This article offers teachers tips about how to get off to a good start when the new school year begins. Suggestions are given for setting up initial activities, making door signs that help students practice reading, starting group stories, scheduling time, and getting to know students. (PP)

This article describes a method for writing instruction in which small groups of students meet to read and evaluate each other's writing. A five-day schedule for this "writing family" activity is outlined. (SJL)

This book provides an array of strategies that can help teachers, administrators, and staff-development personnel as they plan, develop, and deliver content within extended periods of instructional time. It emphasizes the importance of teachers and administrators working together to improve instruction and contends that staff development remains…

Describes the team teaching program at Randolph Intermediate School, in Randolph, New Jersey. The program has been functioning successfully for the last six years. (Author/SJL)

This booklet is designed to sensitize and inform the scuba diving instructor on appropriate attitudes and successful methods for teaching scuba diving to persons with physical disability. It addresses misconceptions about people with disabilities and the importance of effective two-way communication and mutual respect between instructors and…

A formula for a rotation plan and eleven steps for individualizing programs for student assignment on office machines or other individualized units are presented. Illustrating the plan are a worksheet showing time allotments for the students and machines and the rotation units for the same students and machines. (MF)

Maintains that many schools have changed to a form of block scheduling. Describes and discusses the impact of several models of block scheduling. Asserts that, when music educators understand the consequences of various scheduling options, they can be more credible participants in discussions of how best to schedule school time. (CFR)

A survey of 97 medical schools found 65 percent offer instruction in patient health education and 74 percent offer instruction in community health promotion. A number of departments participate, and diverse methods of instruction and evaluation are used. Respondents favored such instruction but identified time constraints as an obstacle.…

Describes a teacher's system for rotating chemistry laboratory exercises in an effort to teach the basic laboratory techniques with a minimum of equipment. Outlines the basic techniques and procedures taught during a two-week rotation schedule. Lists advantages of this approach and guidelines for scheduling. (TW)

Practical suggestions are offered for teaching mathematics in a block schedule, including ways to make some topics more compact, integrate mathematics with other materials, and design lesson plans to maximize instructional time. Chapters are: (1) "NCTM [National Council of Teachers of Mathematics] Standards and Teaching Mathematics in a Block…

This guide creates a step-by-step sequence of practical techniques, based on research on successful teaching and grounded in real-life examples, that guide teachers toward an effective action plan for successful teaching and classroom management. The manual's suggestions give teachers the skills and tactics necessary to manage, control, and enrich…

This book demonstrates that block schedules provide opportunities for educators to address the needs of diverse student populations in general education classrooms. The inclusion of at-risk students and students with special needs into regular classrooms provides new challenges for educators, and block scheduling provides extended time for these…

After defining the school learning environment as a collage of various goal stresses and discussing relationships between motivation and achievement explored in recent research, this document explains the need to change school culture and climate in order to enhance student motivation. Policy and procedural areas where change may be desired are…

The Freshman General Studies Thematic Program (GST) at California State University, Chico was established in 1973 to create a general education program for freshmen and to give faculty the opportunity to explore innovative teaching methods. What resulted was a 33-unit, year-long interdisciplinary course for 36 well-motivated, well-prepared…

The story of the process that Mundelein High School (located in a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois) as it moved from a traditional schedule to a block schedule is described throughout this book as a way to blend theory with practice. The book addresses types of block schedules; key issues for effective preparation; professional development…