Cultural diversity in the classroom provides the opportunity for children to learn about the customs, clothes, and languages of other countries. Various art forms offer a vehicle for boys and girls to communicate in nonverbal play. A "two-faced" happy-sad puppet provides a nonverbal means for very young or nonnative speaking children to indicate…

A constructivist approach to parent education that enabled parents to be active participants in reflection and dialogue processes was tested in a study. Instruction was designed to stimulate and support self-reflection and dialogue processes enabling parents to be active participants in constructing new meanings to their child rearing practices.…

The essential theories underlying the whole language approach require individual teachers to examine their assumptions about teaching and learning and to undergo a major paradigmatic shift that requires a new set of assumptions. One of the principal tenets of whole language is that the classroom teacher becomes an autonomous professional. This…

Kindergarten Plus, a program for disabled and non-disabled kindergarten students in an integrated classroom setting, was implemented in 5 New York City classrooms serving 99 kindergartners. The program's implementation and student outcomes were evaluated at the end of the first year. Classroom observation and staff interviews revealed that the…

This book provides an overview of communication disorders and their causes and provides suggestions for strategies to be used by the classroom teacher in collaboration with the speech-language pathologist and audiologist to enhance communication skills development. Chapters have the following titles and authors: "Articulation Disorders" (Rhonda S.…

Weaving learners' everyday stories with those of other teachers, volunteers, and students, this book shares strategies and experiences designed to empower adult learners in alternative literacy programs. Strategies in the book came from educators in such diverse settings as college developmental reading and writing, learning disabilities, adult…

A study examined how two third-grade bilingual (Mexican-American) students resisted, appropriated, and/or internalized a whole language curriculum and the relationship between student interaction with and response to the whole language curriculum and their literacy development. Participant-observer ethnographic field notes recorded over an entire…

Traditional approaches to teaching writing have been challenged, and new methods have emerged that reflect the new understanding of this process. This paper compares and contrasts product-based and process-based approaches to teaching writing. Product approaches reflect traditional, teacher-centered approaches to teaching in general, emphasizing…

This study surveyed the nature and extent of exploratory programming in intermediate schools. A 22-item questionnaire was sent to all 285 of the state's middle and junior high schools. Of the 163 respondents, 160 indicated that they had some form of exploratory programming. The latter number included: (1) 155 schools with traditional exploratory…

This document provides descriptions of the themes adopted for the plenary and the four working groups of an United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) international meeting. After the introduction, section 1 discusses the plenary theme, "Education, Culture, and Development: Co-ordinated Policies and…

Approximately 500 undergraduate students, representing colleges and universities across the United States, who were about to embark on a semester-long credit-bearing sojourn sponsored by Syracuse University (New York) to one of four locations (London, Strasbourg, Madrid, and Florence) were surveyed about their aspirations and attitudes regarding…

Education is presently undergoing a paradigm shift, with some teachers, parents, and administrators interested in new ways of thinking about teaching and learning, while others are skeptical or even resistant to new ideas in education. The Whole Language movement, and holistic education in general, is in danger of being tossed aside like the "New…

A workplace literacy program for garment workers is described and evaluated. The program, a partnership between El Paso Community College (Texas) and Levi Strauss & Company, consisted of a three-level, job-specific, video-based curriculum for limited-English-speaking employees implemented at seven plants in El Paso. The 18-month model…

This paper discusses the use of multicultural materials from an integrated social studies and language arts curriculum to enhance the self-worth of rural at-risk students. The premise is that the use of this model will strengthen the positive correlation between self-concept and school achievement, thereby reducing risk factors. Theories of…

This book, presented as a conversation among its three authors, offers strategies for theme exploration in whole language classrooms and focuses on the first and fourth grades. The book asserts that exploring a theme with students is the epitome of whole language teaching because students develop language and literacy best when they use language…