Discusses the value of reflective thought in classroom drama. Examines three levels of reflection in drama, discussing how integration of reflection and drama can become a medium for learning. (HTH)

Discusses the role of language in drama in education. Examines the levels at which drama can enhance learning and understanding of language: social, symbolic, and reflective. (HTH)

Disusses three assertions regarding mastery learning in reading programs: (1) mastery learning is adopted to "legitimize" reading programs to the public; (2) schools cannot provide unlimited time for learning to read; and (3) thus, teachers are reduced to managers of materials and, with students, surrender control of their literacy. (HTH)

A British educator discusses the role of self-expressive talk in the learning process and the influence of teacher attitudes on learning through language. (HTH)

Examines requests for information and action in peer-directed groups of children engaged in learning specific skills. Concludes that (1) children who use information requests effectively obtain higher test scores, (2) children can help each other learn, and (3) encouraging small group talk about a task promotes academic and social learning. (HTH)

Discusses recent research highlighting both the child's growth as a reflective language user and the school's capacity to enhance or hamper that growth. The research is concerned with the need for children eventually to use language in decontextualized ways, without the supporting context of visible or manipulable objects or actions. (HTH)

Describes actual classroom episodes from three successful teachers and analyzes patterns of teacher-child interaction that empower both learners and teachers. Assumes that successful teaching is not accidental, that only powerful teachers can empower students, and that the teacher's role is both central and crucial. (SRT)

Suggests that teachers and children may have different ideas about how people talk about stories in classrooms. Describes how teachers loosened their attempts to control children's talk and subsequently shared control with them, and collaborated in exploring stories and in teaching/learning to read. (HTH)

British drama instructor discusses how drama provides a sense of immediacy to subjects or stories and to the discovery process of learning. She also discusses how the dialectic aspects of drama aids in children's language development. (HTH)

Describes four encounters--with a doctoral student, a primary grade teacher, a child, and a sociolinguist--to illustrate how teaching and learning, two separate ventures, are sometimes confused with one another. (HTH)

Focuses on the nature of elementary school classrooms as social contexts for literacy, particularly for writing. Explores the nature of the classroom as the context for literacy, how children come to understand such classroom contexts, and what defines a beneficial context for literacy growth. (HTH)

Reviews literature defining the characteristics of the complex puzzle children encounter moving from oral language to print. Illustrates that, by reading their own writing, children discover the precise connection between reading, writing, and language. (HTH)

Describes an approach to teaching the elementary school curriculum using heuristics, which develops children's critical thinking skills. (SRT)

Discusses learning how to compose a film as one way children can learn the valuable lesson of how to give form to ideas and shape to thought. Presents the stages of composing a film and a sequence of filmmaking activities for introduction at progressive grade levels. (HTH)

Describes an inservice program for which teachers watched the moon, kept a journal of its appearances, made drawings of it, and tried to fathom its habits. Asserts that through being involved with this learning experience, teachers understood more about how to teach productively. (SRT)