More than five decades after Brown v. Board of Education and four decades after the Civil Rights era, racial prejudice remains a national problem cutting across social class and culture. Although schools may seem ideal places to teach children about tolerance and harmony, there is little consensus on how to best reduce negative sentiments and…

The purpose of this action research project is to improve student social skills through the use of cooperative learning, in order to develop a positive classroom environment that is conducive to learning. The action research project will involve approximately 95 students, 95 parents, and 200 teachers. It is the intent of the teacher researchers to…

Educators can identify children's strengths early on and gain insight into each student's unique abilities by using the numerous ideas and informal assessments in this exciting guide. Gifted and talented specialist Ann Maccagnano offers K-8 teachers challenging activities and engaging lessons to develop and nurture gifted learners' talents.…

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are transforming the priorities of the International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to focus on preparing for the "new literacies." According to the Partnership of 21st Century Skills, "new literacy" is the ability to use ICTs to develop 21st…

One of a series of educational packages designed for implementation either in a workshop atmosphere or through individual study, this Hot Topic guide presents a variety of materials to assist educators in designing and implementing classroom projects and activities centering on the topic of oral language development. This Hot Topic guide contains…

This paper proposes an integrative approach for teaching English as a second language to students in Hong Kong to develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English to meet the challenge of an English curriculum. The integrative approach provides an authentic language environment for learners to develop language skills in a…

Civic education "means explicit and continuing study of the basic concepts and values underlying our democratic political community and constitutional order" (Butts 1988, 184). It draws its content chiefly from four disciplines: political science, jurisprudence, history, and economics. Political science and jurisprudence provide an…

This unit, designed for use with students in grades 6-12, has two purposes: (1) to inform teachers and students about social and economic conditions in rural El Salvador; and (2) to teach students how to analyze the indicators of such social and economic conditions. The six included lessons incorporate reading, graphing, and critical thinking…

A survey, completed by 15 professors of English, indicated a fundamental lack of student critical thinking skills within their department, and a 90 percent discrepancy in teacher training with only 10 percent of teachers having received formal training. This paper describes a workshop designed to educate and motivate the English professors in a…

Research on communication instruction for students with severe intellectual disabilities is reviewed, focusing on the pragmatic elements involved in accomplishing a successful communicative exchange. A federally funded project, called the "Conversation and Social Competence Research Project," is then described. The project sought to…

This program, which provides an introduction to study skills in mathematics for pre-algebra students through a series of 10 activity-oriented units, is structured on the assumption that activity-oriented lessons are the most effective way to teach study skills. By completing activities in the units, students learn about study skills needed for…

Noting that skills and knowledge taught in schools have become abstracted from their uses in the world, this paper clarifies some of the implications for the nature of the knowledge that students acquire through a proposal for the retooling of apprenticeship methods for the teaching and learning of cognitive skills. The paper specifically proposes…

In these increasingly rootless and spiritually vacant times, high school students, living through the difficult years of adolescence, have much to gain from Catholic schools, including the opportunity to learn and identify with a venerable religious and moral tradition. This 10 chapter guide outlines the various aspects of teaching religion in…

The essence of a healthy democracy is open dialogue about issues of public concern. An integral part of the training of young citizens, therefore, includes the discussion of controversial social, political, and economic policies. The use of classroom discussions as a pedagogical technique to examine controversial issues is explored by considering:…

A curriculum was developed for the purpose of training child care teachers to provide high quality music and art experiences for infants and toddlers. Introductory material provides a brief overview of the curriculum development project, giving specific attention to the completion of grant objectives, advisory committee involvement, dissemination…