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 the computer as an aid to reading instruction. The Hot…

A Puerto Rican teacher of an eighth grade consisting of 33 students (19 girls and 14 boys) at a racially-mixed public middle school found that teaching students about race and gender is a risky venture. The median age of the students was 13.8. The racial demographics were as follows: 45% African-American, 31% Euro-American, 18% Latino, 3%…

A 12-week practicum testing a method for improving writing skills and self-esteem among secondary school students learning English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) is reported. Thirteen students in a larger class at one school were identified for participation, and placed in small heterogeneous groups by skill level. Groups selected writing…

The Jail to Job program was developed to prepare soon-to-be released inmates of the Erie County Prison to seek employment and/or vocational/educational training. Forty-five inmates were assessed to determine their educational and ability levels, interests, and values. The inmates attended an 8-week (32-hour) course on the following topics:…

Three papers written by graduate students on educational linguistics are included. These papers represent works in progress by students and professors on topics ranging from speech act analysis and classroom discourse to language planning and second language acquisition. The papers are generally based on research carried out for courses offered in…

The guide, intended to accompany a 26-minute videotape recording, gives background information to assist in discussion of effective classroom practices appropriate to linguistically and culturally diverse students in first grade. The first part reviews briefly the basic principles of effective instruction in multicultural/bilingual classrooms. The…

The use of freewriting in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction as a means of promoting communicative competence is examined, particularly as it may improve high-school-level ESL instruction in Japan. First, the educational environment of Japanese high schools is described, and some problems with the teaching of ESL writing are outlined.…

This paper describes the experiences of a teacher and a curriculum helper in designing and implementing a fifth grade language arts curriculum at an inner city, magnet school in Indianapolis (Indiana). The report describes the work in three phases: (1) making explicit the problems with the previous language arts curriculum; (2) formulating a plan…

For the K-3 teacher, this book presents hundreds of ready-to-use individual and group activities for developing reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, all correlated with other curriculum areas and organized into nine monthly sections. The book includes teaching strategies, individual and group games, activity sheets, quizzes, writing…

This instructional guide for teachers introduces the Macintosh computer for classroom use, and "The Writing Center," a program to create documents. Information for using the computer and the program to create teaching aids and instructional materials and to instruct students in program use is included. A curriculum outline is provided in…

Intended for teachers of grades K-2, this book provides rubrics developed by and with teachers to assess a wide variety of reading and writing activities in primary classrooms. The rubrics and checklists are offered as reproducible forms. Most of the rubrics are accompanied by a matching form for children's self-assessment. Many of the assessment…

Two key parallels exist between reading and writing, each with profound implications for the teaching of these skills, and which can be adapted for the situation in Japanese high schools, where reading and writing classes are separate. First, on a theoretical level, writing and reading are cognitively similar in that they are both active and…

This course is designed to enhance reading and writing skills. It is tied to an interactive computer program (The New Reading Disc) that provides opportunities for reading, hearing sentences read, and writing letters and memos. Special emphasis is placed on workers' understanding of the importance of their jobs and how they fit into the total…

This sourcebook, prepared by the Intercampus Group on Collaborative Learning of Indiana University, offers suggestions to those who are already familiar with collaborative learning, but want to know how others are responding to the same or similar challenges. Papers are presented that examine general issues of collaborative learning in the Arts…

An overview of the salient issues in adult English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) literacy is presented as reported in the literature on adult education and applied linguistics. Emphasis is on programs that have implemented promising practices and effective approaches to help ESL students develop their literacy skills. Characteristics of effective…