This book, part of a series which serve as guides for K-12 teachers who are striving to align lively, classroom-tested practices with standards, gathers together brief articles spotlighting suggestions for effective instruction. The organization and the contents of this book on motivating writing suggest an intriguing profile of how middle school…

The Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP) is a mandated statewide assessment program that targets four core content areas. English language arts, including reading and writing, and mathematics are given to students in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10; science and social studies are given to students in grades 4, 6, 8, and 11. The DSTP reading and…

As classroom use of the World Wide Web grows, teachers are searching for new standards for evaluating the quality of online resources. Yet by promoting traditional standards of "quality," teachers push students towards viewing the Web as they often view the library, as a place to get "correct" information to support their…

A study attempted to determine if block scheduling in secondary schools affected curriculum and student achievement in English courses. Interviews were conducted with 22 teachers, 4 principals and 1 former principal; questionnaires were collected from 44 students. Of these, 10 teachers, 3 principals, and 23 students were in schools with rotating…

A disturbing gulf between the culture of the United States and that of Singapore, was noted by an American English professor after spending the 1986-87 academic year as a Fullbright lecturer in Singapore's Department of English and Literature and again after returning for the 1991-92 academic year as a visiting professor. Cultural differences were…

This booklet examines principles for effective tutoring. An introduction defines tutoring. Ten sections present research findings and practical applications. Section 1, "Real-Life Goals," includes making consistent, regular time; targeting real- life goals; and exploring understanding. Section 2, "Question and Prompt,"…

This study was conducted during the spring of 1999 school semester to examine the implementation of the University-Middle School E-mail Buddy Project. This project gave eighth grade and college students the opportunity to pair up electronically via e-mail and exchange discourse that focused on such issues as language arts activities and…

Whether students of various ages reported different self-perceptions of their writing because of survey design effects was studied. As part of a writing performance assessment, 1,972 students in an urban/suburban school district in grades 3 (n=736), 6 (n=636), and 9 (n=600) completed a brief self-perception survey that contained 5 items measuring…

The Accelerated Schools Project is an approach to school change, designed to improve schooling for all children, in particular, for "at-risk" students. In 1997, four accelerated elementary schools associated with Florida A&M University identified reading achievement across all grade levels as their major challenge. Using the…

Information is provided on the content standards and work to achieve them for mathematics in one Colorado school district and reading and writing in another. The six mathematics content standards of the Weld County school district are outlined for kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12), and performance standards are also described and illustrated…

The purpose of this study was to investigate student responses to a developmental writing instructor's feedback on their writing assignments in college-preparatory writing courses at a community college. Using observation, analysis of teacher responses on a writing assignment, surveys, and interviews, the research investigated how students…

This project aims to provide basic steps for students to restore and create wildlife habitats on school grounds. Four chapters are included in this guide, and each chapter is divided into teacher and student sections. Chapter 1 provides necessary information for starting a habitat project. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 discuss the details for the Forest…

This paper synthesizes research on the value of writing in learning science at all grade levels. Breakthroughs and barriers to the effective use of writing to learn science are discussed. Differences between elementary and secondary teachers are considered with regard to background in language arts, understanding of the writing process, and the…

Teens who have experienced the death of a parent, grandparent, friend, or relative often find it difficult to grieve openly. When adults whom teens trust are aware of the cycle of grief, they can provide a safe atmosphere to allow teens to experience the turmoil of the intense and conflicting emotions in order to move toward healing. This guide is…

This book provides comprehensive resources for the critical discussion of major issues in learning to read Chinese from a child acquisition perspective. It is divided into 4 parts and 11 chapters. Part 1, "Theoretical Perspectives on Learning to Read" includes "Current Issues in Learning To Read Chinese" (Ovid J.L. Tzeng),…