Students in a language arts methods class work in learning teams in literature circles. They read novels, keep journals, and use a variety of strategies in exploring the novels and relating the authors' work and ideas to their own lives. Occasionally, the group is asked to develop questions which they would like to ask the author. Invariably,…

Although many educators believe that learning to read and write Mandarin Chinese is not easy (because of the complexities of its characters and grammar), it is common to find voracious and expert young readers in the early elementary school levels in Taiwan. The Chinese educational system is governed by a uniform curriculum and nationalized…

A year long study used data collected from 3 teachers and 15 students (in the first, third, and sixth grades of a rural midwestern school) to illustrate the relationships between students' understandings, strategic actions, metacognitive awareness, motivation in reading, and teachers who embrace instructional complexities. The complexities…

The effects of strategy fading and progress feedback on children's achievement outcomes were investigated. Forty-four fifth graders with reading-skills deficiencies from 2 elementary schools received instruction on locating main ideas. Children were taught and verbalized a strategy, and some faded the verbalizations to inner speech. Half of the…

An English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) educator of migrant students in a rural county in Oregon used a whole-language approach to language and reading instruction. Although reading instruction in Spanish was preferred, lack of Spanish-speaking personnel and limited ESL instructional time prohibited that approach. In whole-language ESL, the teacher…

Intended for teachers of grades K-2, this book aims to inspire students with the award-winning art and stories found in Caldecott books. The book uses Caldecott winners as springboards to provide lively, literature-based learning experiences--from projects that encourage children's own artistic expression to fun and creative activities that…

Developed by a team of teachers, parents, school board members, community representatives, patrons, and Idaho State Department of Education specialists, this skill-based scope and sequence guide suggests target skills and offers sample assessment methods for use in reading instruction by teachers of grades K-6. The guide's purpose is to help build…

An action research project stresses the need to incorporate various methods of teaching to develop a firm reading foundation. Self-esteem also plays a crucial role in developing enthusiasm to learn. The targeted population consisted of first and second grade students in clustered classrooms in a growing, middle class community located in central…

This yearbook explores the relationship between elementary school technology education (ESTE) and the traditional subjects of the curriculum, reports on methods of ESTE implementation, and describes roles of teacher preparation and inservice professional development activities for promoting ESTE. Contents include an introductory chapter; 11…

This paper examines the mindset of educators regarding reading instruction and attempts to raise consciousness as to how reading can be better taught in United States schools. It calls for the need to go beyond the status quo and to allow for an honest, critical evaluation of the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of current instructional…

This book is a collection of ideas submitted to the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) by elementary and middle school principals of 1996-1997 Blue-Ribbon Schools selected by the United States Department of Education. Each of the ideas presented offers a way for the teachers to raise students' reading levels and give them…

The 38 essays in this book look back at language experience as an educational approach, provide practical classroom applications, and reconceptualize language experience as an overarching education process. Classroom teachers and reading specialists describe strategies in use in a variety of classroom settings and describe ways to integrate…

A study examined preservice teachers' self-ratings of interest/investment in the different contexts of an integrated whole language approach, both theoretically and pragmatically. Subjects, 60 graduate students enrolled in reading courses in a small eastern university, completed a self-rating chart dealing with the theory and classroom…

A study was conducted to aid in the process of finding vocabulary instruction that would lead to more effective comprehension. It was hypothesized that there would be no significant difference in the comprehension of the two samples of students when one sample was taught the vocabulary of the entire selection while the other was taught the…

Using instructional system design, a unit of instruction for teaching problem solving through literature to at-risk students was developed to reduce frustrations, increase productive time on task, and show low-achieving students that they can have fun in an English classroom. The target population was a 7th-grade multi-ethnic English class of 28…