If whole language classes are to be student-centered and teacher responsive, teachers must relinquish several commonly held assumptions regarding student performance levels and abilities, testing practices, lesson planning, and classroom control. In the process, they will gain the freedom to achieve their own potential and enhance their students'…

A study examined 78 experienced Northwest Ohio elementary school teachers' orientation toward whole language, teacher-made, and state-mandated tests. The teachers also described their grading policies and distributions and their attitudes toward basal readers and phonics skills. The majority (56%) labeled themselves as over 50% "whole…

Providing a practical look at the role of spelling in the overall language arts curriculum, this book helps those who interact regularly with young children understand how learning to spell is part of the broader fabric of learning to write in whole language classrooms. After an introduction, chapter 1 provides opportunities to explore how…

Sharing both collective and individual experiences and insights about whole language, teaching, and educational change, this book explains whole language instruction and its implementation on a school-wide basis. Each chapter moves from research to theory, and from theory to application in classrooms that actually exist. The book explains why…

A study investigated how a teacher managed her whole-language instructional approach within the constraints of the district skills-based evaluation program. Data gathering and analysis took place over a 5-month period in a first-grade urban midwestern classroom. Data included field notes, interviews, artifacts, and classroom observations. The…

Asserts that economics can be taught more effectively at all grade levels using the whole-language approach. Describes the role of teachers, students, and the instructional process in the whole-language classroom. Discusses student evaluation using portfolios and includes a portfolio description table used in an economics class. (CFR)

The 43 manuscripts presented in this collection represent qualitative and quantitative studies, as well as papers that present literacy research, theory, and pedagogy. Papers in the collection include: "Family Uses of Literacy: A Critical Voice" (D. Madigan); "Intergenerational Literacy: Impact on the Development of the Storybook Reading Behaviors…