Discusses why and how writing can be taught in the elementary school and suggests some materials that can support an elementary writing program. (HOD)

Offers examples of research in language arts education to illustrate both the values and difficulties of such research. (RL)

Presents ideas for getting elementary students to explore the meaning of cliches and idiomatic phrases. (SJL)

A daily dictation period provides continuous reinforcement of spelling and writing mechanics for elementary school students. (DD)

Looks theoretically at the topic of authenticity, arguing that it is important to get beneath labels and the surface of classroom activities in order to create instruction that is authentic. Uses hermeneutics to examine authenticity as a perspective to help think through important issues. (SR)

Teachers are provided with 16 activity MENUS (Motivating and Exciting but Not Unmanageable Strategies) that introduce, extend, and refine important reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. (IAH)

Offers rationales for teaching cartoons and poetry together, and describes classroom activities involving cartoon poetry. (SR)

Demonstrates how drama and literature can be used together through the Living Newspaper Theatre, a specific form of government-subsidized drama created in the 1930s. Offers guidelines for a living newspaper play and includes a script. (RS)

Discusses beliefs about language arts standards of members of the Elementary Section Steering Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Discusses key assumptions underlying the International Reading Association/NCTE language arts standards and relates to a cycle of learning. (SR)

Describes the uses of riddles with elementary school students to create interest, develop literacy skills, promote learning in the content areas, and have fun. Notes 16 books of riddles. (SR)

Describes the 2000 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, the largest poetry event in North America. Notes the festival was designed to create opportunities for personal communication between poets and teachers, who share so many similar concerns for the future of language arts education. (RS)

The outgoing editorial team of Language Arts reflect on their insights about writing a manuscript for submission to a journal. They focus on patterns in the suggestions of reviewers and in their editorial letters over a five year period of time. They then discuss the range of decisions to consider related to planning and writing a draft,…

Accountability in education has been expanding for the past twenty years. As standards for curricular areas continued to develop, educational shareholders desired a way to measure student achievement contextualized by the established standards. Since 1964, policies expanded federal involvement with education, and with the No Child Left Behind Act…

This quantitative study analyzed data to find a valid and reliable assessment for progress monitoring also having predictive power of a student's future reading performance on a state-mandated standardized reading achievement evaluation. The Response to Intervention (RTI) model was implemented in the language arts classrooms of a rural middle…

This report summarizes analyses of whether results from Austin Independent School District's students' Spring 2008 state-mandated academic assessments are related to their results on a fitness assessment.