environment, the Virtual History Museum (VHM), that helps teachers create motivating, inquiry-based history units. VHM also allows teachers to build supports for learners with disabilities or other learning…

Eleven mildly handicapped elementary students were taught to spell new words by using spelling patterns from known words. Control Ss learned to read and spell sight word vocabulary. Experimental Ss were significantly superior in spelling high-frequency sight words and untrained transfer words. (Author/CL)

The authors apply the statement-pie approach (in which the reader is trained to look for the two major categories of concepts--the statement or major topic of the passage, and the information which supports the statement) to the teaching of reading and writing skills to elementary level mildly handicapped students. (SB)

Reports the results of three studies conducted to determine the efficacy of the Early Literacy Project in improving the reading performances of elementary students with mild disabilities. Results indicate the program has been effective in accelerating literacy learning and can be integrated into the general education curriculum. (Author/CR)

Describes the development of a Web-based literacy learning software application called Technology Enhanced Learning Environment on the Web (TELE-Web) that was developed based on an existing literacy program for elementary school students with mild disabilities. Explores how technology is affected by literacy practices in educational contexts.…

The Early Literacy Project focused on involving students in contextualized literary activities, developing learning strategies, constructing classroom dialogs about literacy, supporting learners in their zones of proximal development, and creating literacy communities. Research with 88 primary-grade students with mild disabilities indicated clear…

POSSE, an instructional procedure for a reading comprehension curriculum, structures classroom dialogue about text meaning. Students with mild handicaps predict what the story will be about, organize their knowledge, search for the text structure, summarize, and evaluate. POSSE's successful application is dependent upon effective lesson dialogue…

The creation of a teacher-researcher community among educators developing a literacy curriculum for students with mild disabilities in the primary grades is discussed. Six categories of discourse among the teachers and researchers are considered, and findings that might usefully guide collaborative research are discussed. (SW)

This article reports on implementation of the Early Literacy Project with primary level students with mild disabilities. Special attention is given to one preconventional writer whose performance was advanced by involving him in literacy activities in advance of competence, using meaningful text representations to scaffold performance, and…

This newsletter issue concentrates on the topic of teaching written language skills to mildly handicapped elementary and secondary students, with emphasis on the communicative function of writing. The feature article discusses expository writing instruction, describing essential elements of the expository writing process and characteristics of…

This study compared the effectiveness of two interventions that differed in the nature of dialogic interactions among teachers and students in reading groups. Teacher-interns (n=35) instructed 109 children with mild disabilities in special education resource rooms. Analyses indicated that the intervention featuring dialog, social interactions, and…