Describes the methodology for teaching cognitive self-direction (CSD) to preservice teachers, presenting an overview of the CSD model. The CSD curriculum model includes productive strategies such as modeling plus self-verbalization (goal-setting, guiding, and reinforcing behaviors). Benefits to preservice teacher education include improved lesson…

Community college students' (n=662) scores on My Vocational Situation related modestly to some concurrent signs of career progress but did not predict grades or enrollment decisions, thereby calling into question the instrument's usefulness for prescription or evaluation, unless it is revised. (Author)

Describes how the school literary journal can be used to publish students' writing about public affairs to add new dimensions to the journal and transform it to a comprehensive display of students' interests and writing abilities. (MG)

Discusses a course on shared-document writing in which students indicate that they value the time allowed to coordinate groups and to understand and complete assignments. Asserts that structuring the course necessitates assigning work relating to a single topic and providing choices, including a voice in group formation and evaluation. (PRA)

For several years, small primary schools in England and Wales have been threatened with closure because of feasibility and educational quality concerns. This article argues that school effectiveness depends not on size or age distribution, but on teaching methods, curriculum and staff organization, resource availability, collegial interaction, and…

Ten suggestions for fostering motivation in adolescents with learning disabilities include encourage choices; advocate ownership; strive for relevance; give positive and negative feedback; set high, but manageable expectations; encourage activity and interaction; and model--share your enthusiasm for books. (DB)

Literature concerning "idiots savants" is reviewed, and various theories and possible explanations are discussed, as are common areas of expertise and cognitive traits. Several case studies are used to illustrate the possible relationship between autism and idiots savants. Educational implications of these findings are considered.…

Describes experimental program based on the ideas of the communicative approach to teaching English as a foreign language that was implemented at the Centre for Studies in Tourism in Havana in 1987. Special emphasis is on the difficulties encountered by teachers in a foreign language setting who had been previously used to teaching prescribed,…

Provides a rationale for Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) program evaluation, and discusses the development and use of the FLES Program Evaluation Inventory (FPEI). Questionnaires are provided for duplication, and step-by-step instructions are given for the administration, tabulation, and reporting of the five different forms.…

This commentary on college writing instruction argues that writers' social responsibility should be made a major concern, that too much of creative writing in American academe exists in isolation from intellectual concerns, that realism should be simply one mode of American writing, and that workshops should be replaced with other methods of…

Because college teaching aims to elevate, not entertain, it must be nourished and appreciated as a pedagogical alchemy mixing facts and feelings, ideas and skills, history and mystery. The current debate on educational reform should focus more on quality of learning experience, and on how to create and sustain it. (MSE)

As a result of the ideas of a university sophomore and senior and their dissatisfaction with the traditional lecture and exam format, George Washington University (Washington, D.C.) offers an experimental undergraduate course entitled "Confrontation and the Development of the Individual Mind." The English department course is taught by…

Describes Improvised Musical Play (IMP), a teaching strategy that uses simple rhythms, chanting, and singing to make participation in social play with nondelayed peers easier for developmentally delayed children. (BB)

Describes a research project for high school students in which they write to an important figure in psychology to ascertain their contributions to the field. Students sent letters to 113 psychologists and received replies from 72 of them. Reports students were enthusiastic about the project. (NL)

Describes ways in which several successful teachers of Black children in Canada and the United States use Caribbean and/or Black English, rhythmic speech, and music already familiar to Black children to reinforce the child's identity while providing a bridge from home to the dominant culture. (DM)