Suggests that long-term project and performance-based tasks that meet the standards described in the Israeli English curriculum are the key to reviving students' interest in the English classroom. Provides a sample project and assessment rubrics. (Author/VWL)

Describes a book writing project implemented by one Israeli English-as-a-Foreign-Language teacher. Pupils decide what they want to write about and what format the project will take. The project incorporates many of the principles and practices outlined in the English curriculum. It requires extensive writing and reading, drafting, rewriting and…

Describes one Israeli English-as-a-Foreign-Language teacher's experience having her seventh grade students write a collection of fairy tales, which she subsequently published. The teacher provided a worksheet that helped students learn to sequence and use descriptive language. The Worksheet is appended. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on how teachers can remain professionally inspired and advocates the need for different kinds of communities to help encourage and maintain inspiration for teaching(Author/VWL)

Describes on Israeli English-as-a-Foreign-Language teacher's action research project that focused on how to teach reading comprehension in English to a class of ninth grade boys. Outlines the teacher's goals, implementation of the project, and thoughts on the outcomes. (Author/VWL)

Describes on Israeli English-as-a-Foreign-Language teacher's experience with a multimedia project in Grade 11 5-point Bagrut classes and with Grade 10 native speakers. (Author/VWL)

Describes a project that dealt with two short stories in a different way. The stories were part of the Oral Bagrut exam for Grade 11 students. The stories were taught in English class and concentrated on theme and vocabulary. (Author/VWL)

Describes an Anne Frank project, an interdisciplinary project designed for English-as-a-Foreign-Language students in Israel. The project was conceived of for Grade 11 students, because they learn about the Holocaust in history and are tested on it in the history Bagrut examination. (Author/VWL)

Describes a radio program in an English-as-a-Foreign-Language classroom in Israel. Classrooms of English students listen carefully to daily broadcasts, waiting to solve the brain teaser. Personal messages and catchy music follow the program. The project has encouraged students to use English actively and purposefully. Evaluation of the broadcasts…

Presents a project on addiction prepared for an inservice training course for English-as-a-Foreign-Languages teachers at the Wide Angle Teachers' Center, Branco Weiss Institute for the Development of Thinking (Israel). Project goals included integrating information from different sources, formulating research questions, working in groups, and…

Details the history of California's experience with large-scale writing assessment. Describes the introduction, development, and scoring of the California Assessment Program, later renamed the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS). Discusses controversies over removal of certain writing prompts and objections to CLAS. Notes that funding for…

Discusses the four-week summer Memphis (Tennessee) Urban Writing Institute, during which a furor erupted over the dilemma of grading. Provide a number of approaches to grading students' writing, including minimalist grading, cassette grading, collaborative grading, and portfolio grading. Suggests that teachers consider the grading dilemma and…

Presents an English teacher's irreverent look at grades and grading. Argues that learning must somehow be linked to a product, which must be measured or graded to gauge the worth of the product according to the merit it deserves. (RS)

Details how exhibitions of mastery can be implemented in English classrooms. Discusses what exhibitions of mastery are, implementation of exhibitions, creation of new knowledge, and assessment. (RS)

Describes development of a rubric for assessing class discussion. Discusses procedures, student roles, and assessment in a "scored discussion." Notes that students find the process to be both demanding and informing. (RS)