Search

Noting that each individual chooses his own way of making sense, this collection of essays by Australian educators focuses on helping adult learners in literacy programs increase their self-confidence. The essays share a common idea--that the most significant points of departure for learning are students' own messages--their past experiences, present capacities, and views of the world. Following an introduction by the editor, the articles and their authors are as follows: (1) "Doing It Outselves" (Patricia Murphy); (2) "Composing Meaning or 'Football Ain't Just Football'" (Margie Leys); (3) "Aborigines in Gaol" (Ralph Foulds); (4) "Reading Inside" (Roslin Brennan); (5) "Reading: The Role of the Trade Teacher" (Robert Mealyea); (6) "'Teach Me To Spell': A Dilemma" (Pamela Osmond); and (7) "Fear, Resistance and Change in Adult Literacy Learners" (Audrey Grant). (ARH)

This pamphlet describes 20 teaching ideas to incorporate poetry into the elementary school classroom. Topics included in this pamphlet are: (1) how to encourage a love of poetry; (2) how to introduce poetry to your class; (3) poetry and the senses; (4) poetry and the imagination; (5) poetry and the emotional experience; and (6) poetry and form. The pamphlet emphasizes that the poem should stand on its own merit and that these activities should not become gimmicky. The pamphlet argues that much will have been achieved if children come to see poetry as offering the most succinct language and the most intense message: a genre in which, in the words of a six-year-old, words "huddle together." (RS)

Intended to aid schools in designing a Literacy Profile (defined here as consisting of documented information from a variety of assessments of a student's performance over a range of items defined as the dimensions of language learning), this pamphlet presents an alternative to standard assessment techniques. In the form of data tables the pamphlet provides an extensive list of the key characteristics of a student literacy profile, outlines the dimensions of the development of literacy, furnishes "indicators of progress" to chart literacy development, and presents examples of informal assessment procedures across reading, writing, listening and speaking. The pamphlet stresses that each school should consider the interrelated factors of their curriculum practices, language policy, and assessment procedures as they design a literacy profile. Twenty-three references are attached. (RS)

This pamphlet describes "learning challenges," a method of classroom organization designed to meet the needs, strengths, and interest of children at all levels of development. These challenges are a means by which teachers can individualize their programs and invite their students to explore, think, create, and respond. The pamphlet presents practical examples of many such challenges (such as innovative ways of modeling or demonstrating aspects of writing or reading) and gives advice on how teachers can create their own learning challenges, establish a conducive classroom environment, and monitor the outcome. (RS)

Intended for elementary school teachers, this short pamphlet describes the processes involved in executing a readers' theater. Much easier to implement than dramatic performances, reader's theater is seen as part theater and part oral interpretation. As outlined in the pamphlet, the procedures for implementing readers' theater in the classroom include (1) finding or writing scripts; (2) introducing and assigning parts; (3) rehearsing; (4) reassigning parts; (5) planning a performance; and (6) finally performing. The pamphlet lists the steps to help involve students in writing scripts as: selecting the story; making a photocopy to mark; labeling character and narrator parts; deleting non-essential information; reading aloud to edit; and typing. The pamphlet concludes that the major benefits of readers' theater are increased oral reading, a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the elements of story such as character and plot development, and exposure to new books. An appendix contains a scene from "Charlotte's Web." (MS)

Focusing on talk as the vehicle through which the reading and writing processes can become more interactive and can more closely approach the processes of learning, the lessons presented in this booklet provide examples of how teachers can construct learning strategies to help children "talk their way into meaning" against a framework of the writing process. These strategies let the teacher concentrate on helping children develop specific writing abilities while allowing them to retain control of their own writing. Each lesson includes focus, classroom setting, method, outcomes, relevance to language learning, and modifications after trialling. Lessons cover the following areas: (1) writing style, (2) choosing a topic, (3) cohesion, (4) sense of story, (5) revising, and (6) narration. In each case, the lessons aim to help children learn how to learn through the use of talk in the writing process. (JD)

Part of the Australian "Reading Around Series," this document offers a set of guidelines for fostering cooperative learning in a language arts classroom. The problems with competitive and/or individual learning, and the reasoning behind cooperative learning, are presented in the first section of the document. The second section outlines the key features of a cooperative learning environment, including the fostering of interpersonal and small-group skills, positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction, and individual accountability. The next section offers a unit on creative use of synonyms for year three, while the fourth section offers a three-week story writing unit for year six. The fifth section outlines a video production unit for year nine students, and the sixth section offers a one to three lessons unit on clear thinking for year eleven students. The final section suggests ways to organize a one-lesson unit and offers helpful hints for encouraging cooperative learning in the classroom. (JC)