Provides a framework for using journal writing in the primary grades to develop writing skills. Outlines techniques to help focus teacher observations, deepen insights, inform curricular decision making, and help teachers reflect upon the student's role in journal writing. (RS)

Validated the transtheoretical model for exercise behavior and the constructs of decisional balance and self-efficacy for exercise in low-income, poorly educated individuals from four public primary care clinics. Interview data indicated that respondents had high rates of sedentary behaviors that could significantly impact their health status.…

Examined the effect of 6-month hospital-based exercise training versus 6-month monitored home-based training in cardiac rehabilitation patients following surgery, investigating which conferred the greatest physical, quality of life, and social support benefits. Home-based training resulted in improvements in exercise performance as great as those…

Describes how "speedwriting" requires that all learners become actively engaged in their own learning because, rather than generating ideas orally, students are instructed to write down all their ideas as quickly as they can. Considers how the social engagement of discussion and the sharing of ideas during the writing phase drew even the…

Explored relationship between personality and exercise over the life span using young adult personality characteristics to predict current exercise behavior in late middle-aged college graduates (N=156). Found personality variables improved classification accuracy in discriminant analysis, and especially improved identification of frequent…

Argues that writing teachers need to encourage profuseness as well as concision, to teach not just brevity but also loquacity, to help students repeat inventively. Notes that the stylistic values implicit in writing theories, pedagogy, and culture so overwhelmingly favor conciseness that elaboration gets lost in the learning process. Presents…

A recent study suggests that high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level may be a better predictor of heart disease than total cholesterol level. Even moderate amounts of aerobic exercise can raise the level of HDL-C and lower the risk of coronary artery disease. (SM)

Stresses the importance of using imagery when having beginning writers write poetry. Discusses additional techniques of stressing the unusual, continuation words, the five senses, and repetition of a word or phrase. (MG)

Describes Sustained Silent Reading and Writing (SSRW), in which students write nonstop for five minutes about that day's silent reading. Notes that students using this strategy begin to use metacognitive strategies to increase their comprehension and make evaluative comments on what they read. (RS)

To achieve physical fitness, exercise must become part of one's daily routine. Group exercise programs can increase motivation and compliance with long-term exercise habits. Planning involves: assessing current level of fitness; setting long- and short-term goals; and choosing appropriate methods to achieve and measure goals. (MLW)

Provides physicians with the signs, symptoms, and management of heel/sole pain in recreational runners (usually due to plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, and calcaneal stress fractures). Remedies involve palliative treatment of symptoms, correction of underlying biomechanical problems, and flexibility exercises. (SM)

Outlines a series of activities using story writing to teach first grade students about story structure. (MM)

Describes how creating "mythical machines" can develop students' technical writing skills. Describes how students work in groups to produce documents for various purposes related to their machine. (MM)

Describes several assignments and activities that focus on writing for "real-world" purposes, including writing to pen pals, government agencies, and for children or the elderly. (MM)

Discusses "crazy world" stories, stories that are dramatic, usually violent, and contain no clues to the motivations of the people involved. Suggests how these stories can be used in the classroom to discuss the motives that news stories ascribe to actors. (MS)