The Boston (Massachusetts) Public Schools present a comprehensive plan designed to bring all students to an acceptable level of mastery to meet state requirements or their own new higher standards. For the first time in decades, all the elements of school reform are in place, with public and administrative support. The primary goal of the Boston…

A study examined whether reading aloud to young children would have an effect on their reading success in first grade. Subjects, 45 first-grade students in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey, were given a questionnaire to be completed by their parents. The three first-grade teachers provided students reading aptitude scores, based on teacher observation and…

A year-long qualitative study constructed a "thick" (rich, literal) description and interpretation of the social organization, interactions, and attitudes displayed within one self-contained second-grade classroom during its scholastic language arts activities and instruction to explain how a literacy learning environment can be seen as…

The Training Team of the Information Resources unit at Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania) is not only responsible for answering faculty members' technology questions, but also charged with instructing the entire community in the basics of using a wide variety of applications. The Training Team is a combination of software specialists and…

This theme issue focuses on topics related to global issues. (1) "Recycling for Art Projects" (Wendy Stephenson) gives an argument for recycling in the art classroom; (2) "Winds of Change: Tradition and Innovation in Circumpolar Art" (Bill Zuk and Robert Dalton) includes profiles of Alaskan Yupik artist, Larry Beck, who creates…

Instruments used in a study by M. B. Kinzie and M. A. Delacourt (1991), the Attitude towards Computer Technologies (ACT) and the Self-efficacy for Computer Technologies (SCT), assess preservice teachers' perceived usefulness of and comfort level with specific computer technologies. This study uses a population confirmed to be similar to that used…

Drawing on the professional literature of many fields, this book provides an interpretation of the available research on motivation and describes instructional approaches in classroom contexts. The book aims to help teacher educators, researchers, and graduate students understand the research literature in motivation and use in their efforts to…

A multimedia pilot program at Laramie County Community College, Wyoming, used a series of instructional modules with testing units to allow freshman composition students to review their own particular areas of weakness, to test themselves, and to move on at their own pace. The program used the technologies available in the school's…

This book explains the whole language philosophy of learning to read and how it can be applied in special education classrooms to assist students with learning disabilities. Chapters address: (1) an overview of the whole language approach; (2) examples of how special education teachers use whole language to teach children with learning…

The SchoolTech initiative, a state-funded pilot project, was designed to empower teachers to develop innovative approaches to academic and extracurricular activities using technology. Elementary and secondary schools (n=10) in North Carolina were provided with hardware and software that had the capability of accessing Internet resources. Teachers…

This study presents work in progress that investigates the use of visual learning logs by preservice elementary teachers as one component of developing visual literacy for science teaching and learning. The purpose of the study is to explore the use of visual learning logs as an alternative mode for thinking and communicating about experiences in…

Designed for workshops or college courses focusing on professional development and inservice teacher training, this book presents over 200 reproducibles (including transparencies, brochures, and fact sheets) to help parents and administrators understand how reading and writing flourish in whole language classrooms. The book addresses the need to…

This guide discusses the ways in which educators in technical and vocational education programs can maximize opportunities for limited-English-proficient students to learn English language skills. Vocational classrooms are viewed as potentially excellent environments for language learning because of the hands-on nature of the work, undertaken in…

During the 1994-95 academic year, a research team at Indiana University expanded the faculty distance education training curriculum to include video vignettes that illustrate instructional techniques used in the regular classroom adapted for distance education settings. This paper summarizes the research literature supporting these efforts and the…

This paper reports on an educational program designed to teach parents about the role of television in their children's lives and to increase use of a family video lending library intended to enhance alertness in students, decrease aggressive behavior, and educate parents. Interviews with professionals and a parent survey indicated that there was…