Image within the Writing Process is an arts-based literacy program that integrates children's visual imagery at every stage of the writing process. Using various simple art materials and methods, young authors/illustrators have access to visual, kinesthetic, and verbal thinking modes. The process benefits both verbal thinkers and those with…

The I-Search, an interdisciplinary, student-centered inquiry process, is an integral part of an upstate New York middle school's curriculum. Students are immersed in a motivating theme, develop their own search plans, follow and revise these plans as they gather information, and prepare papers as foundations for oral reports, skits, posters, or…

Describes the "Private Eye Project" developed by Seattle artist and writer Kerry Ruef and piloted by the Seattle Public Schools. Program materials include a loupe (a jeweler's magnifying glass) and a kit of specimens. Transformed by the loupe, the most ordinary objects present new, analogous worlds leading to poetic and artistic expression. (MLH)

Describes an English teacher's successful "guided independent reading" program for reluctant adolescent readers. She teaches her classes around large themes, chooses mirroring student interests, allows in-class reading periods, and monitors student progress. Students then work in groups to present their book to the rest of the class. (MLH)

For the past four years, a multiage class in Maine has been involved in a pumpkin-growing and -marketing enterprise--a project involving real work and problem solving. Begun with a seed grant, the project raises money for field trips and nonessential teaching materials. Working cooperatively forges strong bonds among children, teachers, and…

In a small school off the Alaskan coast, students are learning to value their Aleut heritage. The third-grade class abandoned its traditional science text to study lessons organized around Alaska's Pribilof Islands, a natural science laboratory. Weekly projects involving debris cleanup, tourist brochures, rat alerts, and boat restoration engage…

As a beginning teacher, the author did not recognize that knowing her students was as important as knowing her subject. Teachers should personalize assignments and ask students to write a letter about themselves, write notes explaining tardiness or late homework, create learning logs, and help solve classroom problems. (MLH)

In the probusiness 1980s, marketing and public-relations schemes were characterized as legitimate contributions to the curriculum, helpful teaching aids, or effective school-business cooperation models. By the late 1980s, commercialism in schools had become so rampant that Channel One was regarded as a school-reform proposal. Today, profit-making…

Advertisers spend billions to market so-called educational products, services, and viewpoints to vulnerable young consumers. Budget constraints are forcing educators to accept ads and promotional materials. Several education and consumer-interest groups are developing guidelines for using commercial materials in schools. Consumers Union developed…

A study of 200 rural Missouri teenagers revealed that this captive audience is hoodwinked by Channel One TV commercials. Some students viewed sportswear commercials as advertisements for athletes. Others mistook certain Pepsi commercials for public-service announcements. Repetition, testimonials, and bandwagon appeals are classic propaganda…

As a beginning teacher, the author gladly adapted companies' complimentary kits, snacks, and fast-food ads to her own purposes. She later realized that every corporate calendar, filmstrip, and free admission came with a price tag: corporate promotion. She now shields her students from advertising and creates many of her own materials. (MLH)

Rejects Matthew Gandal's characteristics of good standards (in the March 1995 "Educational Leadership") as overwhelmingly "educentric." Content standards that define what it means to be a good student within the traditional system will not prepare students for the rapidly changing future. Interdisciplinarity, competence, and authentic context are…

What William Spady calls "educentric" standards are clear, rigorous, discipline-based principles that will help prepare students for any future direction. The American Federation of Teachers supports the standards movement because members want all kids to have access to a rich and challenging curriculum and be motivated to achieve at high levels.…

Information from quantum mechanics, chaos theory, fractal geometry, and the new biology can help educators rethink school-improvement approaches. Chaos and order exist simultaneously. Adaptability, the central operating principle of successful organizations, stems from five human energy fields: efficacy, flexibility, craftsmanship, consciousness,…

Explains five modern cultural paradoxes involving parental and school responsibility, the job/education connection, the globalism/tribalism relationship, the diversity/specialization issue, and the future orientation/nostalgia dichotomy. Proposes six school renewal principles concerning borrowed missions, policy realization, "reculturing"…