Describes the GEM (Gateway to Educational Materials) project that was developed to provide retrieval of lesson plans and teacher guides on the Internet <http://www.thegateway.org>. Discusses the development of a metadata set for controlled description based on the Dublin Core, distributing GEM metadata on the World Wide Web, and future…

Argues that conversations about books should be everyday occurrences in classrooms. Suggests that busy reading teachers try retellings. Includes a sample lesson. (RS)

Explains the instructional planning self-reflective tool (IPSRT) that can be used to facilitate self-regulatory strategies, specifically self-monitoring and self-evaluation, in instructional planning for pre-service teachers. Discusses traditional instructional systems design, the importance of lesson planning, instructional goals and objectives,…

Lists 24 writing lesson plans or teaching approaches designed to keep students engaged toward the end of the school year, including list making, ABC stories, fractured fairy tales, cut word stories, "bummer behavior" letter writing, and using children's books as a stimulus. (TB)

Presents an activity involving balloons to help students understand characteristics of polymers. (MKR)

Presents activities to stimulate student interest in nature. Includes activity ideas to learn about birds, astronomy, weather, wildlife, and water resources. Also contains contact information for four agencies that provide additional activities. (MKR)

Details three lessons that explore volume, weight, and mass. (MKR)

Describes a lesson that outlines a statistics/probability investigation into some aspects of past performance in snooker (a billiards game) using the random number generator on a graphing calculator. (MKR)

Describes a lesson designed to teach the probabilistic topics of permutation and combinations in a constructivist manner. (ASK)

Describes the classroom practices of 92 K-12 beginning teachers with five or fewer years of teaching experience. Surveys these teachers relative to their knowledge of, use of, and interest in learning content reading strategies; their sources of information regarding reading strategies; and their confidences and concerns about preparing lessons.…

Discusses the advantages of using situation comedies to teach pragmatic language usage in a second or foreign language. Gives advice on how to choose and use sitcoms and provides a sample lesson plan. (Author/VWL)

Reviews evidence that refutes unfavorable portraits of American mathematics teachers in two books, "The Teaching Gap" (James Stigler and James Hiebert) and "Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics" (Liping Ma). Young students' difficulty with the "equals" concept can be addressed by teaching algebraic concepts…

Considers the use of playdough as a manipulative to help children learn mathematics. Provides snapshots of various lessons using playdough. (Author/CCM)

Describes a lesson in which students develop a knowledge of the principles of chance and apply them to real world events. (CCM)

Explains the Constructivist Planning Self-Reflective Tool (CPSRT) that supports preservice teachers using a constructivist lesson planning approach. Grounded in social cognitive and constructivist theoretical perspectives, the CPSRT facilitates self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and organization from a self-regulatory perspective, and cognitive…