Reports on an interdisciplinary teachers' workshop procedure for collaborating on theme and essay question assignment writing. Outlines the process of examining assignments and describes the discussion of one assignment critiqued in the workshop. Emphasizes the relationship between assignment purpose and writing assessment and the students'…

Discusses how myth may be applied in the classroom to the reading of a popular novel, Felice Holman's "Slake's Limbo." (MM)

Describes a writing assignment that uses the song "America the Beautiful" to point the following six reasons why America is beautiful: skies, mountains, grain, Pilgrims, heroes, and dreams. (NKA)

Summarizes arguments of advocates and opponents of homework. Stresses that timing of assignments, nature of and reasons for giving assignments, clarity and completeness of assignment explanations, and treatment of completed assignments must be considered for homework to be an effective, joy-giving tool. Offers nine ideas for making homework more…

Discusses the findings of a questionnaire sent to 20 representative universities in the South Atlantic Modern Language Association to determine the content and utilization of reading lists for graduate students of Spanish. Discusses considerations to be made in preparing or revising the reading lists. (SED)

The link that homework provides between school and community can become more productive if teachers and administrators ensure that the school homework is clear, meaningful, varied, and regularly assigned. (Author/TE)

Some concepts to help teachers adhere to classroom instruction in the target language are presented and discussed. These include ideas related to the teacher's speech (visual cues, speed, and repetition and rephrasing), student speech (teacher-assisted and student-dominated communication), out-of-class assignments, and teacher assessment of…

Describes an assignment for the study of Shakespeare's "King Lear" in which the students were to take a small section they thought thematically important and describe clearly how the page should be read and performed. (HOD)

The relationship of minutes of reading instruction to the gains in reading performance for 3,374 elementary school children shows consistent positive findings between large- and small-group classroom instruction and reading gains. Some of the negative results for individualized instruction may be due to school assignment practices. (Author/MLF)

Provides examples of using the Directed Reading Activity as a framework for teaching students to comprehend literary text at varying levels of response. (HOD)

Describes a communication assignment that require business communication students to interview business executives. (FL)

Provides results of a survey of public relations education at 30 colleges and universities with respect to an examination of 115 syllabi, course requirements and reading lists, and innovative practices. (PD)

An analysis of the new readers being used in grades 4-7 concludes that they have greatly improved the educational process. (Author/ND)

Critical pedagogy is fundamentally and ultimately linked with critical literacy. There can be no liberation of self or other without tools or language to perform counter-readings of dominant texts that serve the interests of power. Paulo Freire and Donaldo Macedo's work has, for some time, been a cornerstone for critical literacy, a model of…

The second semester of Freshman Composition at Troy State University focuses on writing about literature and writing a traditional research paper not necessarily based on literary research. One spring, the required reading was Shirley Ann Grau's novel, "The Keeper of the House." This novel, set in an unidentified Southern state, traces the history…