Outlines letter writing exercises for fifth grade social studies units on the U.S. Revolutionary War period. Students write letters as fictional and nonfictional historical characters from trade books described in article. Objectives include understanding viewpoints and historical events, writing to persuade, and share or seek information.…

Describes a university's pilot immersion and multiliteracy program, in which first-year language students used Spanish language newspapers and texts to study Latin American history, geography, and current affairs. Students in the pilot program developed skills similar to those of students in traditional content courses. Sample quizzes are…

Structured interviews with 19 leaders and potential employers in health- and human-services fields elicited information about the knowledge, skills, and attitudes sought in master's in social work (MSW) graduates. Commonly desired characteristics were knowledge of research processes, writing and communication skills, critical thinking skills, and…

Using brain-based research, Douglass Elementary School in Boulder, Colorado, looked at the natural assets that both girls and boys bring to school and realized that its classrooms were generally a better fit for the verbal-emotive, sit-still, take-notes, listen-carefully, multitasking girl. Teachers tended to see the natural assets that boys bring…

Only one out of five high school teachers believes that students are learning to write well according to research from Public Agenda. Test results confirm their opinion. In 1998, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) administered a writing assessment to gauge fourth- and eighth-grade students' proficiency in writing narrative,…

For the thirty-fourth year, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Jacksonville, FL. A limited quantity of these Proceedings were printed and sold in both hardcopy and electronic…

In a question-and-answer format, the guide responds to common queries about bilingualism in children. The first section poses and answers questions about family issues and bilingualism, including family communication, support of language development, cultural and social context for language development, social integration, and parent language…

This 11-page report describes a project wherein a Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Program Improvement Grant was used to develop a curricular bridge between the academic English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) area and the vocational-technical business/office systems area of Austin Community College (ACC). The following project…

Teachers are challenged by contradictory demands on curricular time. The social needs children bring to school sometimes collide with basic literacy instruction priorities. This research addressed concerns about television violence via a project that encouraged children to log their television viewing and write in daily journals their perceptions…

The culmination of work by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's (ASCD) Urban Middle Grades Network, a special Advisory Panel on Improving Student Achievement, and the Improving Student Achievement Research Panel, this book proposes a repertoire of tools for educators meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse student…

This study examined whether recent graduates of the Northfield Public Schools (Minnesota) had acquired the skills necessary to make successful transitions to adulthood and postsecondary education. Survey responses (n=146) were obtained from two recently graduated classes 3 years after graduation and from graduates of the Alternative Learning…

The problems encountered in implementing an intensive summer course in English for specific purposes, designed to prepare students for graduate study in urban planning, urban design, and architecture, are discussed by the course's language and content specialists. Positive course results included development of useful classroom communication…

The Washington State Core Competencies Project is designed to implement competency-based adult education in the state's 38 adult basic education programs. A model curriculum was developed and field-tested over several years. The resulting curriculum outline of core competencies for English as a Second Language, level 2, is presented here. The…

The Washington State Core Competencies Project is designed to implement competency-based adult education in the state's 38 adult basic education programs. A model curriculum was developed and field-tested over several years. The resulting curriculum outline of core competencies for English as a Second Language, level 3, is presented here. The…

This evaluation reports on a project that used word processing in process writing as a method for teaching written Norwegian to Norwegian students in grades 5 and 8. Process writing refers to the process of writing and rewriting or the various stages of producing written text. Students start with a first draft and work gradually toward a finished…