Language arts guide K-8

Georgia DepartaaeDt ofEducation
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Foreword
The language arts curriculum in Georgia's schools should ensure that each student obtains the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills necessary to function effectively. The curriculum should integrate various areas of the language arts discipline and avoid the fragmentation that can result when instruction focuses on isolated skill development. It should accommodate each student's individual needs. abilities and learning rate. As students master the concepts and skills of language arts. opportunities and encouragement for more advanced study will help them become independent. lifelong learners. Charles McDaniel State Superintendent of Schools
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Preface
An individual must be able to communicate to function effectively. Those who cannot give and receive information effectively are handicapped in every aspect of their daily lives. Providing instruction in reading and writing and in speaking and listening has been a role of the public school since its beginning. The Language Arts Guide. which addresses the areas of reading and oral and written communication. will help school systems carry out this critical task. The Language Arts Guide provides general suggestions and specific activities for developing and improving instructional programs in the fundamental communication skills. It does not replace or displace local curriculum development. Adaptation and thorough development remain the province and responsibility of local system personnel. those teachers. supervisors and administrators most familiar with the specific needs ofthe children within their classrooms.
Lucille G. Jordan Associate Superintendent Office of Instructional Services R. Scott Bradshaw Director Division of Curriculum Services
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Acknowledgments

The Office of Instructional Services, Division of Curriculum Services, gratefully acknowledges the time, efforts and energies of the many persons responsible for the writing of this guide. This work could not have been achieved without the services rendered by the reading, oral and written communication committee members. These committees were composed of classroom and resource teachers, system level coordinators, graduate students and university professors representiong various geographical areas of the state.

To these educators and to the state language arts staff members who were instrumental in the development and production of this document, we extend our appreciation.

Advisory Committee
Mattie Eley Charles Mason Virginia Mickish Carol O'Neal Robert Probst Patricia Stewart Ramon Veal

Writing Committee
Alice Adams Robert Brown Rebecca Cooper lynn Crovatt Maureen Deloach Charles Hacker Bill Hammond Cherry Horne Sally Hudson Gale Hulme Dan Kirby Lanie leBlanc Tom Liner Edward Merryman Robert Probst Don Rubin Eunice Sims Alice Smith Ramon Veal Dan Ward

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Contents

Introduction

vi

Philosophy

vii

Questions and Answers for Supervisors

viii

Questions and Answers for Teachers

x

Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1

Readiness

1

Word Recognition

7

Comprehension

17

Functional Reading Skills

31

Study Skills

37

Oral and Written Communication

45

Introduction

45

Imagining .,.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Describing

60

Telling

69

Explaining

77

Persuading

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Researching

91

Interpreting

102

Social Interacting (Ritualizing)

III

Appendices Appendix A - Evaluation of Reading Appendix B - Learning Environment Checklist Appendix C - Self-evaluation Checklist for Classroom Teachers Appendix D - A Quick Checklist for Learning Centers Appendix E - Learning Style Indicator Appendix F - Silent Reading Checklist Appendix G - Survey of Vocabulary Skills Appendix H - CRT Objectives K-8 Appendix I - Essential Skills for Georgia Schools Appendix J - Correlation of Essential Skills for Georgia Schools with ThinkAbout Skills Appendix K - Evaluating Speaking and Listening Skills in the Classroom Appendix L - Standards for Basic Skills Writing Programs Appendix M - Standards for Effective Oral Communication Programs Appendix N -Instructional Resources
Bibliography
Resources

119 120 123 125 127 129 131 133 135 143 153 157 175 177 181
183
187

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Introduction
Integrating instruction in the language arts means teaching specific skills in such a way that they reinforce each other. The skills listed under "Reading" and the skills listed under "Oral and Written Communication" should build developmentally upon each other. The sample activities listed in each section illustrate ways in which language arts instruction can be integrated. These activities provide an alternative to isolated teaching of skills. Furthermore, the examples provide an opportunity to apply those skills in practical situations. This method of instruction is intended to encourage greater student understanding and use of acquired skills through an organized, supportive system of instruction. A student can learn to read by writing, listening and speaking; the creative teacher will find ways which allow this kind of exploration to occur.
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Philosophy

The communicative arts-listening, speaking, reading and writing-are basic to our humanity. By mastering them we can gain knowledge of ourselves, and we can acquire the accumulated knowledge of our civilization.
Teaching the communicative arts is a complex and difficult task. Without a coherent framework for constructing curricula, the efforts of even the best teachers are sometimes ineffective and often unduly laborious.
This guide was prepared to help those responsible for curriculum development to think through the nature of the communicative arts so that teachers and students may work together in a more efficient. effective and gratifying manner.
A strong program in the communicative arts respects the skills and experiences students bring to school. Some students enter school with welldeveloped communicative resources-an intuitive understanding of the grammar of their language, an understanding of sound/symbol correspondence and a sense of narration. Other students enter school with only a very limited set of language experiences.

Because there is this range of differences, assessment and identification of learner strengths and weaknesses are the beginning points for instructional planning. As learning progresses, individual differences in rate and sequence of growth among learners also become apparent. Curricular and instructional strategies must be sensitive to these differences, providing options for teachers to personalize communicative arts learning.
A fundamental basis of communicative arts is that children learn to communicate best in an experience-based setting. Language learning is an active process. Classroom experiences should have a real purpose for the student. Teaching about listening, speaking, reading or writing must be subordinate; it must support, not replace, active learning experiences.
This guide does not attempt to resolve all the conflicts inherent in teaching the communicative arts. The writers are aware of the necessity for local adaptation and for personalized instruction. What follows is a guide for local curriculum developers. It must be adapted to meet the special needs of the young people who will enter your classrooms at the beginning of every school year.

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Questions and Answers for Supervisors

1. What is the purpose of this guide? This guide provides instructional personnel with a resource that can be used as a basis for integrating the language arts curriculum through program planning and program development. The guide also provides resources for staff development and improvement in the areas ofskill development. teaching strategies. classroom organization and evaluation.
2. How will this guide help us improve our programs? The guide interrelates communication skills in such a way that skills are learned and reinforced in a natural context as opposed to an isolated. single subject approach. The guide may be used to improve programs through staff development in the areas of skill development through activities. classroom organization and evaluation.
3. How will this guide relate to what we are currently doing in language arts? Regardless of the type of program being used (i.e. basal. language experience). the guide provides purposes and objectives that are appropriate for any program. The organizational suggestions cover most of the language arts systems currently used in Georgia schools.
4. How may this guide be used to move from a separate subject curriculum (reading, spelling, English) to an integrated curriculum? The guide provides purposes and objectives for teaching reading with all of the communication skills. These can be used as a starting point for identifying systemwide goals and objectives. Once goals and objectives are identified. the teaching activities. materials and text that are available for meeting these goals may be identified.

Suggested steps for implementation a. Use gUide goals as a starting point for
identifying systemwide goals.
b. Identify activities. materials. texts and other resources that can be used to meet the identified goals at appropriate instructional levels.
c. Develop appropriate evaluative techniques and follow-up activities.
d. Establish a schedule for the revision of goals and priorities.
5. How may this guide be implemented? Teachers might be divided into grade level groups or subject matter groups. The purposes of the guide should be discussed thoroughly. The format of the guide should be examined in terms of grade level and areas covered under each section. After the teachers are familiar with the format. they should be shown. at an application level. how to begin at the appropriate grade level. select the skill area under consideration and find the skill(s) to be taught. After the skill is identified. activities should be selected appropriate to the type of program and organization being used. Teach and evaluate.
6. For whom was the guide written and to whom should it be disseminated? This guide is intended for use by curriculum specialists/coordinators. administrators. resource teachers. classroom teachers and teachers of special reading programs. Multiple copies of the guide should be sent to each school so that they are readily available for reference by administrators and staff. Each curriculum specialist/coordinator involved with language arts should have a copy. Curriculum specialists/coordinators of

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other subject areas should also be encouraged to become fa~i1iar with sections ofthe guide which are appropriate to their subject areas.
7. What specific curriculum areas are addressed in the guide? The overriding philosophy of the guide is the integration ofthe language arts. Speaking, listening, reading and writing are addressed in terms of their interrelationships.
8. Must the total guide be used or can sections of it be used individually? Each instructional level portion ofthis guide is divided into sections dealing with selected areas of language instruction. However, because ofthe integrated nature ofthe guide, examples of activities which will improve the teaching of reading, oral and written communication will be found in most sections of the guide. Therefore, in order to derive maximum benefit from this guide, the user is advised to examine all of an instructional level portion.

9. How may the community be involved in the implementation and use of this guide? The community must be aware of the educational advantages of teaching reading and the other language arts in an integrated fashion. Actual classroom observations or instructional simulations of this integrated approach at community meetings will effect awareness. Many of the activities included in the guide could be conducted by commu nity volunteers. Each school should select the methods which are most appropriate for its community.
10. How may help be obtained from the Georgia Department of Education in the implementation of this guide? Consultants from the Division of Curriculum Services, Language Arts Section of the Georgia Department of Education will provide help when requested. Requests may be made by contacting R. Scott Bradshaw, Director, Division of Curriculum Services, Georgia Department of Education, 1952 Twin Towers East, Atlanta, Georgia 30334, (404) 656-2412.

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Questions and Answers for Teachers

1. What is the purpose of this guide? This guide serves as a practical resource instrument to help the instructional staff improve the planning and organization of the language arts curriculum. It also provides suggested activities and resources for classroom teachers.
2. What is meant by integration of language arts? The integration of language arts means that the communication process (listening, speak. ing, reading and writing) is interrelated, not fragmented.
3. What is the difference between Ianguage arts and reading? Reading is a part of the language arts.
4. Who will explain the guide? This guide will be explained by principals and curriculum directors.
5. Do I have to use the guide?
All teachers will be encouraged to use this guide and its suggested activities to supplement their local program.
6. How do I use this guide with the sys-
tem's reading program? This guide may be used as a resource to provide additional activities and strategies for reinforcement of the language arts skills.
7. How do I use this guide with the school
English and spelling programs? The guide is so designed that the materials being used in the existing school program might gain greater vitality. All aspects of the language arts program are taught in support of the total language development of the student.
8. What levels does the guide cover?
This guide covers instructional levels K-S.
9. How will this guide help teachers provideforindividualstudentdifferences? Because the activities and suggested resources are designed to personalize the instructional program, all students will benefit from the methods suggested in this guide. Effective student learning comes about as a

result of a thorough understanding of the student's current level of academic performance and a thoughtfully prepared program of instruction.
10. How relevant is this guide to specific situations? The guide follows a general format making it adaptable to any situation. Its relevancy is found through the use of many state documents which address concerns for a variety of student populations.
11. When will I have time to do the sug gested activities? The suggested activities outlined in this guide may be incorporated into daily lesson plans where applicable. The use ofthe guide will actually save you time in terms of planning activities and teaching skills. The activities are intended to be an integral part of the teaching plan, not an additional activity.
12. Where willI get the materials for these activities? The materials suggested can be obtained from a variety of sources including the school media center, community resource file and the newspaper.
13. Where will I find the suggested references? The references may be obtained from various community libraries/media centers, the system-maintained professional library,local colleges and universities and through the state department of education library.
14. How does this guide relate to the other state department language arts prod. ucts and guides? This guide is one of several language arts documents published by the state department. It serves as a coordinating reference designed to address organization and management techniques as well as suggested teaching/classroom activities. It reinforces the language arts positions of the department as set forth in the kindergarten Georgia guide, the Georgia Criterion-referenced Tests, the Standards for Georgia Public Schools and other relevant state programs.

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Reading

Readiness

The term readiness has many connotations and can refer to many concepts. For instance. there is book readiness. Some criteria that would indicate that a student is ready to read a book are as follows.
The student
likes to look at books. likes to have books read aloud. understands that the words read by the teacher
are in the book. knows book terminology such as cover. pages.
front and back. can sustain an interest in looking at pictures in
a book. can interpret pictures.
Readiness often refers to setting the stage in order to stimulate. motivate and encourage students to read and to enjoy reading.
Readiness may involve preparing a class or small group for a reading activity. such as giving clear instructions or assigning special tasks or learning center activities.
There is a stage oj readiness that usually pertains to one particular phase of a directed reading lesson. This is the time. preceding the actual reading of a selection or story. devoted to preparing the students for reading. New or unfamiliar vocabulary is introduced and discussed; previous vocabulary words are reviewed; and purposes for reading are established.
Another concept of readiness is the preparation Jor and purposeJul reading oj subject-area materials. It is directed more toward establishing purposes for reading an assignment or chapter. This concept is appropriate at the elementary school levels and particularly at the middle school levels. For example. students should receive specific suggestions concerning a reading assignment if they are to derive the full benefit from the selection. A basic introduction to the material will provide a mind set for students and will help

them comprehend the material. This'introduction could also include a general discussion of the topic and an overview of the organization of the material. For example. if students will be reading a chapter in social studies on the American Revolution. it would be helpful to them to connect this time period with the settling of the New World. Reviewing the organization of the chapter by noting headings and subheadings in bold type and adding a summary statement about each heading will inform students of the scope and depth of the material. Special attention should be given to charts and graphs. noting that they help in explaining a certain point.
These two suggestions. providing a general introduction and noting the organization of the material. are skeleton ways to raise students' awareness of the material to be read and learned. Specific techniques to guide students through the reading and to structure the remembering process should also be undertaken. These techniques are many and varied. Some. such as study guides and survey methods. can be reviewed in Tierney. Readence and Dishner (1980) and Karlin (1977).
The general idea of readiness applies to all levels of instruction. learning and development. Readiness is a continuous process. It is a developmental process: "It begins at conception and continues at ever higher cognitive levels ... as each experience and strengthening of skill makes the individual ready for the next step." (Hillerich. 1977. p. 19)
Readiness also refers to the stage in a student's development in which he or she acquires readiness or prereading skills requisite to the act of reading or more formalized skills instruction in reading. The purpose of readiness is to proVide students not only with those reading-related skills necessary for normal progression in developmental reading. but also with those experiences that will enhance their attitude about themselves as persons and as readers.

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There are many factors or aspects of development within the cognitive. physical and affective domains that strongly influence readiness for reading. Such factors are intelligence. chronological age. sex. mental maturity. emotional and social maturity. socioeconomic status. language facility. auditory and visual perception and physical development. All of these interrelated. composite factors have an effect upon readiness; there is no one factor which is the key to reading readiness.
The skills and understandings which are identified below have been extracted from the readiness strand of the language arts section of the Essential Skills for Georgia Schools. They are as follows.
The learner will
show an interest in hearing materials read.
discriminate auditory similarities and differences in commonly used words in and out of context.
discriminate visual similarities and differences in commonly used words in and out of context.
identify individual letters of the alphabet. highinterest words and phrases that appear in his or her environment.

analyze and interpret pictures. characters and events using elaborated language.
demonstrate understanding of terms used in reading instruction; e.g. top of page. left-toright progression. beginning-ending of words.
attempt self-expression in writing using individualized spellings.
These essential skills are only representative of a core of skills to be addressed during the early stages of reading. Additional skills. understandings and objectives are incorporated into the "Sample Activities" section.
As teachers plan and implement meaningful experiences and activities for students. they are encouraged to incorporate skills. understandings and objectives that have been included in their local curriculum guides and to add others they think are relevant to their particular students' needs.
In addition to extending the skills and objectives within the activities section which follows. the activities themselves are designed to show the interrelationship between readiness and other communicative arts strands.

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Sample Activities
Readiness Grades K 8

Objectives
The learner will
develop concepts and meaningful vocabulary.
recognize. match and compare likenesses and differences in letters. sounds. pictures. words and objects.
Activities
1. Position a few students around the roombeside the desk. in a chair. at the book center. Then have students answer a question such as "Where is --?" Continue asking questions and having students take turns telling where their classmates are in relationship to something in the room. Write their answers on the board.
2. Have students name and find as many objects as they can that are square. round. red. large or with which they draw or write. After students learn these concepts. have them name and locate things of two or more properties: for instance. something that is small. red and square (red cube). This activity will build readiness for categorization skills.
3. Use pictures which portray emotional responst::s. Discuss how some people in the pictures may look sad. happy or mad. Show the students other pictures and ask them how they think the subjects in the picture feel. Print the correct word under the picture.
4. As a follow-up to number three. ask students these questions.
a. Who can find the word that goes with the happy picture?
b. Does the word happy begin with the same sound as horse?
c. Who can tell me a word that begins with the same letter as sad?
d. Can you tell me a word that means the opposite of sad?
e. Who can make up a sentence using the word sad?
f. Who can think of a word that rhymes with glad? that means the same thing as glad?

g. What things make you happy. sad. etc.?
5. Let students pantomine being happy. being mad. etc.
6. Bring in objects or pictures. Place them in random order on a table. Have the students pair and name the objects and pictures that rhyme.
7. Read poems or nursery rhymes to students. Have them listen for the words that rhyme. Read a couplet or two lines of rhyme and stop before reading the last word. Have students tell the word that rhymes. Example: "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children. she didn't know what to--."
8. Have three students come to the front of the class. Let the students observe their classmates and note similarities and differences. They may say that two of them are girls and one is a boy: they all have brown eyes: they are wearing sweaters. but the sweaters are different colors. styles.
Objectives
The learner will
recognize the main idea. sequence of ideas or events. draw conclusions and predict outcomes.
begin to learn how to categorize
Activities
1. Place objects of different sizes. colors and textures on a table. Have students group them according to the above categories. Have the students dictate labels for objects in the room. Ask students to read the labels from time to time.reminding them that objects have names just as the students have names and that stories have names as well.
2. Many students have pets. Have students tell about their pets and their pets' names and why they gave their pet a particular name. This can lead into a discussion about story names like Jack and the Beanstalk. Bambi. Cinderella. As familiar stories are read to the

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class. say to students "The name (title) of this story is ..." or read the story and then ask students to name its title.
Variations
Have students listen to or dictate a story. Have them think of a name or title for the story.
Read students a story and then suggest three titles for it. Write the titles on the board. Discuss the story and have students choose the best title.
3. Hav.e three students line up by name. Ask their classmates if the three students got into line according to the way their names were called. If so. ask the students who is first. second and third. If not. have the students correct the line and then name the first. second and third child.
4. Read or tell a simple story. Ask students what happened in the story.
Variation
Read or tell students a story. Whisper an event that happened in the story in each student's ear until all the events have been mentioned. Now. reread or retell the story and have students stand up when their happening is mentioned. Who stood up first? What happened first in the story? Who stood up last? What happened at the end of the story?
5. Create the situations described in a and b below in which students are getting ready to go to or leave school. Then ask follow-up questions as suggested.
a. It is time to catch the school bus. When you open the door. you see that there are many big dark clouds in the sky. The wind begins to blow. You can see the trees and bushes swaying back and forth. What do you think is going to happen? What kind of day is it going to be? What will you need to wear to school?
b. You have been putting things in your bookbag. You have your empty lunch box and sweater. A bell rings. What happens next?
Objective
The learner will become familiar with survival type words and symbols in the environment and develop concepts related to them.
Activities
1. Give each student a set of 3 x 5 cards with
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"survival" words such as Exit. Bus Stop. Do Not Enter written on them. Discuss each card. Print one word or phrase on the board and ask the students to hold up the card that matches it. Provide sufficient practice for students to become familiar with the cards. Now ask each student to select Exit from his or her set of cards without referring to the written model.
2. Select a set of signs with both pictures and words on them such as Beware of the Dog. Boys (restroom). Girls (restroom). Discuss each sign with the students. Then cover the words written under the pictures on each sign. On separate 3 x 5 cards write the name of each word covered. Have students match these word cards with the picture 'cards. The covering on the original signs could then be removed as a self-check.
3. Collect advertising materials with pictures. product names and logos such as the smiling pitcher representing a noncarbonated drink. Most students recognize such logos. This is an excellent opportunity to reinforce the idea that the accompanying word name represents a concept much the same as the logo does. Students can match logos and names in a game similar to "Concentration."
4. Collect food container labels such as a picture of green beans from a can or a picture of a cake from a cake mix box. Students might group labels according to food types and use such groupings in a lesson on nutrition. Sample menus can be created by putting these labels on poster board to represent a meal. The words can be added to the pictures as well.
Objectives
The learner will
learn letter names and alphabetical sequence.
use the alphabetic arrangement of dictionaries and pictionaries.
Activities
1. Teach alphabet correspondence. This can be done by matching letters with appropriate pictures or objects. Such activities should include a careful explanation of each letter. its structure. formation and name.
2. While teaching the names of the letters. print some of the letters with which the students have become familiar on a 3 x 5 card. Cut the letters in two. horizontally or vertically. Place

the cut letters in envelopes. give each student one of the envelopes,and have the student put the letters together. Models for doing this can be printed on the board or provided to the students. Eventually. the student should be able to discriminate the features of the letters without a model or help.
Variation
Cardboard or tagboard with letters printed on them can be cut into pieces to make a puzzle. Students can put the puzzle together.
3. Given three letters on separate cards. one of which differs from the other two. the student will match the two that are alike.
Variation
Exercises like this may also be done with a flannel board.
4. Expose the students to groups of letters - not more than three at once. Have them select letters from the group as the letters are pronounced by the teacher. This is a precursor to working with letters in words and looking carefully at each letter in order to determine the correct match. This should always be done in a left-right progression.
5. Use letter cut-outs from sturdy tagboard. Use such letters as men. Ask a student to tell what is alike about the letters; then what is different. Have the student manipulate the letters and then tell what is alike and different. Pass the letters around in the group and ask the students if they notice anything alike or different.
6. Have students hold letter cards. Ask them to hold up the letter "f."
Variation
Ask students who hold a given letter card to line up according to the letter the teacher calls. Then the teacher can ask which letter lines up first. second. etc. This can help with letter sequence.
7. Have students sing the "Alphabet Song" and point to each letter as it is mentioned.
8. Have letter and picture cards on tagboard tacked above the chalkboard. Ask students. What letter comes after "s"?
9. Place a large picture that begins with a b in a chalk tray or on an easel. Use smaller pictures that also begin with a b. As the name

of each picture is identified. e.g.. bunny. boy. book. place it on the chalk tray next to or in front of the large picture.
10. In a chalk tray put letters ofthe alphabet in order but leave out every third letter. Then have students find and put one of the leftover letters in the correct ordered place.
11. Play "Alphabet Bingo" or "ABC Lotto" type games.
12. Cut color construction paper in halves. Fold and tape the pieces together to make an accordian to form a 26 page book. Have students make their own ABC book. Each square is labeled in magic marker or crayon with the name of the letters in sequence. Students can draw or cut out pictures to illustrate each letter.
13. Students can be introduced to picture books.
14. Students can playa card game and match letter pairs.
Objectives
The learner will
express ideas and experiences orally and be able to dictate the ideas and experiences to the teacher.
describe and interpret pictures and events.
participate in group story composition.
develop the concept that reading is talk or words written down.
Activities
1. Have students dictate simple sentences about pictures they have drawn. A student may say. "This is me and my house." Below the picture print the sentence in the same language used by the student.
2. There are many interesting and colorful pictures available in magazines or books. Select several pictures and have small groups of students take turns describing or interpreting each picture. Later, a group experience story chart can be written using the students' comments. Have students read their story.
3. Students can dramatize their favorite fairy tale using their own language.
4. Students can retell a story to their classmates.

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5. Students like riddles and jokes. Read some to the students" They will have fun telling the jokes or riddles totheir friends.
6. Students can play "I Spy." Have them look around the classroom and spy something they would like to describe. See if others can guess which object or person it is.
7. Develop a class calendar to be marked or changed daily. If you wish, print numbers on clouds, on pictures of rain or on suns to indicate the weather on a specific day. Discuss the day, week and month as they relate to seasons. The teacher can write a summary statement about each day based on students' suggestions.
8. As students make observations about the weather or about an experiment or exercise

in the classroom, encourage them to dictate their observations. These dictations can be collected, made into a booklet and reread at a later time. 9. Have the students dictate captions for artwork and pictures.
Resources
Spache, Evelyn B. Reading Activities for Child Involvement. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. 1972. Russell, David H. and Karp, Etta E. Reading Aids through the Grades. New York: Teachers College Press, 1975.

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Word Recognition

Word recognition is the process of unlocking unknown words and recalling known words by using various skills. Word recognition skills can be grouped into six categories-picture clues. sight vocabulary. context clues. phonetic analysis. structural analysis and dictionary skills.
In Essential Skills for Georgia Schools word recognition skills have been identified as follows.
The learner will
1. recognize and use sight vocabulary in context from various sources. a. his or her own vocabulary b. high-frequency word lists c. basal readers d. words specific to content areas
2. demonstrate an understanding of and use various aids to develop and expand vocabulary.
a. context clues b. synonyms. antonyms and homonyms c. acronyms d. multiple meanings of words e. classification (categories. general to spec-
ific)
3. demonstrate an understanding and use of phonetic analysis clues and principles to identify new words.
a. consonant sounds and clusters b. silent consonants c. multiple sounds of consonants d. short and long vowels e. variant vowel sounds (diphthongs. con-
trolled vowels)
4. demonstrate an understanding and use of structural analysis clues and their related principles.
a. syllabication b. accent c. contractions d. abbreviations e. possessive forms f. compound words g. plural forms h. word parts
5. demonstrate an understanding that symbols stand for referents.
It is during the primary grades. K-4. that most of the fundamentals are taught. the foundations upon which further skills are built. All of the

word recognition skills are introduced. developed and reinforced at these levels of instruction. A major portion of time is devoted to teaching these skills and subskills. In doing so. however. teachers should be cautious in the amount of time given to the teaching and practicing of the analytical aspects of word recognition. particularly phonics. A heavy concentration or overdose of these skills may cause students to read word by word or become overanalytical. laborious and slow readers.
Many authorities in the field of reading believe that when students stop frequently to analyze words or if they cannot recognize an increasing number of words at sight. they will not become proficient readers.
The acquisition of a basic sight vocabulary. the ability to pronounce words at sight. is necessary and important: however. being able merely to pronounce words without hesitation. is not reading but verbalizing. Good readers go beyond pronunciation or rote memory of words. They attach meanings to words instantly. words become a part of a meaningful reading vocabulary. The acquisition of a reading vocabulary. of course. "is influenced by the amount of speaking and listening vocabulary a learner possesses. by experience and background. by exposure to oral language and by independent reading." (A Synthesis of Research in Reading. Georgia Department of Education. 1978. p. 6) The acquisition of such a vocabulary is a goal toward which instruction in this skill should be directed.
In attempts to help students develop sight vocabulary and other word recognition skills. there is frequently a tendency to teach skills in isolation. This only compounds the problem. Teachers must make every possible effort to teach words and skills in meaningful contexts. within the context of sentences. paragraphs or longer selections.
Embedded in context are numerous types and useful combinations of clues that will aid readers in decoding unknown words and their meanings and in better understanding what is read. Sufficient time and systematic instruction in teaching context clues are encouraged.
To reiterate. at the primary grades more attention is devoted to teaching word recognition. By the time students reach the middle grades. there are few new word recognition skills to be introduced and developed. Subsequently. previously
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taught skills are reinforced. refined and extended. Emphasis shifts more toward skill use and application.
The suggested activities which follow have been developed to benefit classroom teachers in their efforts to help students develop and use word

recognition skills. They are intended to be representative of the ways in which teachers might approach instruction. Adept teachers will use them to develop their own activities to further strengthen the teaching and learning of these important skills.

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Sample Activities
Word Recognition Grades K-4

Objective
The learner will distinguish and remember gross auditory sounds.
Activities
1. Have the students listen to sounds in their everyday environment such as closing doors. running water and the ringing of the school bell.
2. Use the tape recorder to record various sounds made by animals. fire trucks. police sirens or car horns. Let students identify and reproduce these sounds. Have students record various sounds on the tape recorder.
Objective
The learner will recognize words that begin with the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet.
Activities
1. The teacher will print two lists of five common nouns on the chalkboard. Begin one list with upper case letters and the other list with lower case letters. Have the students clap hands one time when the teacher points to a word that begins with an upper case letter. Have students clap hands two times when the teacher points to a word that begins with a lower case letter. Reverse directions.
2. The teacher will make two sets of corresponding words. one with the printed word beginning with the upper case letter. the other with the printed word beginning with a lower case letter. The teacher will mix the two sets of cards. The students will place all the words that begin with the upper case letters in one row and all the words that begin with the lower case letters in another row.
Objective
The learner will recognize words that rhyme.

Activities
1. The teacher will read some familiar nursery rhymes or poems to the students. The teacher will point out and discuss with students the rhyming words. The teacher then may read poems again. pausing at times to have the student supply the word that rhymes. Students may wish to make up their own rhymes.
2. Let the students think of rhyming words. The teacher will print the rhyming words on the chalkboard as the students respond, and the whole class will repeat the rhyming words together.
Objective
The learner will recognize words that have the same beginning sound.
Activities
1. Have the students identify other children whose names begin with the same sound: e.g.. Betty. Bob. Bill: Sue. Sam. Shirley. Sherman.
2. Have the students cut out or bring pictures that relate to their environment that begin with the same sound: e.g.. baby. balloon. banana: door. desk. dog.
Objectives
The learner will recognize unknown words from the context of
the sentence or paragraph. use and/or combine context clues to obtain
meaning.
Activities
1. The teacher will cut out pairs of pictures whose names begin with the same sound and letter. such as bicycle-boat; fly-flowers: bankbook. and then paste the pictures on tagboard and print the word on the back. The teacher will print six sentences on the chalkboard that contain context clues for each picture. Read

9

or have students read the sentences and find the picture/word that makes sense in the sentence.

a. We rode across the water in a

.

(boat)

b. I will ride my

to the store. (bicycle)

c. Bill will _ _ his kite. (fly)

d. We planted

in our yard. (flowers)

e. Betty can read her

(book)

f. I put pennies in my

. (bank)

Variation
Students should be encouraged to explore all possibilities for completing each sentence with words that make sense.

Example

a. We rode across the water in a

.

(canoe. hurry)

b. We planted

in our yard. (green

beans)

2. A number of riddles might be written on the chalkboard or language chart.

Example I give milk. I eat grass and hay. What am I? (house. cow. horse)

3. The teacher wiII prepare several short para graphs in which several words have been omitted. Give the first and last letters of the missing words. as in the example below. See if students can figure out the words from context. Then have them fill in the blanks.

Our cs won the ge. We pd well. The sce was 12 to 6. Our tr was very hy.

Objective
The learner will become aware of and use differ ent kinds of context clues.
Activity
Discuss and give examples of different context clues. Then have the students add examples of their own.
1. Comparison/contrast: sugar is sweet but lem ons are sour.
2. Example: apples. oranges and bananas are fruits.
3. Definition: A library is a room or building where a collection of books is kept for reading or reference.

4. Experience (inference)

a. I ate bacon and

for breakfast. (eggs)

b. (am small and brown. ( have a bushy tail.
(live in trees. I eat nuts and acorns. ( am a ____. (squirrel)

Objective
The learner will develop an understanding of the multiple meanings of vocabulary words.
Activities
1. The teacher will write several sentences on the chalkboard using the same vocabulary word to denote multiple meanings. such as the word back in the example below. Have students discuss the meaning of the word as used in each sentence.
a. The cat ran away and never came back.
b. Bob put a saddle on the horse's back.
c. Some one is knocking at the back door.
d. (will make a back for my book.
2. The teacher will write a list of words with multiple meanings (run. bank. base) on the chalkboard and have the children write as many sentences as they can using the multiple meanings of each word.

Objective

The learner will recognize words in the same cat egory or classification.

Activities

1. The teacher will explain and discuss with the students how some words fit into categories. writing examples under selected categories on a chart or chalkboard.

2. The teacher will supply a list of words and have the students list the words under the correct category.

Examples

Words-apple. bread. shoe. dress. cost. milk. red. pink. whistle. cry. roar

Foods apple

Clothes shoe

Sounds roar

Colors red

3. The teacher will help students suggest and write other categories; e.g. sports. seasons. animals. parts of the body.

10

Objectives
The learner will
understand basic traffic symbols and markings. understand that symbols stand for referents. develop and expand vocabulary.
Activities
1. Have students identify the adult school guards and the patrol guards in the school and discuss their responsibilities. Make an experience chart about each person.
2. The teacher will make traffic signals and discuss what the red, yellow and green lights, the "walk" and "do not walk" signals and the pedestrian lines across the streets mean to pedestrians and motorists. At recess, have students play the game "Red Light."
3. List on the chalkboard and discuss words and phrases such as stop, yield, caution, no parking, handicapped parking only, emergency, do not enter, dead end street, as well as road and map keys.
4. Make and discuss the meaning of such traffic signals as railroad crossing, school zone, hospital zone.
5. Let students make a miniature neighborhood containing all the traffic symbols and markings. Let each student have an opportunity to drive toy cars, trucks, buses and trains through the town, observing all the traffic signals.
Objective
The learner will recognize, interpret and understand signs and warning labels.
Activities
1. The teacher will bring to the classroom as many warning labels as can be secured such as wet paint, danger, poison, beware of the dog, quiet zone, tow away zone, hard hat area, do not enter, and dead end. Discuss their meaning with the students and let them pantomine situations where they might use the labels.
2. Have students identify areas where these warning labels may be appropriate.

Objective
The learner will create, read, understand and follow menus and recipes.
Activities
1. The teacher will discuss menus and recipes--the ways to order foods, the various types of menus and how to follow directions in using recipes. Discuss the experiences students have had at a cafeteria or restaurant in their neighborhood.
2. Discuss some of the students' favorite foods. Have them bring to class recipes of their favorite food or some recipes cut out from magazines or old cookbooks. Make a class recipe
. book.
3. Have students work in small groups and follow the directions of simple recipes that can be made in class (Jello, peanut butter cookies, popcorn). Then let the students enjoy the food.
4. Have students create appropriate menus for school breakfast or lunch or for their favorite meals at home.
Objective
The learner will locate information and practice using the table of contents, index and dictionary.
Activities
1. Students should read the stories and should be familiar with the vocabulary before doing this exercise.
Have students sit in the reading circle with their books. Ask them where they would find the table of contents and turn to it. Ask questions related to the table of contents and have students find the answers. Students may volunteer or be selected at random.
Example
a. On what page would you find the story ---_?
b. What is the title of the story on page 57? c. How many stories have you read in unit 3? d. How many units have we read already?
Variation Similar activities can be done with an index or a feature section in the newspaper.

11

2. Make a list of words and phrases taken from a subject area unit studied. Have students arrange the lists alphabetically as they would appear in an index.

Example

metal base battery switch

flash light copper wire light bulb

electricity watt circuit

Under what heading would you list these words in an index? (Light)

3. Have students alphabetize cards they may be keeping in a word file or word bank. This will provide additional practice in alphabetizing.

As an alternative, have students take their word cards out of their banks and shuffle them. Then have students choose a partner and swap cards. Students will then alphabetize each others' cards and return them to be checked by the owner. This activity could lead to a discussion between students about the words and their meanings.

Objective
The learner will expand oral vocabulary through related experiences.
Activities
1. Label and show students pictures of familiar objects and let them discuss how the pictures would change when new labels are added.
Example
An old hat
A new hat
a flowered hat.
2. A student will fill a grab bag or box with various objects or pictures depicting everyday events, such as the family eating together, children riding the school bus or someone shopping for groceries. Have the students reach in and pull out a picture and use some descriptive words in sentences to explain the picture. Make a class book from the sentences and let the students read the book aloud.
3. Have students collect and bring to class objects with various textures, colors, shapes and sizes. The students will describe the objects using such words as hard, soft, rough, smooth, thin, flat, hairy, round, square, big and small.

Objective The learner will develop and understand meaningful vocabulary and concepts when presented orally.
Activity Have several students give oral directions to other members of the class. "Lucille. walk slowly to the door." "Bill, run to the reading corner and bring me a large book and a small book."
Objective The learner will use basic elements of sentence structure in expressing written ideas.
Activity The teacher will take the students on an "Experience Trip" to the zoo, farm, shopping mall, or museum. When the students return to the classroom they will discuss the trip orally, with the teacher writing words and phrases on a chalkboard or chart. The students will use the words and phrases to write complete sentences, paragraphs and stories.
Objective The learner will develop skills necessary for writing personal and business correspondence.
Activities 1. The teacher will discuss with and show the
class examples of personal and business letters, letters of invitation, thank you notes and get-well cards. 2. Let students bring to class and read various letters or cards they have received. 3. Have students write a business letter, a personalletter, an invitation and a get-well card. 4. Start a pen pal project.
Objective The learner will understand multiple meanings and specific meanings of words. Activities 1. Use the same word in several different senten-
ces with each sentence using a different mean-

12

ing of the word. Ask the students to define the word in their own language as it is used in each sentence.
Example
The factory workers went on strike.
Close the cover before you strike that match.
Strike up the band!
Variations
Have students look up the word in the dic- . tionary and determine which dictionary definition matched their own.
Have students write a paragraph or short, simple story using the word as many times with as many different meanings and usages as they can imagine. For instance, a baseball story could be written to include such examples as-batter being struck by ball; batter striking out; concessionaires on strike; band striking-up to play the national anthem; a called strike three; striking uniforms.
2. Discuss words that are pronounced and spelled the same (homographs) but that have multiple meanings. Review some examples, such as the following
run: route, ravel, scoring point
bar: solid material, fasten, song part
part: role, duty, region
Ask students to search during the week for additional concepts, meanings or usages for the above words. Later in the week, divide the class into two groups. Print a set of sentences and a set of definitions on cards and tape them on the students. Have students find their partner(s) and match sentences with definitions by matching the sentence card with the definition cards. For instance, the student with this sentence on his or her chest "The newspaper carrier completed the run in 45 minutes" would try to find a classmate with this definition taped on his or her chest. Run/route-the distance covered or the amount of work turned out during a special course, time or operation."
3. Have students find the confused word and make it right.
1. Crispy Flakes is my favorite serial. (cereal)

2. Today the whether is hot and humid. (weather)
3. Please right your name and number on this form. (write)
4. "I would like a peace of chocolate cake. (piece)
Students may have fun making uP. their own sentences using different homonyms.
Objectives
The learner will show increasing skill in obtaining word mean-
ings from context. learn to use different types of aids as clues to
word meanings.
Activity
Provide students with opportunities that would help them use and become more aware of various types of context clues such as the following.
1. Definition clue: A gargoyle is a water-spout, usually carved in the form of a fantastic creature, projecting from the gutter of a building.
2. Apposition clue: Nathan Hale, an American Revolutionary soldier, said, "I regret that I have but one life to give to my country."
3. Example clue: Trumpets, flutes and oboes are wind instruments.
4. Substitute word clue: synonyms, antonyms, homonyms
a. The fire fighters extinguished or put out the grass fire within a few minutes.
b. When climbing a mountain path many hikers feel that the ascent is more tiring than the descent.
Objective
The learner will see the interrelationship between reading and daily life processes.
Activities
1. Have students provide labels from clothes, cans, bottles and packages. Place the labels on the opaque projector. Let pupils read the different labels. List the descriptive words used.

13

2. Have students collect old magazines and bring them to class. Divide the class into groups and have students look for metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech in the advertisements. Have them make and display posters illustrating the ways the figures of speech were used.
3. Have students bring in a drugstore or discount store advertisement from the local newspaper. Make up questions related to the ad and let students find the answers. This can be a class or small team activity. It can be a written or an oral activity. The teacher can make up questions or each group can supply questions which another group must answer.
Example
a. Find three compound words (notebook, toothpaste, mouthwash).
b. How many syllables are in the words oscillating and disinfectant? (4)
c. What item is the most expensive? (fan)
d. Which is cheaper-the car polish or the nail polish remover? (nail polish remover)
e. Name some recreational items. (tennis balls, playing cards)
f. What do the words oscillating and cosmetic mean?
g. What items can you drink? (iced tea, sodas)
4. There are many opportunities during the year for fun and practice in which students can become familiar with the information needed to fill out various forms, such as ordering books from a book club, subscribing to a newspaper or magazine, or ordering tickets to a ballgame; supplies for school or clothes from catalogs.
Objective
The learner will be able to locate information using various resources.
Activities
1. Have students identify story sites on a world map, atlas or globe. Have them classify various sites by city/town, state/country, continent. Have them learn and use abbreviations for the names of cities, states, countries and continents.

2. Ust the topics, events and names of people and places about which pupils have read. Also list various references. Have pupils tell which sources may be used to find information for each item or question in the first list.
3. Ust three types of reference materials on the board. Ask students which reference they would use to find the answer to a particular question. Then have them go to the source and prove they are correct by finding and reading the answer.
Example: Dictionary, Encyclopedia or Atlas
1. Where would you find background information on Houdini?
2. What source would you use to find the capital of Mississippi?
3. What is the meaning of the word "charisma"?
This activity can be made into a game with each team being awarded points for the most correct answers given in a limited time period.
4. Use students' interest in codes and ciphers to develop dictionary skills. For instance, explain how to use the code and give several examples. Using the dictionary, have students send a coded message to a friend who must also respond in code.
Example

Page

Entry words

Column

down

1.

343

1

25

2.

863

1

2

3.

671

2

3

4.

724

2

20

5.

790

1

15

The code reads-Have you seen "Star Trek"?
5. Have students send messages. They must write each word using a pronounciation key.
Example whar doo u liv? (Where do you live?)

Objective
The learner will improve verbal expression and learn to communicate feelings and emotions.

14

Activities
1. List and discuss various emotions that a tone of voice may portray-fear, anger, joy, teasing, excitement, impatience, indifference. Use examples to indicate how identical words, phrases or sentences may mean different things depending on how they are said. Let students create sentences demonstrating these techniques. Have other classmates guess the emotion. (Observe nonverbal communication.)
Example
1. Danny, Mrs. Candle wants to see you right away.
2. ('m going to the junior varsity basketball scrimmage.
3. You'd better watch out.
2. Have students read sentences using different inflections or intonations to change meanings.
Example Where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going?
Objective
The learner will communicate and relate information, speaking clearly and using language understandable to others.
Activities
1. Have students explain the procedures or give instructions for a class assignment.
2. Have different group or team leaders discuss the rules of a game. Instructions as to how to play the game may be stated only one time. See if the game goes smoothly or if questions arise because of unclear instructions.
Objectives
The learner will give precise oral directions. adjust style and manner of speaking to the
situation and audience.
Activities
1. Provide time and materials for students to share a favorite book or interesting story read during a lesson; then have the students develop

and present the story as a dramatization, puppet show, television show or radio program.
2. Set up situations in which students must perform the following activities
a. Have students try to persuade a friend to trade football/baseball cards, stamps for a collection or decals.
b. Have each student be a salesperson. See who can come up with the best sales pitch. Have each student sell a 10-speed bike or skateboard to a friend or to a friend's "parent."
c. Have students describe various places they have been or learned about such as restaurants. musical concert. Atlantic Ocean. See if others in the class can identify them.
3. Lost or found! Have a student give oral directions to another student who must follow the directions exactly. See if he or she finds the location or if he or she gets lost.
Directions may be given to find particular locations within the school: from one point to the next; from one class to the next period class; from the office to the home economics wing; from the bandroom to the auditorium; from the media center to the cafeteria; from the lab to the gymnasium.
Objective
The learner will write for a variety of purposes-to obtain and record information; to entertain; to express thoughts and ideas.
Activities
1. Have students write diaries, journals or logs to record activities and interesting experiences.
2. Students may write and mail business letters requesting free brochures, maps or other information related to units of study.
3. Display action and unusual pictures and discuss several with the class. Have students write their ideas and impressions about a picture using as many descriptive words as possible.
4. The teacher may read a biography about a famous author. Students will rewrite or paraphrase the information. Several students may volunteer to read their reports. Comparisons between similarities. differences and accuracy can be discussed. Small groups may join

15

together and combine reports into a single team project. Outlining and organizational skills can be discussed during this activity.
5. Vocabulary card files can be kept. Words should be put in context, spelled correctly and illustrated if desired. File cards may be kept of antonyms, synonyms, homonyms, figures of speech. homographs and idioms studied.

Resources
Spache. Evelyn B. Reading Activities for Child Involvement. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 1972.
Russell. David H. and Karp. Etta E. Reading Aids through the Grades. New York: Teacher College Press. 1975.

16

Comprehension

Reading comprehension. What is it? How do you teach it? How do youngsters learn to comprehend? This section will provide some answers to these questions. Also included are sample activities which encourage the integration of the teaching of comprehension with the other components of the language arts. The activities and approaches described will provide insight into a basic philosophy upon which classroom instruction can be based. The approaches described are practical. The methods work. This philosophy is based on empirical data. The final ingredient to be added is the thoughtful insight and careful preparation of the teacher.
What is Reading Comprehension?
Although numerous complex definitions of reading comprehension abound, none is more accurate than Hafner's (1977, p. 127) in which he defined comprehension as, "understanding the meaning intended by the author." Reading comprehension is, asserts Hafner, "the ability to make a thorough logical analysis of conceptual or cognitive relationships." The process. says Griese (1977. p. 62). involves basic skill areas as follows.
Identifying specific ideas and their meanings
Establishing the organization of these ideas
Reacting - both emotionally and intellectually to the ideas
It is with this basic definition and with the notion that comprehension is a series of complex and interrelated mental processes that this chapter approaches the teaching of reading comprehension.
What are the processes and skins which comprise reading comprehension?
The follOWing list of comprehension skills have been identified in The Essential Skills for Georgia Schools.
The learner will
1. recognize. recall and retell
a. the main idea(s), b. details, c. sequence, d. cause-effect relationships.

2. read and follow printed directions.
3. draw conclusions from facts given.
4. infer that which is not explicitly stated in a selection a. main idea(s), b. details that support main idea; c. sequence, d. cause-effect.
5. recognize information and ideas through a. classifying, b. outlining, c. summarizing, d. synthesizing.
6. make judgments.
7. predict outcomes.
8. infer literal meaning from author's use of figurative language.
9. infer figurative meaning from author's use of literal language.
10. distinguish between fact and opinion.
11. distinguish fiction from nonfiction.
12. distinguish reality from fantasy.
13. make comparisons using stated information.
14. make comparisons using implied information.
15. recognize use of propaganda techniques.
16. interpret symbols (including special subject area notations) and symbolic language.
17. recognize relevance of data.
18. recognize relationships of time and place.
19. make appropriate generalizations.
20. interpret and use information presented graphically, such as
a. maps, b. graphs, c. charts, d. tables, e. schedules, f. diagrams.

17

What are the components of Reading Comprehension?
For the purpose of this discussion, reading comprehension has been divided into four components.
Literal meaning Interpretative meaning Critical meaning Vocabulary development
Operationally, the definitions of the first three components very closely adhere to Barrett's Taxonomy of Reading Comprehension (1972).
Uteral coaaprehension requires the recognition or recall of ideas or information as explicitly stated in the text. Included in this category are the recognition and recall of the following.
Details Main ideas Sequence Comparisons Cause and effect relationships Character traits Graphic information
In inferential coaaprehension, the student synthesizes his or her knowledge, experience and feelings as a basis for conjectures or hypotheses. The tasks included in this category are as follows.
Inferring supporting details Inferring the main idea Inferring sequence Inferring comparisons Inferring cause and effect relationships Inferring character traits Predicting outcomes Inferring about figurative language Interpreting and using information presented
graphically.
Critical coaaprehension requires the student to make judgments about the content of a reading selection through external criteria evaluation. Included among the capabilities that the student should acquire are the following.
Make judgments between reality or fantasy Distinguish between fact and opinion Make comparisons and contrasts Recognize the use of propaganda techniques Distinguish literary styles Recognize the author's techniques Recognize biased statements Determine the intent of the author Test conclusions

Vocabulary developaaent is essential if students are to increase their ability to comprehend the printed page. As reported in the Georgia Department of Education publication (1978, p. 7) A Synthesis ofResearch on Reading, "Reading authorities appear to agree that attention to increasing children's listening, speaking and reading vocabularies should be a constant objective with attention given to selecting materials which enrich children's existing vocabularies without containing so much new vocabulary that reading becomes frustrating." In short, the research seems to say that effective vocabulary development occurs when the appropriate materials are selected and when the vocabulary occurs in some meaningful context rather than in isolation (word lists or words out on context). Indeed, Griese (p. 5) says "Those who teach reading comprehension, at whatever grade level, must actively strive to provide the pupil with varied experiences and to promote the vocabulary connected with these experiences." The skills that students are expected to acquire in this area are as follows.
Use word meaning Select correct definitions Use context clues to obtain meaning Interpret figurative language Recognize multiple meanings for words in
context.
Reading Coaaprehension In The Early Grades
The development of comprehension skills actually begins long before a youngster enters school. While a child is actively acquiring and using his or her native language, the developmental processes for comprehension are being learned. These skills, which begin before the formal education process begins, develop and expand with ever increasing complexity throughout the stu. dent's career. The major factors which will encourage the development of effective reading comprehension skills in the primary grades are as follows. Exposure to a variety of reading experiences
for pleasure (student selected and teacher selected) should be incorporated into the program.
Full and meaningful discussion of stories and other literature with maximum student participation is desirable.
Discussions should be open-ended (not always structured) and questioning should be at a variety of levels - literal, inferential, ~plicative and analytical (critical).

18

Opportunites must be provided for the student to apply the readinS skills to a real reading situation (transfer from the practice page/ditto sheet to a real situation.)
Balance the word-by-word and the meaning emphasis approaches to beginning reading as reported by Golinkoff (1975-76). Both poor and good comprehenders could obtain meanings from single words, thus comprehension difficulties cannot be remediated by focusing on single words since such a focus does not relate to the process of extracting information from print. What is needed in order to improve comprehension efficiency is instruction in extracting structure and organization from the text.
Readin. Comprehension In the Middle Grades
Students in the middle grades are different from primary students and high school students. Intellectually, physically, emotionally and psychologically, middle grade students are just beginning to explore their world. Their needs are varied. If the instructional program for these students is to be effective, it must take into account the varied nature of these learners. Perhaps more so than any other area, the reading program must employ a wide range of materials, be based on

effective diagnostic and prescriptive procedures and be effective and efficient with respect to management. Reading instruction in the middle grades is also the responsibility of content area teachers. As students move into more sophisticated reading content area materials, the demands and expectations of teachers on the reading abilities of students also increase. Instruction in the specific reading skills required in science, mathematics, social studies, English, the other content areas and their accompanying skills is essential. A balanced program which includes instruction in the reading class with heavy emphasis on applications of skills in real situations and content area programs sensitive to the needs and capabilities of the students is essential for success. In short, the middle grades reading program should show a high level of awareness of the special cognitive. affective. psychological characteristics of the middle grades student. As pointed out in the Georgia Department of Education publication, A Synthesis of Research on Reading (1978, p. 15), "The research on middle school reading supports the significance of meaning in reading and shows that interest, structure of materials, imagery and language awareness affect comprehension." Programs developed and based on this knowledge will increase the Iikeli hood that students will comprehend effectively.

19

Sample Activities
Comprehension Grades K-4

Literal Comprehension
Objective
The learner will read for details.
Activities
1. After reading a story, have the students locate the sentence which answers any question on its content.
2. Have the students read a selection and give them a list of incomplete sentences based upon it. Have them complete each sentence by filling in the correct answer.
3. Have the students read a selection which contains specific facts. Have them identify a given number of facts within the selection.
Objective
The learner will organize to show sequence.
Activities
1. Show a group of pictures depicting a familiar series of events in scrambled sequence. Have students arrange the pictures in logical order and explain the sequence.
2. Give the students a story and set of scrambled pictures depicting its content. Have the students arrange the illustrations in the order of their occurrence in the story.
3. Give the students two sentences and have them identify which describes past time and which describes present time.
4. Use a reading selection and a list of statements relating to its content and have the students place these statements in order of their occurrence in the selection.
Objective
The learner will note details and recall facts.
Activities
1. Use a series of noun phrases and have the students draw a picture to iIIusrate each one. Example- a red bicycle, an airplane.

2. Read a story and have the students draw from memory pictorial representations of its content.
Objective
The learner will recognize main ideas.
Activities
1. Show a picture with a list of sentences and have the students select the sentence which best describes the illustration.
2. Read a story without telling the title and have the students write a title for the story based on its content.
3. Give a short paragraph to the students and have them compose a title for it based on its content.
4. Have the students read a paragraph and write a statement giving its main idea.
5. Show a series of pictures telling a story and have the students state the main idea in their own words.
6. Use a paragraph designed in the configuration of its content and have the students identify its subject matter. Example- use the configuration of an apple and state the characteristics of an apple in the paragraph.
7. Have the students read a story and ask them to compose a title suitable to the material.
8. Have the students read a short passage and select from a list of three statements the one which most closely describes the main idea of the sentence.
Objective
The learner will locate specific information.
Activities
1. Give the students a set of sentences and a question and have them identify the sentence which answers the question.

20

2. Give the students a pargraph and have them locate the sentence which answers a specific question.
3. Give the students a story to read. Give them a question related to the story and have them identify the section of the story which reveals the answer.
Inferential Comprehension
Objective
The learner will recognize emotional attitudes.
Activities
1. Have the students read a short story, then locate and list the words which identify the main characters' feelings.
2. Have the students read a short story and state how the main character felt at the beginning and end of the story.
3. Show pictures which illustrate different emotions. Have the students state the emotion depicted by each one.
4. Show a picture depicting an emotional scene. Have the students state the feelings of the characters in the picture.
5. Have the students read a paragraph describing a character in a particular situation; then have them identify the emotions they imagine were experienced by the character in situation described.
Objective
The learner will predict outcomes.
Activities
1. Have the students read a segment from an unfamiliar story and a set of sentences stating what may happen next. Ask them to identify which of the sentences most accurately predicts the outcome of the story.
2. Have the students read only part of a given story and write one sentence predicting its outcome.
Objective
The learner will see relationships.

Activities
1. Use a story, two topic headings and a list of phrases from the story. Have the students classify each phrase under its proper heading.
2. Use an illustration and several sentences, some of which include distractors. and have the students select those sentences which relate to the picture.
3. Have the students read a selection of cause and effect relationships; then have them identify the relationships by matching each cause statement with its corresponding effect statement.
Objective
The learner will interpret story facts.
Activities
1. Have the students read two short stories and write a sentence which describes one similarity between the stories.
2. Have the students read several fables and write a paragraph describing the characteristics of fables.
Objective
The learner will interpret pictures and story facts.
Activities
1. Use a set of representative pictures from a specific story and have the students identify the character associated with each one.
2. Use a set of pictures. Have the students identify a familiar story associated with each illustration.
Objective
The learner will draw conclusions from story facts.
Activity
Have the students read a selection along with a set of conclusions and identify the most logical conclusion.
Objective
The learner will identify sensory images.
Activities
1. Have the students read a passage containing a specific mood and a list of feelings; then

21 .

have them identify the feeling conveyed by the passage.
2. Have the students read several paragraphs depicting emotional situations including a list of emotions, and identify the emotion depicted by each paragraph.
Objective
The learner will draw conclusions.
Activities
1. Have the students read a story without its ending. Give them three different conclusions to select the one which best predicts the story's ending.
2. Give the students a passage without an ending and have them predict a likely outcome and state why the conclusion is a logical one.
Objective
The learner will make inferences from facts.
Activities
1. Have the students read a short story and a list of how and why questions based on its content. Have them infer as well as state the answer to each one.
2. Present a story title and have the students state an environment in which the story might logically occur.
3. Give a paragraph describing an event and have the students state which of its sentences infers the results of that event.
Objective
The learner will make a characterization.
Activity
Use a list of characters from a specific story and have the students identify the characteristics of each as implied by the contents of the story.
Objective
The learner will make inferences.
Activities
1. Use a selection in which only facts are presented, and have the students state a conclusion which may be inferred from the material.

2. Show the students a picture. Ask the students what might have happened before in the picture and what might happen next.
3. Read a story to the students, and based on the facts in the story have them suggest a title for the story. You might suggest three two of which would not in any way relate to the story.
4. Have the students read a story in which the author did not explicitly give the character traits of the characters or character in the story. Have the students infer the traits based on the facts in the story.
5. Have the students read two science experiments in their science books. In each case call attention to the end product in the experiment. Have the students infer causes that may have produced the end result of the experiment. Pictures may be used for this purpose. Have the students infer causes for what they see in the picture.
6. Select an article from the newspaper and. based on the information contained in the article, have the students infer such things as time, season, character traits.
Critical Comprehension
Objective
The learner will make comparisons and contrasts.
Activities
1. Give three short animal stories to the students and have them describe the characteristics of the animals which are alike and then those characteristics which are different. Have the students identify each character in each story. Write the names of the characters of each of the three stories on the board and then have the students recall characteristics about each story. Write these on the board under the names of the stories. When you have recorded all ofthe characteristics, read a characteristic of the first animal and ask the sudents which other animals shared this characteristic and so on.
2. Read two stories to the students. One of the stories might be about life in the city and the other be about life in the country. Ask the

22

student to describe the differences between city and country life. Example - "City Streets and Country Roads" by Eleanor Farjeon in the Sound of Poetry by Mary Austin.
3. Read two stories that have similar themes and have the students identify their similarities. For example, read "Cuff, A Black Bear" and "Lady Washington" from Bear Stories Dolch Basic Book, Garrard Publishing Co.. 1957.
4. Have the students write on a common topic, e.g., fun, bravery. After the students have written on the same subject, ask pairs of students to read what they have written and ask the class to compare the versions.
5. Take an article from two newspapers that have been written on the same topic but by different writers. Make copies and distribute them to the students. Have them list those things which are alike about the articles and those things which are different.
Objective
The learner will distinguish fact from fantasy.
Activities
1. Read an animal story to the students in which the characters act like people. Have the students identify those actions which are unrealistic for animals to perform. For example, read The Three Bears and let the students identify those actions unrealistic for bears.
2. Tell the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Ask the students to tell two things that could be true about it or two things that could not be true. Example- True (1) the kind woodsman and (2) Snow White's feelings of fright and sadness when left alone in the wilderness.
3. Show the students pictures which contain absurdities and have the students identify the absurdities.
4. Show the students a picture containing humor or exaggeration. Have the student identify the humorous or exaggerated portion of the illustration. For example, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon, money growing on trees.
5. Read a story to the students such as Albert Harris's "Three Wishes" in Enchanted Gates. Ask the students to identify three sentences in

the story that could be true and three sentences in the story that may not be true.
Objective
The learner will distinguish literary styles.
Activities
1. Read a short, nonsensical poem and one rhyming couplet to the students. Have the students identify the differences in style.
2. Read haiku selections and a limerick. Have the students describe the difference.
3. Have the students read a tragedy and then a comedy. Have them compare the two types of work. Lead them to discover the elements of each.
4. Have the students read a news report; then have them read a story in which the author uses various techniques to get the readers' sympathy.
5. Give the students a short story, an expository article and a poem. Have them compare the three forms of writing.
Objective
The learner will recognize the author's techniques.
Activities
1. Take a story from the class textbook. Ask the students to explain why that particular story was included in the book. Let the students respond freely and. as they respond. try to summarize their comments.
2. Read two stories containing contrasting emotional responses, e.g., sad and happy. Have the students identify those elements in the sad story that made them feel sad. Have them identify those elements in the happy story that made them feel happy.
3. Have the students begin writing a happy story about anything of their choice. At the end of three minutes, have them exchange their stories with classmates across the aisle. Allow them equal time to complete the story. At the end of the three minutes, have the students read their stories. Look for consistency from writer to writer. Ask the class to judge if the stories were all happy or how they changed.
4. Use the same activity as in #3 but this time have each student begin a happy story but

23

have the second writertum it into a sad story. Have the students judge whether each writer fulfilled the assignment.
Objective
The learner will distinguish fact from opinion.
Activities
1. Give the students about five sentences which may be fact or opinion and ask them to tell you which sentences are fact and which are opinion.
2. Give the students a reading selection that contains paragraphs which may be fact or opinion and ask them to identify the fact and opinion paragraphs.

3. Have the students compare fact sentences with opinion sentences. Ask them to tell what is alike and what is different about these sentences. Lead them to discover the modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) in the opinion sentences.
4. Select a newspaper article which gives facts about a topic such as drug use, and contrast this with someone else's opinion about drug use.
5. Select an article of opinion from a magazine or newspaper and have the students point out and analyze the author's persuasive techniques.

24

Sample Activities
Vocabulary Development Grades K8

Objective
The learner will use word meaning.
Activities
1. Show a picture and have the students tell a story about it. Give the picture a title before the exercise begins.
2. Give the students pairs of words and have them identify those which are synonyms.
3. Give the students a word and have them write its antonym. Example- down - up, black white.
4. Give the students pairs of U(ords and have them identify those which are antonyms.
5. Give the students a list of words and an unfamiliar word in a sentence. Have the students use the context of the sentence to determine the word on the list which has the same meaning as the unfamiliar word in the sentence.
6. Give the students a series of words. Have them identify the set of homonyms contained therein. Example- our. own, hour. horn.
Objective
The learner will use context.
Activities
1. Give a list of words and a picture representing one of the words. Have the students identify the word that names the picture.
2. Give the students a list of words and a sentence missing one word. Have them select the word from the list which best completes the sentence. Example- Scissors are for - - . (a. cutting. b. stapling, c. filing)

3. Give the students sentences with a key word missing from each one. Have them supply the missing word in each sentence by using the context to determine the correct answer.
Objective
The learner will interpret figurative language.
Activities
1. Give the students a passage containing a hyperbole and have them identify it. ExampleWould you go to a movie if your parents would let you? I'd jump at the chance!"
2. Give the students a passage containing a metaphor and have them identify the metaphoric statement. Example - uThe hobo trudged along a dirt path at night. The road was a ribbon of moonlight. It made his direction easy."
3. Give the students sentences containing an onomatopoeia in each and have them identify the onomatopoeic word. Example -uA soft wind rustled through the trees."
4. Give the students a group of sentences, several of which contain personification. Have them identify the personified sentences. Examples -a. Fish high-jumped from the silver lake. b. Birds chattered songs in the forest trees.
5. Give the students passages containing similes. Have them identify the sentences which contain the similes. Example- "The students are as hungry as horses. Soon the noon bell will ring. and they will run off to lunch.

25

Sample Activities
Comprehension Grades 5-8

Literal Comprehension
Objective
The learner will identify main ideas.
Activities
1. Identifying main ideas involves conceptualizing the central thought of a sentence, paragraph, chapter subsection, chapter or manuscript. Locating the main idea of a sentence may be made easier by analyzing the grammatical structure of the sentence and the relationship between components. The main idea is usually found in the portion of the sentence that contains the subject and the predicate.
2. During a lesson, content area teachers may use this technique to stress main ideas. For example, when asking students to read material for the first time, the teacher begins by saying "Read chapter 3 and list five of its major ideas." This will accomplish two goals. First. it will tell the students what they are expected to do by making explicit their purpose for reading. Second, it will give them practice in looking for main ideas. During class the teacher can ask questions that require students to locate or generate main ideas; for example, "What is the main point of this chapter?" or "What is the main idea that the author of this paragraph is trying to convey?"
Objective
The learner will identify details.
Activities
1. Identifying details requires the location and recall of specifically stated facts. The ability to identify details is basic if other reading skills are to be learned. It is impossible to formulate a main idea if the supporting facts cannot be found. For example, locating a cause and effect relationship requires finding the detail that shows cause and the one that shows effect. To identify fact and fiction requires locating items in the material that reflect fact or fiction.

2. Various techniques can be used to help students learn to select and recall details. Primary among these is telling students why they are being asked to look for details.
Objective
The learner will identify sequences.
Activity
Identifying sequence involves aspects oftime and space. Time or chronological sequence, as one example, involves the student's locating and recalling the order of incidents or actions explicitly stated in a selection.
Evaluation
The student should be able to identify individual events in a story and describe and illustrate each one in proper sequence.
FoUow Up
Ask students to make a list of between six and ten main events or ideas from a fiction book they have read. Their list must be in proper chronological sequence.
Inferential Comprehension
Objective
The learner will make generalizations and draw conclusions.
Activity
To make generalizations and draw conclusions, students must be encouraged to establish connections and relationships among seemingly unrelated pieces of information. Making a generalization requires the reader to conceptualize a relationship between facts that are directly stated and those that are inferred. Students generalize when they infer the similarities and differences between separate situations or events.

26

Evaluation
Students make up riddles for their classmates to solve.
FoUowUp
The teacher may distribute a sheet of paper with a set of riddles on it. The students compete to see who can solve all of the riddles first. Students may work in pairs.

Objective

The learner will recognize cause-effect relationships.

Activity

Identifying cause-effect relationships requires students to recognize the reasons for certain occurrences or reactions. Locating cause-effect relationships is necessary in order to understand more fully material that is read. It is a skill which is the basis upon which other skills are built, such as making inferences and generalizations. It is a skill dependent upon the ability to understand a sequence of events. This skill may be reinforced by helping students recognize causes in simple situations. For example, consider the following sentence-"If you drive too fast, you may get a traffic ticket:' Most youngsters should recognize "drives too fast" as the cause and "get a traffic ticket" as the effect. If students have difficulty understanding the cause-effect relationships, awareness of the clue word "because" either directly stated or implied, may help them.

EvaluatioD

The student will be able to give a list of possible causes if given an effect, or give a list of possible effects if given a cause.

Follow Up

On the board list a cause and several possible effects or list an effect first and then possible causes.
Example

Overeating

Effects Felt overfed Felt lazy Became ill

Ca.ses Out of gas Flat tire Traffic jam

Effect Late to school

Objective The learner will identify characterization.

Activity
Identifying characterization requires the reader to interpret what the author has written about a person. Seven means by which a writer indicates character to a reader are
1. The person's thoughts
2. The person's speech (both what is said and how it is said)
3. The person's appearance
4. The person's actions
5. Ways in which other characters discuss the person
6. Actions of the other characters toward the person
7. The author's comments about the person.
Evaluation
After reading a selection, a student should be able to answer questions about the characters and the setting of the story.
FoUowUp
Ask the students to read a biography or a fiction story. While they read, they should pay careful attention to the personality and the actions of the main characters. When they finish, they should list the character traits they have discovered.
Critical Comprehension
Objective
The learner will distinguish between facts and opinions.
Activity
Identifying opinions requires the reader to analyze paragraphs for clues such as
We anticipate ... There will probably be ... The possibility exists that ... The ... claims . It is believed that . It is rumored that . . . ... thinks that ... High sources report ... Informed sources tell us . . .
EvaluatioD
Given a list of statements, the students will be able to distinguish the facts from the opinions.

27

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FoUo.... Up
Prepare a "Think and Know Inventory" on any subject you wish a student to pursue. This should include open-ended statements which are the beginning of facts or opinions. The student must write think or know before the statements; think if the statement begins an opinion, know if the statement is factual.
Example
(Know) Tuesday is one ofthe days ofthe week. (Think) Tuesday may be a cold day.
Objective
The learner will identify the author's purpose.
Activity
Identifying the author's purpose requires the student to become aware of the writer's motives. Students who realize the author's purpose are in a better position to evaluate his or her meaning. For example, if the author's goal is to sell a product rather than to simply describe it, the writing takes on a different meaning.
Evaluation
Students will be able to determine if the material is presented as fact, opinion or recreational reading.
Folio.... Up
Have students compare writings of different authors and different types of material to note differences in purpose.

Objective
The learner will identify propaganda techniques.
Activity
Identifying propaganda requires students to be aware of propaganda devices, why they are used, how they are used. what effects they have on wary readers and why they mayor may not be generally accepted. The seven basic types of propaganda are name calling, glittering generalities, transfer, plain folks, testimonial, card stacking and bandwagon.
To help students recognize propaganda, they can be taught to do the following. Examine the writer's reputation. Examine the writer's purpose. Consider their own background of experiences
and familiarity with the subject. Notice any propaganda techniques used. Decide to accept or reject the ideas offered or
to delay making a decision until more information is available.
Evaluation
Given a variety of material, students should be able to identify the persuasion technique and for what purpose the material was written.
FoUo.... Up
Use specific examples of propaganda techniques such as name calling, glittering generalities, bandwagon. Use old magazines and newspaper articles. Have a poster prepared illustrating each technique.

28

Sample Activities
Integrating Reading Comprehension with Other Language Arts Grades K8

Objectives
The learner will
use resource tools (dictionary) to denote the meanings of unknown words.
recognize and use antonyms, synonyms and homonyms.
Activities
1. Select words likely to cause difficulty and have the class look up unknown words in the dictionary.
2. Opposites -Write on the board a list of words and beside it have students list the antonyms. Adapt the vocabulary to the ability level of the group.
Variation
List one column of words and beside it a column of synonyms. Pupils may match synonyms in the way described above.
3. Odd-Ball-Write on the board groups of four words, three of which have related or similar meanings, and the fourth being opposite or unrelated. Have students select the word that does not fit in the category. Vary the difficulty of the vocabulary to suit the ability level of the group.
4. Encourage class discussion of the fact that no one can tell whether to spell the word p-e-a-r, p-a-i-r or p-a-r-e unless the word is defined or used in a sentence. Write a group of sentences on the board. Have pupils choose the correct word from the homonyms given to complete the sentences.
Objective
The learner will use comprehension techniques with functional reading activities.
Activities
1. Have students read classified ads in the local newspaper and a newspaper from another city.

Have them make a list of the type of jobs available in the local area and list any special qualifications needed for each job. Have them compare the types of jobs available in the two cities and discuss differences.

2. Use road maps. Divide the class into groups of two or more and plan an imaginary trip. Circle starting point and destination. Have students mark their route taking into consideration mileage, type of road and direction. This will help students interpret map legends.
3. Compare prices on the same items sold by drugstores and food stores. Compare for the lowest prices, best quality products, best service. Make a chart large enough for all of the class to see.

4. Cut out advertisements from the newspaper and classify them by category - clothing, food, home use, outdoor use.

5. Show symbols and signs and ask students to identify them. Ask volunteers to draw symbols with which they are familiar. Possible symbols the students might suggest

road signs trademarks park signs

club symbols charitable organizations armed forces insignia

Objectives
The learner will
Use index and chapter titles effectively.
Compile materials into a booklet with a table of contents and an index.
Activities
1. Playa game called "A Race for Time". The students are given a list of things to find by using the index of a textbook. When they find the page, they are to write down the first word on that page. They will be given five minutes. The first one to finish before time is up will be the winner. If no one finished by the end of the

29

allotted time, the one who has completed most of the list wins.
2. On the chalkboard, print a series of chapter titles found in a textbook. Arrange the titles so students will have to skip about in their search for the page numbers in the table of contents. Have the first student who finds the correct page number for the first listed title tell the class the number. Ask the student how she or he found it so quickly. Discuss efficient methods of looking for a title by identifying clues instead of reading complete titles.
3. Have the students compile a booklet containing favorite stories, poems or articles. Complete the collection with a table of contents and an index.
Objective
The learner will engage in large and small group expression activities which require the communication and exchange of ideas and information.
Activities
1. Have a class discussion on a preselected topic. A student is assigned to present a brief report of the meeting or discussion.

2. Read aloud the opening line of a story. Then ask each student to read two or three sentences from the story. At a certain point, ring a bell. The student whose tum it is when the bell is rung must try to tell the class how the story might end.
Objective
The learner will engage in written communication activities that will increase his or her capacity to comprehend written materials. .
Activities
1. Ask one student to leave the room. While he or she is out, hide an object somewhere in the room. Have the class prepare a set of directions for the student to follow that will lead him or her to the object. Write directions on the board such as "Start from the doorway. Tum right at Michael's desk. Make a circle around the book case." Make the directions as complex as you wish.
2. Distribute a sheet of paper to each pupil. Have them write directions for an activity that they know how to do.
3. Write a set of directions for doing a special job or making something that is not in proper order. Ask each student to put the directions in order.

30

Functional Reading Skills

The necessity of specific reading skills to function adequatelty in the world outside of school can serve as a motivator for reading instruction. Educators must capitalize on the fact that students of all ages come in contact with symbols and words in situations other than in the classroom. We cannot assume that the reading skills taught in basal readers and other school books will automatically transfer to the varied reading contexts encountered beyond the school setting. To ensure successful reading in these outside contexts, we must include instruction and practice with reading materials that are part of the real world.
Functional reading includes knowing symbols and words to respond effectively to the complexities of daily living beyond the classroom environment. Functional reading skills are also called survival skills, life role skills or competencies, functional literacy and real world learning.
Grades K-4 are the appropriate levels to expand the awareness of printed material from within the classroom to various outside segments of society. Emphasizing the students' contact with print from their background experiences through such items as a grocery list, the marquee outside a store and labels on store merchandise will set the stage for developing an appreciation for the importance of reading in our society and an awareness for needed skill instruction. The appreciation of reading as a pleasurable experience, however, should not be forgotten; viewing a television program such as ULittie House on the Prairie" might encourage a student to read a book about the lives of early settlers.
Grades 5-8 are opportune places in the curriculum to develop functional skills in a systematic way. It is during these years that a substantial increase occurs in a student's interactions with the world. The student becomes more independent and encounters situations in which reading becomes a facilitator of real world accomplishments.
It is essential that functional reading skills be included within the reading curriculum for all grades. The following objectives are listed under functional reading in the language arts section of the Essential Skills for Georgia Schools. It is suggested that Objectives 1-4 be introduced in

grades K-4 and developed throughout grades 5-8. Many career education objectives are appropriate for K-4; those listed under Objective 5, however, are more suitable for introduction at grades 5-8.
The learner will

1. interpret and use basic instructions and label-

ing information.

.

a. recipes b. clothing care instructions c. owner's manuals for appliances d. warning labels (poison control, electrical
hazards) e. product contents and nutritional informa-
tion labels
2. interpret and use procedures, forms, applications and agreements including those relating to money management (at a nontechnical level).
a. discount coupons b. credit cards c. banking procedures d. payments and loans e. change of address forms f. social security card applications

3. interpret and use various forms of written communication.
a. directories b. correspondence (business and personal) c. mass media (newspapers, magazines, ad-
vertisements)
4. interpret and use functional transportation information. a. routes, schedules and timetables b. signs, marquees and billboards c. driver's manual d. travel brochures
5. interpret and use occupational and career information. a. job listings b. paycheck stubs c. salary schedule and benefits.
Students may encounter various materials in their daily experiences such as contest/game rules, merchandise order forms, menus, which require specific skill instruction to ensure proficiency. The list above may include skills/materials which

31

should be introduced at a more appropriate grade level than that indicated~ It may be necessary to tailor this list to meet the needs of particular students.
Effective reading of materials suggested in this list requires many of the word recognition, comprehension and study skills that are taught as part ofthe developmental reading program. Many materials, however, present some unique demands to which students must be exposed in a systematic way.
Some of these unique demands include
Orientation - Functional materials such as schedules and timetables often require other than the traditional left-to-right, top-to-bottom progression.
Specialized vocabulary - Students must become familiar with the specialized words, abbreviations and symbols that are used in specific real world contexts.
Style - Materials such as instructions, labels, billboards and brochures often do not follow the formal style of textbooks. Incomplete sentences, variations in the use of punctuation and capitalization (and sometimes spelling) are frequently present and may confuse the student.
Details - Many functional reading materials such as recipes, instructions for appliance operation and assembly instructions contain information requiring careful, deliberate, word-by-word reading. Students must learn to adjust their reading styles and rates to ensure comprehension.
Context-Many words stand alone or in very short phrases. Situational context rather than the traditional context clues will more likely be important, and the question, "What word makes sense in this situation?" may prove helpful. For example, the level of understanding of words such as "inbound" and "express," when reading transportation schedules or phrases such as "machinewash, tumble dry-low" when reading clothing care labels is enhanced by introducing them in a situational context.
Functional reading materials used should emphasize actual real life materials, such as those students collect and bring to class. Kits, workbooks and spirit master sets are also available but should be screened carefully to be sure they rep-

resent real life situations. Motivational value depends heavily on the real thing. Audiovisual materials such as transparencies or charts illustrating a sample form which students are learning to complete or a sample schedule which students are learning to interpret are useful when working with large groups. A copy of the actual form or schedule should also be provided so that each student can complete it or refer to it as instruction takes place. A listing of 155 suitable reading materials appears in Chambers and Lowry's The Language Arts: A Pragmatic Approach.
Emphasizing the teaching of functional skills ensures that curriculum specialists, administrators and teachers will include instruction in these skills in a student's regular educational program. Functional reading skills instruction must not be perceived or conducted as an isolated segment of the classroom educational program for numerous possibilities exist for integrating such instruction into the already existing curriculum. Both the basal reading program and the curriculum in the content areas provide appropriate opportunities for the teaching of functional reading skills. A basal story that includes a visit to a restaurant, for example, is ideal for instruction and practice in how to read a menu. The social studies class presents opportunities to focus on transportation schedules and travel brochures. Health and science classes are appropriate places for examining product contents and nutritional information labels. Units or courses in career exploration provide opportunities to examine forms, applications and other reading demands related to specific types of employment.
Instruction may be adapted to coordinate with the classroom teacher's preferred organizational patterns, using individual, small group or large group methods depending on the learning styles of the students. Direct teacher instruction should be reinforced by various strategies such as guided seatwork, self-directed learning, peer teaching and discussions. Reinforcement through learning centers should also prove effective. Emphasis should be placed both on comprehension of the information contained in the functional material and on applying this information to life-like situations. These procedures will encourage the student to see the relationship between what is learned and real world needs.

32

One technique which has proved effective in determining the relevant functional reading needs of students is to have them keep a one-week record of the reading demands they meet outside ofthe classroom environment (Taylor and Waynant, 1978). These records should be examined by the teacher in order to identify the most common outside reading needs of the group. The

teacher should add to the list other functional reading skills that will be useful to students in dealing effectively with probable situations. It is extremely important that the students readily see the relevance of these skills to their daily lives for it is this relevance that is the key to the motivational value of functional reading skills instruction.

33

Sample Activities
Functional Reading Skills Grades K-4

Objective
The learner will identify familiar words with common phonograms.
Activity
While studying certain common phonograms (word families) such as ode, ate or ick, have students locate and underline words containing these phonograms, such as Glade, Schick. List these words on the board and pronounce them. As each word is listed, a student should read a sentence containing the word. The teacher should then point out how learning common phonograms allows one to recognize many words.
Objective
The learner will arrange items in sequential steps.
Activities
1. Paste a recipe on one side of a folder. On the other side of the folder paste a pocket. Place paper strips into the pocket, each containing one step of the directions. Have the student arrange the strips in the correct order as given in the recipe.
2. The same procedure can be followed with the directions for playing a game, assembling an object or planting seeds.
Objectives
The learner will locate information in the index of a variety of everyday materials.
Activities
1. Cut out several pages from a merchandise catalog index and place in a folder. Paste in the folder a pocket containing pictures of items listed in the index. Have students indicate the index page from the catalog on which each pictured item would be found.
2. The same type of activity can be done using a newspaper index and pictures of crossword

puzzles, theatre ads, weather maps and the like.
Objective
The learner will orally describe the context of a situation.
Activity
Provide students with signs such as "Parties of Three or Move," "Pedestrain Crossing," "Enter Here," "Use Other Door," Describe a situation orally such as, "This is where you would stand in line if you were with your mother, father and sister," "This is where people cross the street," "This is the place where you go in to see a show," "The front door cannot be opened." Have the student with the appropriate sign stand up and give an example of where you would probably see such a sign or tell of an experience in which he or she has previously encountered such a sign.
Objective
The learner will orally explain the steps in a process.
Activity
After the class has used a written recipe, followed the written directions for playing a game or assembling something, ask a student to explain orally the sequence of steps that were followed. The other students should listen carefully to detect any errors in the sequence.
Objective
The learner will compose a story about an imaginary event.
Activities
1. Using the lost and found section of the want ads, have the student make up a story telling how the item was lost or found and what might happen now that the ad has been placed.
2. The student can write the story from the point of view of the lost or found item.

34

Sample Activities
Functional Reading Skills Grades 5-8

Objective
The learner will identify survival words and symbols.
Activities
1. The concept of words and symbols should be known long before the middle grades are reached. Extending this concept, however, through the use of trade names and logos is most appropriate in grades 5-8. Have partners match a deck of cards containing logos and names. For instance, the checkerboard logo could be matched to the name of its country.
2. Brainstorming with small groups of students to identify all logos and names of a product category such as soft drinks is a useful way to develop categorizing skills.
Objective
The learner will identify pronoun referents.
Activity
Underline a number of pronouns used in a particular type of functional reading material. Have students identify the referent for each pronoun and rewrite the material substituting the referent for the pronoun.
Objective
The learner will compare and contrast various products.
Activities
1. Paste the information labels from two different labels from two different brands of the same product such as cereals, breads or soft drinks on the left side of a folder. On the other side of the folder write questions which require a comparison between the two labels. For example, "Which cereal has the most calories?" "Which bread contains more servings per loaf?" "Which product has a better guarantee?" Have the students state which of the two products they would buy and why.

2. The same type of activity can be presented comparing recipes for the same food, advertisements for similar products or product descriptions from catalogues.
Objective
The learner will locate information through various aids.
Activities
1. Using a telephone dictionary, have a contest to see how quickly students can find certain listings in the white or yellow pages.
2. Use functional reading materials such as brochures, game directions, owner's manuals which contain titles, headings and subheadings and ask students questions. Then ask students questions which can be answered quickly by using these study aids.
Objective
The learner will orally explain a process.
Activity
Divide the class into groups. Give each group a game containing written directions. Only one person in the group is allowed to read the instructions. That person must then explain to the other members of the. group how to play the game. The group should then play the game.
Objective
The learner will use oral persuasion in describing the benefits of a product.
Activity
Assign a type of product to a group of two or three students. Provide them each with the product information label from a different brand of the product. Each is a salesperson for the product. Based on the label information, the person is to make a presentation to the class pointing out the benefits the product has compared to the others. After the presentations are completed, class members can indicate which product they would

35

buy and give reasons either orally or in writing for choosing that product over the others.
Objective
The learner will compose an item description.
Activity
Have students select three items belonging to them. Students should' write a description ofthese items as they might appear in a catalogue. illustrations may be added.

R_ource.
Taylor, Nancy and Waynant, Priscilla. "Reading Logs Reflect Students' Real World Reading Needs." The Reading Teacher, vol. 32, no. 1, 1978, p. 7-9.
Chambers, Dewey Woods and Lowry, Heath Ward. The Language Arts: A Pragmatic Approach. Dubuque, Iowa: W. C. Brown Publishers 1975 p. 219-225.

36

Study Skills

Goal
Learning to read is of limited value unless the learner can apply this ability in the acquisition of new knowledge.
Study skills acquisition will enable students to become more effective, independent readers and learners. Students who possess these skills will be better information gatherers in general and will be better able to cope with the increasing study demands placed upon them during their formal years of schooling. Therefore, the major goals of instruction in the study skills area are to produce individuals who are able to locate and organize information in order to satisfy their own curiosity and to equip them with the tools to learn how to learn.
Study skills proficiency, however, does not occur automatically as students master word recognition and comprehension skills. The types of expository materials to which a student applies study skills have different demands than the narrative offerings that dominated the beginning years ofthe student's reading program. Therefore, provision must be made in the reading curriculum for direct and systematic instruction in the use of study skills as well as for structured review and maintenance activities.
Audiovisual materials (films, filmstrips and transparencies) which demonstrate visually how to use certain reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and the card catalog are available. These are useful for group instruction since a visual aid can focus on a specific characteristic or component of the material that is being discussed. However, the student should qUickly be exposed to the actual material so that the necessary transfer of learning will take place.
Since each student who has been diagnosed as deficient in one or more of the study skills needs instruction in those skills regardless of his or her reading level, it is important that there be available in each classroom and media center sufficient reference materials written at a variety of readability levels. Material used for instruction should be at a level comfortable for students to handle.
If a student has difficulty with vocabulary or sentence structure because it is too advanced, more

energy will be expended in trying to overcome these difficulties than to attending to the immediate learning tasks.
Procedures
The development and implementation of the study skills component of the curriculum should be accomplished through cooperative efforts of reading teachers, content area teachers and media specialists. Joint planning is important for several reasons. Reading teachers should be familiar with which content texts are being used so that they can develop exercises based on these texts; but it is just as important that content area teachers be aware of the scope and sequence of study skills and the time they are introduced in the reading program. Neither teacher should be solely responsible for teaching study skills. Both teachers should share this responsibility. The reading teacher may introduce and develop the study skills whereas the content area teacher may provide the opportunity for their practice, application and reinforcement.
Cooperative planning should eliminate considerable confusion which can result from a student's being taught one method for previewing a text or for using an encyclopedia by the reading teacher and another method by a content area teacher. Of course, there is more than one appropriate method for teaching two skills, but being exposed to more than one method when learning a new skill can cause unnecessary difficulties for the learner.
The media specialist also plays a key role in the study skills program since the library/media center is a practical setting for applying many of the skills. Depending on the school's organizational structure, the media specialist may provide the initial instruction in certain information-locating skills which can then be reinforced both in the reading and content area classrooms.
Whichever pattern the school chooses for study skills instruction, there must be a definite, structured program with shared responsibilities agreed upon by the reading teachers, content area teachers and media specialists.
It is important to diagnose student proficiency with study skills to determine instructional needs.

37

The learner wiD
1. demonstrate knowledge of alphabetic sequence.
2. alphabetize words up to the third letter.
3. locate information using a variety of sources.
a. table of contents, page numbers b. dictionaries - guide, entry words c. glossaries d. indexes - key words, main and subtopics e. encyclopedias f. library card files (card catalog, periodical-
files) g. catalogs h. newspapers, magazines i. thesauri j. Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature k. bibliographies
4. demonstrate the ability to locate materials in a media center.
5. use dictionaries for a variety of purposes. a. identifying word meanings b. finding synonyms c. identjfyjng and interpreting phonetic respellings to aid pronunciation d. selecting appropriate meanings of words in context
6. use titles, headings, subheadings and pictures to locate and preview information.

7. use a variety of study techniques; e.g., survey, question, read, recite, review (SQ3R).
8. adjust reading techniques and rate according to the difficulty of material and purposes for reading. a. rereading b. skimming c. scanning
Materials
Most basal reading programs contain a reference and study skills strand as part of their scope and sequence of skills. This is a good point of departure as you develop a systematic approach to study skills instruction. But since the goal of this instruction is to produce the self-directed learner who is able to independently locate and organize information for personal use, the treatment of study skills in the basal program must be expanded to include practice and reinforcement with actual content area texts and reference materials. If not provided with many realistic opportunities to practice and maintain a study skill after it has been introduced, the student will probably never realize the extent of its usefulness, and consequently, it will not become part of the student's repertoire of independent study techniques.

40

Sample Activities
Study Skills Grades K -8

Objectives
The learner will
use a dictionary to determine abbreviations.
use a dictionary to determine correct spellings.
Activities
1. Present students with abbreviations which are commonly used in the dictionary; e.g., n., irreg., pl., vt., syn., obs., fr., sing. Provide students with a sample dictionary page. Have the students locate entries that contain these abbreviations and underline the abbreviations. Have the students find the key to the dictionary abbreviations and identify what each of the abbreviations stands for.
2. Provide students with sentences containing multi-meaning words which are underlined. Have the students use the dictionary and iden tify the correct meaning of the word. The students should identify the meaning by entry number (if word is a homograph), part of speech and meaning number; e.g., bank!, vt.
4.
3. Provide students with exercises of the following type "I had a pain in my --."
nek, shol'der, hip The students must choose the correct word for the sentence using the dictionary respellings. The student must then spell the word correctly.
Objectives
The learner will
determine main headings and subheadings in an article.
use a table of contents.
use SQ3R method to formulate questions.
Activities
1. Present students with an encyclopedia article. Provide the students with a skeleton outline of the article containing blanks for main headings and subheadings. The students should fill in the blanks. Adaptations-(l) If the level of the students is sufficient, the main head-

ings can be provided so that only subheadings must be filled in. (2) Provide students with a mixed list of main and subheadings taken from an outline of an encyclopedia article. Have the students arrange these in appropriate out line form.
2. Provide students with the tables of contents pages from several books. These can be actual tables of contents cut from old books or dupli. cated copies. Have the students classify the books as fiction and nonfiction. Under fiction the books might be classified in such sub categories as fantasy and reality. Have students give reasons for their classifications. .
3. Using the SQ3R method, have students formulate questions from the subheadings in a chapter section. Have them read to see if the material containes the answers to their ques tions. If it does, have them write down the answers. If it doesn't, have them explain which references could be used to find the answers to the questions.
Objectives
The learner will
use the table of contents in functional materials.
determine organization offunctional materials.
Activities
1. Have students use the table of contents of the Georgia Driver's Manual, the newspaper or any other functional reading material and answer questions such as, "On what page does the chapter begin that would probably tell what the solid yellow center lines mean?" or "What is the title of the chapter that would probably contain information concerning what types of questions you can expect on the test?"
2. Use functional reading materials with headings and subheadings. Have students predict what each section is about from the heading and sub-headings. Then have the students read the section to test the validity of their predictions.

41

Objective
The learner will use research techniques in the preparation of an oral report.
Activid. .
1. Have the students prepare and present an oral report based on topics of their choice. The students should use reference materials in developing the report. To encourage listening, have several students in the audience tell one new thing they learned from listening to the report.
2. Decide on a research topic with a group of students. Give each student a specified amount of time to locate sources of information for the report. Have each student explain to the others why the specific sources were selected. Have the group decide which of the sources are best.
3. Have students explain orally the steps in preparing a research report. Other students will listen to detect whether any steps were omitted
Variation
The same type activity could be used in describing the SQ3R method.
Objecdves
The learner will use reference material to prepare a written
report. determine multiple meanings of words.
Acdvides
1. Have students prepare a written report which requires using reference materials. Table of

contents, headings, subheadings, index and bibliography must be included.
2. Provide students with five or more words with multiple meanings. The students should then write a story using at least two ofthe meanings for each word. Encourage the use of the dictionary to look for uncommon meanings of the words.
3. Provide students with the index from a book. Either use the book itself with the title covered or use a copy of the index. Have the students write down the subject of the book and to think of a title for the book. The students should then look at the titles and table of contents for accuracy.
EvalaadoD
Evaluation of progress toward study skills mastery can take several forms. One of the most effective is teacher observation as a student applies a skill in a realistic setting, for example, using the card catalog in the library when doing . research for a project. If documentation of skill mastery is desired, informal tests similar to the pretests described earlier may be used for this purpose. Depending on the grade levels of the students, the sixth and eighth grade criterion referenced tests can serve to evaluate student mastery on certain study skills. The work-study or reference sections of standardized tests can also be used for the same purpose if the results are reported in a way that you can analyze them relative to performance in a specific skill. The only disadvantage to these last two described data sources is that the administration of these tests is limited to a specific time of year so that they cannot provide immediate feedb~ck.

42

Oral and Written Communication

Introduction to the Model

The acquisition of oral and written language is a complex human process. Competency in speaking and writing is far more than the mastery of a collection of skills. A competent speaker or writer has developed a process for translating thoughts and feelings into language that can be read and understood by a wide range of audiences. While the processes may vary, they are not random or wholly individualized.
The instructional strategies in this guide are based on the notion that the ability to use language develops as a child actually uses language. The model for instruction which follows evolved as a result of observing young children acquire oral language and from discussing children's individual processes with writers and teachers of writing.
Fluency The initial goals in the teaching of oral and written language center around the' need to familiarize students with the medium. When students begin to produce language, just as when they begin to acquire any other complex behavior, they need practice, support and response. Experimentation is encouraged. Children must have the opportunity to speak and write often. Judgments about the fine points of correctness and form are suspended. Children. in their initial attempts at language production, are trying to find a personal voice and to gain confidence. The teacher must keep in mind the importance of encouragement and acceptance; frequent positive response is crucial. Specific skills are far less important than whole pieces of discourse or the discussion of those oral or written efforts. Working to develop ease and familiarity with language is the primary goal during the fluency period.

Control As students begin to feel comfortable with their oral and written efforts as a means of expression, instructors gradually begin to help students become more precise in their speaking and writing. Because these media make many complex demands on the students, teachers must help them learn the appropriate controls through practice and particularly through revision. Arranging purposeful settings and responsive audiences for students' efforts will provide opportunity for much of the direct teaching of rhetorical and usage conventions; publishing student writing and directing students to write for diverse audiences will accomplish similar ends in written communication. The teaching of the controls, especially in writing (e.g., usage and mechanics. punctuation and spelling), should be integrated gradually into activities. Evaluation of these particulars should also be cumulative, beginning first with a few criteria and slowly adding to them as students gain more familiarity and sophistication. Careful control of language, oral and written, grows gradually; instructors should not try to hurry the process by making inappropriate demands on the inexperienced student.
Effectiveness As students learn to control language, they learn to make judgments about their efforts and to make conscious decisions about the effectiveness of these efforts. They learn to function as their own critics and editors and to accept advice and counsel from other editors. They explore and consider syntactic and rhetorical options. selecting those appropriate to form and audience. Practice and criticism build an intuitive sense. Students develop a "feel" for what works in effective speaking and writing.

45

Growth from fluency to control to effectiveness is a cooperative venture between students and teachers. Teachers who work with their students during the process have many opportunities to model the behaviors of a competent speaker and writer and to gain a fuller understanding of their students' development.
Remember, no single speaking or writing activity, teacher or grade level can provide a student every language skill. Language is a complex human behavior; it develops gradually through practice. The activities in this gUide are designed to help teachers lead students through the process in an incremental, step-by-step manner. The cumulative effect of such concentrated practice should produce competent speakers and writers.

The chart on page represents an abbreviated list of behaviors for both teachers and students. It offers some suggestions for assisting students as their speaking and writing matures. It is left to the teacher to determine at what point Control should become a factor in the instructional program, (i.e. third grade. fifth grade or even second grade). This point varies according to the experiences and the maturity of the students involved. The same is true of Effectiveness; its introduction might be most appropriate in the ninth grade with some students and the 12th grade with others. The stages. as the arrows on the chart suggest. do not displace each other; they are added. Efforts at fluency should be continued throughout grades K through 12.

46

A De"elopmental Model for Oral and Written Communication

Fluency------------------------------------>~

Control----------------:--->~ Effectiveness---->~

Student behaviors
1. Produces language (oral and written). 2. Enjoys words. 3. Experiments with structures. 4. Shares thoughts. ideas. feelings. 5. Responds supportively to oral and
written presentations of classmates. 6. Develops selfconfidence and finds
a personal voice.

Student behaviors
1. Seeks and provides feedback. 2. Experiments with mode and
audience. 3. Experiments with different voices. 4. Considers alternative methods
of delivery-style. syntax. organization and presentation. 5. Works within constraints and limits. 6. Seeks peer/audience evaluation. reaction. response. 7. Proofs and edits writings.

Student behaviors
1. Adapts language choices to situation and audience.
2. Controls a variety of rhetorical and syntactic devices.
3. Speaks and writes with polish and technical precision.

Teacher behaviors
1. Encourages participation. 2. Creates a stimulating and supportive
classroom environment. 3. Develops nonverbal. oral and
written practice activities. 4. Listens and responds to students'
oral and written efforts with encouragement. 5. Provides opportunities for students to practice and demonstrate publicly accomplishments. i.e. provides audiences for oral presentation. displays and pub. Iishes written material. 6. Develops students' skills in respond ing to and helping each other. 7. Provides through personal action and behavior a model for the students' use of oral and written language.

Teacher behaviors
1. Encourages participation. 2. Responds to students' oral and
written products with suggestions for improvement. 3. Structures real speaking and writing situations. 4. Analyzes problems and develops practice activities. 5. Evaluates students' oral and written presentations.

Teacher behaviors
1. Offers technical advice and assistance.
2. Develops real speaking and writing situations.
3. Acts as editor and critic. 4. Challenges students to
attempt difficult exercises. 5. Evaluates students' oral and
written products with a variety of previously established and announced criteria.

Adapted from a model by Dan Kirby. 1981. Reprinted with permission.
47

Classroom and Instructional Management

Proficiency in oral and written communication requires frequent and regular practice. For too long students have been admonished to be quiet rather than encouraged to take part in profitable discussion. For too long they have had insufficient opportunity or demand for written composition. To provide for adequate opportunity for both of these activities. classroom exercises should be quite different from the usual oral question and answer routine or the lack of opportunities for written communication. Such practices will afford more productive and surely exhilarating experiences for teachers and students.
Many of the classroom strategies and activities will involve not only oral and written communication but also the companion skills of listening and reading. Oral panel discussions and press conferences will require research and note taking. careful listening and the making of judgments. Role playing will in many cases demand an understanding. through reading. of the fictional. legendary or historical characters to be portrayed. Regular class discussion on subjects of scholarly. general or humorous interest will foster courteous and attentive listening. increase ability to speak clearly and coherently and will call for further reading to gain adequate information on the subject under discussion.
Writing will take place quite frequently and peer evaluation of these writings discussed in small groups will cut down appreciably on the need for the reading and grading of each paper by the teacher. Also. it will give students practice in reading aloud. in listening critically. in becoming aware of the structure and use of language. Finally. it will help develop the insight and judgment needed for students to decide if they have written what they intended their audience to read.
Meeting in small groups of five or less. students read their short papers to one another. After a bit of practice they learn to give positive. helpful criticism to each other in matters of content. coherence. style. mechanics and conventions. The teacher. as monitor or arbitrator. is ready to respond to a raised hand or a spoken query to settle differences of opinion or answer relevant

questions. Students then have the opportunity of revising their papers. using or rejecting the suggestions of their peers as they wish.
Perhaps only one student paper among five needs to be read and evaluated by the teacher; or the teacher may give each student the opportunity to select the paper thought to be the best of his or her most recent five. and collect only these from the students. The teacher may vary the method of selection and reduce the possibility of a student preparing only one good paper when several were to be written.
Short speeches. prepared by each student for presentation to the class. may be evaluated by peers in much the same way. Each student in the small group. making a speech to the group. has the advantage of hearing helpful suggestions or requests for clarification which are not often possible when addressing a large audience.
A trial run before this small group. prior to presentation to the teacher and entire class. is beneficial to the speaker. demands careful attention from peers and trains the peers in audience conduct.
Teaching students to work in groups is an art in itself. But the patience required is rewarded in student performance and teacher satisfaction.
The teaching and learning of grammar and usage take place in a variety of ways. Students will work on the errors they make rather than correcting flawed sentences written by someone else or published in grammar texts: the latter examples do not address the problem and may actually introduce. develop or reinforce a new error.
Sentence-combining exercises make use of correct sentence structure and encourage inventiveness and judgment. while introducing the more sophisticated structures of the English sentence. Learning new vocabulary and spelling practice are worthy side effects to the process of sentence combining.
Small group or paired activities will replace the written short answer exercises usually graded by teachers or aides. Students using textbook exer-

48

cises will work individually, but they will discuss the exercises and their answers and conclusions in small groups, teaching and learning from each other, with adult arbitration when needed.
The most effective method of teaching grammar will result from full class discussions of errors found in the students' own speech and papers. The papers, reproduced without student identity disclosed, will be written on the board or an overhead transparency. Healthy discussions occur over what may be wrong, how It can be corrected and what rule of grammar is involved. Working with examples from their own speech and writing makes a personal impact on students; the information is more vivid and more thoroughly absorbed than filling in the blank or correcting sentences.
A factor which is frequently overlooked, particularly in the classroom, is nonverbal communication between teachers and students. A teacher's protracted frown or pursed lips, the hands in front. all fingers touching, or the fierce glare with hands on hips, can indicate disgust or disap-

proval as clearly as a verbal tirade. A student, squirming and uneasy, may need only a trip to the bathroom, while another, making repeated trips to the pencil sharpener may need encouragement about the writing assignment.
In oral communication, paralanguage, the denial of the spoken words by tone of voice or facial expression, can convey more meaning than the words themselves. The simple phrase, "good morning," can be said with genuine good humor or with such venom that it approaches an insult. . Too little attention is given to this form of communication, yet it is an essential medium for understanding.
Finally, a positive classroom climate and genuine praise for worthwhile effort will ,accomplish more teaching and learning than all the negative criticism and red marked papers. The classroom should always be a cooperative place where teacher and students join in decision making, in oral and written communication and in the excIting business of learning.

49

Grammar and Usage

The following sections address. specific activities and suggestions for implementing instruction in various modes of discourse. Much is said of praise and of editing; little is said of what we commonly label grammar. There is good reason for this; it is not simply an omission. Language instruction wiD be the subject of another document, one that will consider the teaching of mechanics, syntax and usage.
This is not to say that we intend for language instruction to be a separate area of language arts. Problems in correcting grammar and usage arise as soon as children begin to speak or to write and continue throughout their lifetime. Similarly, correction begins at that same point and continues until an individual is no longer concerned with precision in language use.
Instruction in conventional usage and in usage conventions is and ought to be an integral part of the language arts classroom. There is no professional way to avoid it. However, an overdose of correction is detrimental to the individual.
When problems arise in a student's use of language, as they will from the beginning, instruction must follow; but this instruction should address the needs of the student in terms of his or her own writing, not in terms of a textbook. As a student begins to write dialogue, for example, that is the time to explain the use of quotation marks. As students seek to say more complicated things and attempt to say them in more complicated ways, that is the time to explain and demonstrate the punctuation of clauses and

phrases. The acquisition of skills will be uneven throughout any group. Some students will learn to handle commas, for example, rapidly; others will be laboring with them into college.
While periodic reviews of mechanics are not harmful, annual repetitions are. Repeating the same exercises year after year to the same students will simply age both student and teacher prematurely. Such repetition and the lack of appropriate change only disaffect everyone and waste time.
As problems in the students' writings develop, the students should be given proper corrective instruction and subsequent papers should be checked for anticipated improvements. If improvements do not develop, repeated instruction may be necessary for those who need it. Changing instructional techniques or approaches may be helpful. Subjecting an entire class to repeated exercises required by only 40 percent is futile. The result is an inefficient use of teacher and student time.
For best results a personal approach to teaching is required. Group instruction is needed to introduce and develop new topics, concepts and ideas, but errors emerging in the work of some students are signals that some need additional help, i.e., those students still prodUcing the errors. There are numerous ways to do this, from the usc of special text exercises designed to correct sp~cific errors as well as individual tutoring. The teacher's goal is to help students acquire a skill as soon as possible and to eliminate reteaching.

50

A Note From the Writers

Objectives for this document are to provide teachers with a model to help students learn to express themselves well; to regard language development with little fear or apprehension; and to assure as much success as the individuals' potentials and the teachers' skills can jointly accomplish.
We realize that school is not necessarily a training ground for future literary prize winners. We are aware the majority of the students who attend public schools will probably never produce written works of classic quality. Our intent is to help make all students more comfortable and more effective in their use of language. We are not dismissing the budding literary geniuses; it is our conviction that they, too, will be served by the program that follows.
Our plan is deceptively simple. To learn to speak or to write. ineVitably, one must speak or write often. as much as possible and in every imaginable context. Injunction must be balanced with encouragement; correction with praise. The students' faltering beginnings must be received with the same pride. excitement and reward as were their infant attempts at speech and move ment.
Regular opportunities for trial and error. for success and failure. must be an integral part of

the program. Every note of praise must sound louder than every comment of correction.
One does not learn to speak without correction, but neither does one learn by being silenced. The repetition inherent in the natural process that enables the young to acquire their native tongue can and should be a regular facet of a program of language instruction provided by the school.
A communication program is offered that supports both the receptive and the expressive modes of language. Opportunities for each are a regular feature; they must be the norm not the exception. While we do not always capitalize on it. we already prOVide a great deal of practice in listening within our schools; but opportunities for our students to talk seem lacking.
For this program to succeed. for young people to realize their potential. students must be encouraged to talk and to write as much as they are now being exhorted to listen and to read. This responsibility rests with those of us who work with young people: we must talk to them, listen to them. read what they have written and comment upon their work. We must provide suitable and varied audiences for our students. audiences responsive and meaningful to the students themselves. This is one of our greatest challenges.

51

Imagining

School talk and school writing are too often dominated by the academic and the drab. Yet in each of us, at every age, lurks delightful imagination, fleeting fantasy, even gruesome possibility. We dare not dwell on them. Instead, we learn to submerge them and concentrate on the reality of educational and sociological demands.
Children come to school strong in imagination .and full of make-believe. Some have engaged in made up conversations among their dolls or stuffed animals; many have enjoyed imaginary friends or playmates. Such behavior is sometimes tolerated and sometimes discouraged by parents and teachers.
In the early school years lists of things, words and people are often memorized; stories become mere sequences of events. In later years poems are desecrated by reducing them to mere iambic pentameter or anapestic trimeter. Term papers

on assigned subjects become chores rather than joyful explorations. Frequently, such papers result in counterproductive student-coping strategies such as plagiarism.
The need for some of the exercises mentioned above is not to be denied. The exercise of the imagination, however, should also be permitted. Evidence indicates its use should be encouraged throughout the years of formal schooling. Surely, in the area of the spoken and the written word, imagination should playa major role.
Imagination sparks the use of various sentence structures and invites the search for the right word, the succinct phrase. And it is not only in the area of creative activities that imagination is a necessary ingredient; oral and written discourse in any area is enriched and enlivened by imaginative and selective use of language.

52

Sample Activities
Without Words or Dialogue Grades K-2

Purpose
The purpose ofthis activity is to encourage youngsters to make up stories and speeches that accompany pictures, thereby telling a brief incident or story. The delight young people take in putting ideas into the heads and words into the mouths of pictured people or creatures is capitalized upon in this activity.
Objective
The learner will
invent actions, developments and dialogue to accompany a sequence of pictures with no written information or speeches.
dictate the action and/or speech to the teacher or aide for later reading.
listen attentively and watch the words as the teacher or aide reads what has been dictated.
attempt, with encouragement and help, to reread what has been dictated and read.
M.terials
Picture books without words (See Resources), or comic strips from which the dialogue balloons have been removed Paper and pencils
Aides
a. Ideally a fifth or sixth, grade class of students, each of whom can act as an aide to an individual first grader.
b. Several fifth or sixth grade students who can serve as aides to groups, if the unit must be done in groups.
S u. . . . .. "
A combination ofthe language experience method for encouraging creativity, and the lap method for learning to read (seeing the words while hearing them read), is the basis for this activity. Each student develops a small story based on pictures,

dictates that story to someone else for transcription, hears that story read and then attempts to read the story alone.
Procedures
1. Distribute books without words, or the comic strips without dialogue, to each student, or group of students (no more than five). The grouping will depend on whether there is a class of older students or group of adults who can assist each student or very small groups of students.
2. Allow a few minutes of quiet time for students to observe the pictures and begin to make up what is occurring and what is being said.
3. Students teU the aide what they think is happening to the characters in the pictures or comic strip; the aide writes whatever the student is dictating. (Moffett, "Language Experiences," pp. 204-205.)
4. Aides should hold the written material so that the students (individuals or the group, if the material was group-contributed) can see the writing, while the aides read what has been written. (Moffett, p.197--"Lap Method," pp. 201-203.)
5. Following this reading, permit each child to attempt to read what has been dictated.
EValU.tiOD
1. Teacher evaluation consists first of noting the interest and participation of students in the talking stage, i.e. when children are dictating. If tape recorders are available, contributions can be taped.
2. The teacher and the aides can note the reading success of each child from their dictated language. Tape recorders may be used to advantage here.

53

FoUowUp
Cut out characters from different comic strips and have students put them together in a story. Use a film or cartoon without sound and have students supply the sound track.

Select two pictures of people from magazines. Have students discuss what kinds of people the pictured individuals seem to be; then ask them to invent a conversation between the individuals. When this is transcribed, students can read their work as above and, also, act the parts.

54

Changing Names Grades 3-4

Purpose
Choosing a name other than your own, by which you might like to be called for a brief period, is an engaging experience. The purpose ofthis activity is to permit students to do this and to imagine what sorts of persons they might be with their new names.
Objecti"e
The learner will
select a name other than his or her own. Imagine how this new name (personality) might differ from the present one.
state orally why the name was chosen.
fabricate some of the possible characteristics associated with the new person and present these characteristics orally.
write brief descriptions of the new self and share this writing with group members.
Materials and Aids
Lists of names and/or dictionaries of names (for use if children cannot think of names with ease)
An upper class aide(s) to help with students who are having difficulty selecting names and to help with spelling the names
Summary
This activity gives children the opportunity to pretend to be different individuals for a brief period of time. It demands that they think about their own characteristics and that they create characteristics suited to the newly named person.
Procedares
1. Students have a quiet time of perhaps three minutes during which they each decide on a different name. No talking is allowed; heads on desks and eyes closed will help the process. Those few who cannot decide on a name at the end of this time may be allowed two extra minutes to search the teacher's resources.
2. Students write their own names and their chosen names on slips of paper which have been given to them. (Spelling errors may be cleared

up as the activity progresses.) This will prevent the name"copying" which might occur if they are called out.
3. Volunteers among the students state their chosen names and explain briefly why they chose them. Stop at ten volunteers or less to avoid saturation.
4. Meeting in groups of five, students begin to tell, one at a time, what sorts of persons these New Names are-physical characteristics, . sports, hobbies, attitude toward school, speciallikes and dislikes. Each student is allowed two minutes. This brief speech, and hearing one another's ideas, should fire the imagination enough to prompt writing down ideas.
5. Each student then writes a brief description of the new self. These are shared in the groups. (Spelling can be corrected by the teacher and an older student aide, moving among the groups.)
6. Two descriptions from each group, chosen by the group members, are read by the chosen members to the class. As each description is read aloud, students are asked to comment on whether or not the New Name seems like a real person. "Can you really tell what sort of person New Name is?" "Is New Name different from the real person/creator?" "How?"
E"aluation
1. Peer evaluation has taken place during the discussion suggested in Number 6 above.
2. Time should be allowed for students to revise their own description after the peer evaluation has taken place. The papers are then turned in for teacher evaluation.
3. Errors which indicate the need to introduce or reinforce certain items are tabulated as a checklist by the teacher for later instruction. Effort is made to leave certain modes of expression typical of this age level as they are. (e.g., "Me and my Daddy like to fish.") Only those glaring errors which prohibit understanding are noted on the descriptions for further revision. Misspelled words are spelled correctly by teacher or aide on the papers.

55

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4. Final revised papers are collected to be put together in a simple booklet which is given a title selected by the class.
follow Up
Mix up slips of paper with just New Names on them. With only the blank sides of the slips

showing, let each student pick up a slip and write a short letter to this person. The letters are to indicate that the writer knows that this student is new to the school and to invite this new student to visit the writer or to attend a ball game or a party.

56

Thing Pretending Grades 5-6

Purpose
By the fifth grade many students have lost interest in pretending to be other people. Pretending to be an inanimate object offers a new chaIlenge to imaginations which may still harbor some recoIlections of earlier pretending. The purpose of this activity is to permit these students to impart thinking and communicating powers to objects and to write a monologue for a chosen inanimate object.
Objectives
The learner wiIl
select an object which that student would like to pretend to be.
using the first person voice, write one or two paragraphs explaining what it is like to be the object chosen.
Materials and Aids
1. Butcher paper, magic markers and Scotch tape
2. Upper grade aides to assist with spelling and in manipulating materials
Summary
Accustomed to people as people and things as things, young students often delight in giving human feelings and reactions to inanimate objects. As things react to people, young imaginations can devise ridiculous situations about which they wiIl enjoy writing.
Procedures
1. AIIow two or three minutes of quiet time in order for each student to decide on an object which they wiIl pretend to be. It is helpful to make suggestions such as an old tennis shoe, a pencil, a bicycle, the floor, a yard swing. Urge students to be imaginative and to think up their own objects. Remind them that they cannot be people or animals.
2. Explain that the object can teIl whether its life is happy or sad, how people treat it, and how the object can improve its life if it hasn't been a happy one.

3. Remind students that they are pretending to be the object and therefore are to use the first person pronouns, "I", 'me" and "my."
4. Allow about twenty minutes for writing one or two paragraphs.
5. Direct students to meet in groups of five, read their papers to each other, make suggestions and criticisms and revise their papers while in the group.
6. Have revised papers read again in the same groups, in order that finished papers may also be read aloud.
7. Call for volunteers to read papers aloud. Have as many papers read as seems reasonable, depending on the general interest ofthe class. Suggest that students write down the name of each reader and a comment about the paper after each reading.
8. When perhaps 10 papers have been read, encourage a brief class discussion or comment on those papers. Continue this as long as interest is maintained.
9. Aides tape student papers to butcher paper and butcher paper to the wall. The name of each object can be written at the top of each piece with magic markers.
Evaluation
1. Self-evaluation and peer evaluations have taken place as a part of the group activities and during the volunteer readings to the entire class.
2. Teacher evaluations are possible during readings to the class. Evaluation of those papers not read can be made from reading the ones Posted on the waIl.
3. Mechanics and usage errors should be noted by the teacher for future group or individual work.
FoUow Up
The original groups can write conversations that might take place among the things selected by their groups. This is an exercise that moves

57

from the first person monologue to the conversation mode and encourages practice in the use of correct punctuation of quotations. This may be an excellent time to teach the use of quotation marks as they relate to other punctuation, especially since this exercise would still involve things talking as people do.

The original activity can be repeated with animals talking as people or with readings from classic or modern beast fables.
Students can illustrate their object and its adventures on butcher paper.

58

Where I'd Like to Be Grades 7-8

Purpose
Daydreaming about a real or an imaginary place in which a person would like to be conjures up descriptions, whether remembered or invented, that stir the imagination. The purpose of this activity is to permit students to describe, in vivid detail, such places. Even the real place takes on such glamour and allure in memory that imagined delights are the reality one spuriously describes.
Objectives
The learner will
recall from memory or create a place in which that student would like to be at the moment of the activity.
state orally what sort of place it is and tell briefly why it was chosen.
write a description of this place, attempting to include many of the five senses in the descriptions.
share individual efforts, comments, suggestions and positive criticism with peers, thus enabling all the students to revise their papers through the use of peer feedback.
Materials
Paper, pencils, pens Several magic markers or large pens Butcher paper or other large sheets Masking tape
Su ary
The combination of nostalgia and fantasy, or the exercise of the imagination, can produce vivid description. Caution should be urged so that students avoid the preposterous and the absurd. In this activity the imagination should be tempered by the limits of the possible.
Procedures
1. Suggest that students think qUietly for a few minutes about some place in which they would like to be at this moment. The place can be real, a remembered spot or an imaginary place. It may be a vacation spot or a private place where one can enjoy reading, music or private thoughts and feelings.

2. Permit 10 or 12 volunteers to state the place in which each would like to be and the reasons for their choice. Description is not needed or desira~le at this point.
3. Assign students to write a brief description of the chosen place, remembering to use as many as possible of the five senses-seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. This should not require more than 30 or 40 minutes.
4. Let students meet in groups of five to read their papers to each other for suggestions and positive criticism.
5. Permit time for revision of papers and then reconvene in groups. Students select the most interesting paper(s) from each group to be read to the class.
6. Let one student make a list, on butcher paper or computer paper, of the names of all of the places chosen by the students. Head it with the title "Where We'd Like to Be" and tape it to a wall.
Evaluation
1. Peer evaluation takes place as group members discuss papers.
2. Teacher evaluation of five (or more) papers read aloud is possible during the reading. Other papers can be evaluated by the teacher, making positive comments whenever possible about content and ideas, while keeping a list of all mechanical errors to be referred to for future teaching.
Follow Up
Working in groups, students can decide on the items which could be included in a travel folder.
Students can plan and outline possible travel brochures for the locations which they have described.
Students can illustrate the places they have described. A longer project would be group writing of brochures for selected places, using the outlines and items previously decided upon.

59

Describing

Description has traditionally been considered one of the four main types of writing, along with narration, argumentation and exposition. To describe something is to convey an image or impression of it in words which reveal appearance, nature or characteristics.
The most effective description usually includes details based on clear, concrete images. These details are presented, not merely cataloged. Selection for a definite purpose and a definite point of view becomes a consideration. Details are generally arranged in some logical pattern; that pattern may be spacial, associative or progressive. The discreet use of words of color, sound, motion and other adjectives which affect the senses enriches a descriptive piece of work. Descriptive writing reveals or implies the vividness, strength and intensity of the writer's personal observation of the world and its people.
Descriptive writing is evident in almost everything we read from a novel with real characters and an enticing setting to a good news story which so accurately reports the facts that the reader feels he or she is there. Most often, description is combined with narrative to create a vibrant story line or with other types of writing as a supporting device. Occasionally, it is used for its own sake.
This gUide suggests that instruction in descriptive writing begins in the early grades as the child produces descriptions that merely catalog details. Gradually, in the middle grades students may begin to perceive the importance of discreet wording and point-of-view. Finally, the high school student probably matures into an effective descriptive writer. The teacher should always remember that this is a gradual process which develops only through extensive practice, sequential, purposeful instruction and student insights that deepen with time.
The teacher must encourage and develop in individual students the skills of keen observation.

Lessons in observing details may in fact be ends in themselves at first as well as in the later stages of development. Gradually, students will come to see that although we can be overburdened with details in closely observing a scene or person, observations should be translated and organized into selective, purposeful details to be effective in a piece of descriptive writing.
Instruction in description must build on the example of excellent writing from a variety of media; e.g., newspapers, books, film, magazines, texts. Students should be encou.raged to read and to listen to outstanding passages of description so they begin to develop a feel for effective writing. Passages might be compared for degrees of effectiveness and rewritten for improvement. Shakespearean drama and old radio programs provide surprisingly good bases for discussion of the need for description in oral language.
Gradually description is combined with other methods of composing as it becomes appropriate. Since description is generally used to support other types of writing, students should be helped to see how its use can make all types of writing more effective. An exercise which produces a detailed character or descriptive scene might be used as the basis for a short story, for a collection of pieces from several students, or for a novel. Expository writing or persuasion may be enriched by strong descriptive support.
An emphasis upon real situations, scenes, people and things with which student writers can identify and which elicit feelings or ideas they would like to communicate to others is important. The descriptive writing process should always be kept in the perspective of real communication to real audiences for real purposes. Students should have the freedom to describe that which is meaningful to them, whether it is a special toy in first grade or a special elderly person in high school.

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Sample Activities

Toys
Grades K2

PlIIPo.e
Students will plan, dictate (or write), revise/edit and publish a descriptive paper about a favorite toy.
Objective.
The learner will
list characteristics of a favorite toy.
describe a favorite toy based on the list of characteristics.
revise descriptions based on peer input and self-evaluation.
edit descriptions for publication.
Material8lAid8
Paper and pencil Parent commitment to assist at home A favorite toy selected by each student which
can be left at school for four or five days Parents, paraprofessionals or student aides to
assist in class, if possible
Sa ry
After parents have been informed of this activity, students will discuss description and practice listing characteristics of an interesting object. From this discussion a list of suggestions for descriptions will be developed. Parents will assist students at home in dictating characteristics of a favorite toy using this list of suggestions. This list will form the basis for a paper to be dictated/ written in class. The toy will then be brought to class and two or three peers wiII develop a list of characteristics for each student's toy. Using these additional observations, students will revise their papers, share them orally with the class, edit them for mechanics, illustrate them and place the final product in a class booklet entitled "Our Favorite Things." The booklet may be on display for parents' night or copied for all students to take home.

Procedure.
1. Inform parents of this activity and recruit their assistance for at least one night of homework.
2. Provide parents a complete overview of the activity.
3. Discuss description as a skiII with the entire class. Stress that to describe something we can use all five senses-sight, sound, taste, touch, smell. As further assistance to the reader, the students might begin at one point (e.g., the top and move to an opposite point, the bottom in this instance). Using a familiar object or toy, elicit its characteristics and list these on the chalkboard or chart paper. Remind students that touching or holding the object will create sensations which can be described. Sounds which the object might make can also be described.
4. Ask the class to summarize the kinds of characteristics that were included. These might include-shapes, color, relative size, likenesses or differences, material(s), function, weight. Explain that this list will be used to develop guidelines for parents to use as they assist the students at home.
5. Make copies of the students' list of characteristics to be considered. Include a summary of the activity for parents' information and request that they use this list (and their own ideas) to help their child dictate characteristics of a favorite toy at home.
6. Distribute the copied list; be sure students understand it; make the homework assignment. With a parent, the student should select a favorite toy at home that evening. Together they should list characteristics of that toy using the gUidelines developed by the class.
7. Using their lists from home, each student will dictate to an aide or write a descriptive

61

paper. The teacher should assist with each step, concentrating on content, not mechanics. These papers should be saved for a couple of days.
8. After the paper is developed, ask students to bring in their toy.
9. Assign students to groups of two or three. Each group should study two or three toys brought in by students in other groups. Each group should observe and handle the toy and develop together a list of characteristics which they observe. This task will be similar to the one completed with the parent. Lists should be written by the students or an aide and saved until the following day.
10. Students should be given their toys, their first drafts and the comments written by a peer group. Using all of this information and with teacher's or aide's assistance as necessary, students should revise and rewrite their papers to make them as complete as possible.
11. Each student should read (after practice with parents or an aide) the second draft to the class with the toy described visible to all. The class should be encouraged to comment on points that need to be clarified, to make additional observations and to praise descriptions that were well done. If any revision is necessary, the student writer should be encouraged to take notes and revise the paper. Adult or peer assistance should be provided as needed.
12. Each student should write a final draft of the descriptive paper for a class book. Students may also be encouraged to illustrate their papers with a picture of the toy being described.

13. As students finish their work, papers should be added to a class booklet (with cover already prepared) entitled "Our Favorite Toys."
14. To thank parents for their assistance, and to help students realize the importance of publication, invite the parents to see the work completed. Have the booklet with all of the toys available for a parents' night display.
15. Make copies of the book for all students to take home.
Evaluation
1. Opportunities for peer and self-evaluation are partially built into the entire process.
2. Teacher evaluation should focus on student participation and success in the entire process of this activity and in the fluency and effectiveness of the final draft.
3. The students should also receive some evaluation based on their involvement in group activities both as listeners and as contributors.
4. The students might be asked after all have presented their papers aloud to evaluate orally their own products and participations.
5. Parents might be asked, after reading the complete class book to write an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of their own child's work.
Follow Up
The same activity, with variations for interest's sake, could be repeated with favorite pets or foods. Topics might be selected to support class studies in other content or concept areas being emphasized. Any topic requiring detailed observation and description would be appropriate.

62

Faces Grades 3-4

Purpose
Students will practice writing descriptions of people.
Objectives
The learner will
write descriptions of people concentrating on certain specifics from pictures and the real world.
revise and edit the descriptions 'written.
Materials/Aids
Paper and pencil Collections of pictures, at least three each of
singers, politicians, clowns, cowboys, mothers, 10-year-olds, witches
Bulletin board space People in real life to be observed
Aides, magazines and tape recorders Chalk and chalkboard
Summary
Beginning with small group work, students will learn to list characteristics and write descriptions of people from pictures. Gradually. they will do the same for pictures of their own choosing.
Procedures
1. Beginning with a large picture of a person and using class discussion and contribution, help students see those things which would lead to a good description of that individual.
2. Outline these on the board as the students suggest them. (If the need exists, the outline could be developed as a class composition for purposes of more complete explanation.)
3. Divide the class into small groups. Give each group one set of three pictures, e.g., three singers or three clowns.
4. Ask the group to select their favorite picture from their set and list all the characteristics ofthe person that they notice. Later ask them to use the other pictures to differentiate their selected picture, Le., list characteristics that

distinguish their clown or singer from the others shown.
5. As a group, the students should use their list of characteristics to write a paper describing the picture they selected. (Younger or less able students will need the assistance of the teacher or an aide to dictate characteristics and their final paper).
6. Ask each group to stand in front of the room, display all three pictures and read their descriptive paper aloud. The class should be able to tell which picture is described. They can make suggestions for other discriminating characteristics that were not listed.
7. Students should select pictures of persons who are very distinctive and which can be used in class. (This can be done in class through a magazine search or as a homework assignment.)
8. Individually, students will list the characteristics of the person pictured and use this list to write or dictate a description of that person. The teacher should make copies or transparencies of these papers.
9. With individual student's pictures available for all to see, the class should discuss as many descriptive papers as possible. The class should be encouraged to note characteristics that might have been overlooked, ways in which the student could have described a characteristic more effectively, and good choices of wording. Papers which are not evaluated by the whole class should be studied and commented upon by small peer groups. (If necessary or desirable. this step can be handled completely in small groups.)
10. Using input from the class or small group, students should revise their descriptions and edit them for publication. As papers are completed, students should place their papers along with the picture that inspired them on the bulletin board for others to view.
Evaluation
Teacher evaluation should focus on the individuals and their relative effectiveness. Participation,

63

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use of peer assistance and development of detailed observation should be included in evaluation. Peer evaluation is a part of the activity as is the expectation for students to provide it and to use it.
follow Up
Invite one or several, confident, secure adult volunteers for the students to use as models. Explain to the students that, like the painter, they are going to work with a live model for

their next descriptions. Caution the students to treat their guests respectfully but to be as accurate and as complete in their descriptions as possible.
Using the written descriptions, the students might develop a short story about their model.
Pets or other small animals may be substituted for the models to add a different dimension.
Student descriptions can be developed around things other than faces, e.g., automobiles in the school lot, shoes.

64

Important Elements Grades 5-6

Purpose
Students will learn the importance and use of detailed planning in writing a description.
Objective
The learner will
use detailed preliminary planning for descriptive writing.
write a detailed description of a room or scene.
revise and edit a descriptive paper based on peer input.
Materials
Paper and pencil
Summary
After writing an unplanned description of a room or scene, students will repeat the process using more careful planning and emphasizing point of view, time of day, season of year, mood and sensory observations. Papers will be revised based on peer questions and suggestions in a class editing circle. The final draft will be compared by the students with their own first, unplanned draft. Differences will be noted in journal style to be shared with the class. Both papers will be displayed on a "Before and After" bulletin board.
Procedures
1. With no preliminary planning have students write a description of the classroom as best they can. These papers should be held until the end of this series of activities.
2. Explain to students that they are going to write the same description of the classroom, but this time they will develop this draft according to a more detailed procedure. Differences in the first paper and the second (planned) paper will be studied at the end of this series of activities.
The planning stages are as follows A. Students select a point of view from which
they will consider the classroom in their minds. Discuss the arrangement of details as an important part of point of view. Brainstorm possible alternatives such as how

the room might look from the teacher's desk, from the cloakroom, from a ladder outside the window. Encourage students to selectan unusual perspective from which to view the room.
B. Students should make an outline of these details under point of view.
C. Students should now consider time of day and contribute ideas about the way the room might look at different times such as before school starts in the morning, at lunch time, at midnight on a moonlit night. Students should select a time of day for their papers; under Time they should jot details that might be appropriate.
D. Stimulate the students' imaginations by asking them to consider how differently the room would look as the seasons changed. Students should select a season and jot down some thoughts under that heading.
E. Mood, feeling or emotion should now be considered. Explain the emotional content appropriate to mood. How might mood be made a part of the earlier selections of time of day and season? The chosen mood should provide unity for the entire description. Students should be encouraged again to jot down ideas, now under Mood.
F. Now ask students to list things seen, heard, smelled, and physically felt as they view this room. They should keep in mind the point of view, time of day, season and mood.
G. Lists of thoughts and ideas should be reviewed for consistency within the selected framework. A thesaurus may assist students in selecting more appropriate words for the mood of their papers and the class might discuss the importance of sound and connotation as well as literal meaning in word selection.
3. Using aU of the data collected from the planning stages, students should write a first draft of their description. At the top of the papers

65

should be listed Point of View, Time of Day, Season and Mood, for later reference.
4. Ask the class to sit in a large circle for editing. Collect papers and redistribute them so that each student has another's paper. Students should read each paper carefully and jot down questions that arise as they read, e.g., points that are unclear, irrelevant material, inconsistencies. Each paper should have at least two critiques.
5. Students will revise their first drafts based on questions from the peer editing circle and also from pointers that they may have picked up in reading others' papers. A final draft should be written and edited.
6. Before turning in final papers, students should be given time to read their first attempt at an unplanned description and compare it to their final draft. Each student should write reflections of the differences in the two papers and should note how planning affected the final result in a free, journal style.
7. These reflections should be shared orally with the class. A discussion of planning as an

important factor in writing good descriptions should be a part of this session.
8. Encourage students to create a "Before and After" bulletin board showing their first and final attempts. (Journal-type reflections might be used as a border.)
Evaluation
1. Awareness ofthe writing process, ofthe importance of planning and a final draft showing improvements based on planning and input from peers should be considered in evaluation.
2. Peer evaluation is an integral part of this process. Teacher evaluation should take into account the students' follOWing procedures, including specified areas of description, students' planning and their involvement in and use of peer editing.
Follow Up
The same exercise might be used for a room or scene outside the school.
The students might engage in some imaginative writing using the same procedures for a fantastic locale or a futuristic scene.

66

Famous Journals Grades 7-8

Purpose
Students will use famous journals as bases to develop their own. They will observe and record details of a person known to them. These notes will be used to write a descriptive paper about that person.
Objectives
The learner will
listen to and discuss excerpts from famous journals or diaries.
observe a subject and record in journal fashion all details noted.
write and revise a paper describing the subject.
Materials/Aides
Paper and pencil
Copies of famous journals, e.g., those by Pepys, Byrd, Boswell, Defoe
Relatives or associates to observe
Summary
After listening to and examining examples of famous journals, e.g., those of Pepys and Boswell, students will discuss the qualities of vivid descriptive writing about characters in real life. They will then select a subject known to them, preferably a relative or associate, for an in-depth fiveday study. During their observations they will note all details relevant to the character of their study in journal fashion. All notes will form the basis of a rough draft and revision for final submission to the teacher.
Note-In this activity it is suggested that the students' sub jects should not be aware of observations and that papers must be confidential between student and teacher. Remind students to keep in mind that this is a school activity and observations should be kept to observations and topics appropriate to school.
Procedures
1. In class read and discuss excerpts from famous journals. These excerpts should emphasize character description. Good selections may be found in Pepys' Diary, Boswell's Life of Johnson and London Journal and Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year. Local school

media specialists should be of assistance in finding these materials and others appropriate for the intended grade level. Discussion should center around aspects of writing, i.e., quality, amount and precision of details, liveliness and vividness of presentation, keenness and freshness of observations and vigor and ease of style. Note that the aim of the writer is to bring the subject to life in the mind of the reader.
2. Make long range assignment and discuss it in detail. Students should select an appropriate subject for an indepth character description. They should be advised that while active and flamboyant people make good subjects, quiet, more disciplined people are also good subjects because they often reveal deeper or more interesting details for the patient observer.
3. Students should be allotted two full weeks for observation although they need only take notes for five days. This will allow for days when nothing interesting happens or when the writer does not come in contact with the subject. Students should be encouraged not to allow their subject to know of the observation so that actions will be natural. Students should merely concentrate and remember, make notes surreptitiously, and get things down on paper when they have the opportunity. Tips for the observer might include

A. Note mannerisms. (How does the subject stand while talking? Manner of walking? Greeting people? How does he or she look at people?)

B. Include quotes. (Include bits of dialogue

that are typical and revealing of the sub-

ject's attitudes. opinions and speech pat-

terns.)

-

C. Show a variety of moods and situations. (What does the subject say and how does he or she look and act at meals? Early in the morning'? At the end of the day? How does he or she react to anger-own and others? When is the subject at his or her best and what behavior is shown then?)

67

4. Students should spend two. weeks observing their subjects and noting details as discussed in Step 3. The teacher should b~ available mainly to listen and to react to problems or questions that might arise for students and to provide encouragement, advice and a reasonable check on student progress.
5. When journal entries are completed students should bring them all to class. Each student should read through the material collected and decide on a form and appropriate style in relation to the subject and the type of information that is to be revealed. Emphasis in this selection should be on naturalness. The choice of form should be optional.
6. Students should begin writing a rough draft and continue until it is completed. This may take up to a week.
7. The teacher should confer with each student and through questions elicit ideas from the student for revision. The final draft should be submitted to the teacher for evaluation.
Note-Due to the possible personal nature of this assignment. it is recommended that the teacher be the only

audience. If student and teacher agree that further publi cation of a paper would not be embarrassing to the sub ject or the writer. approval might be obtained for the work to be shared.
Evaluation
Students should be evaluated on their individual participation in the prewriting stages of this activity and on their final drafts including the qualities of writing initially sought, i.e., vivid description, abundance and precision of detail~, liveliness and vividness of presentation, keenness and freshness of observations and vigor and ease of style.
Follow Up
Encourage students to continue journal entries about other people or events in their lives. Such entries may form the basis for further papers including more involved narratives and poetry.
Some students might enjoy reading more from famous journals now that they understand the process and problems.
Adapted from "Be Your Own Boswell", by E. L. Vergason in They Really Taught Us How to Write, National Council of Teachers of English, 1974.

68

Telling

Storytelling has as its basis the relating of a series of events. A story. however. contains more than just a narrative. It contains descriptions that support the events by relating significant details which enhance the enjoyment and the understanding of the story. Stories also contain dialogue between characters. showing us how they feel. think and react.
Telling has varied purposes. A story may simply entertain. It may teach new ideas or lessons. In many instances a combination of these purposes appears in a story. In some more contemporary literature. the main purpose seems to be to create a mood or feeling. The narrative becomes poetic in the sense that imagery and ideas replace events as the vehicle for relating. While events are a part of the stories. characters and impressions are the focus of the piece. Teachers must be aware that such literature is difficult for many students to understand.
The purposes of writing that tells. then. are to entertain and to convey information or to create a mood through the elements of narration. description and dialogue. One of the purposes for teaching students to communicate in this mode should be to present and explain these principles which improve the students ability to communicate and to read and understand all forms of literature that tell. whether fictional or factual.
This should help the student discover what makes writing. their's or other's. good or bad. This can best be accomplished through discussion of what happens in a piece of writing and what caused it to happen; why the writer chose to have it happen instead of something else. Through such discussion, students arrive at a clearer understanding of a writer's purpose and develop an appreciation for the inventiveness and language skill involved in writing.
The activities that follow deal with telling as a communicative act; they are based on certain assumptions.
In the elementary years (K through 4) students should learn the elements involved in telling a story and how to create their own stories. These basic principles should be taught through regular exposure to stories (read, seen or heard) and through structured and unstructured discussion

led by the teacher rather than through the lecture method. The students become familiar with many different stories through this exposure. They begin to recognize certain characteristics of stories; e.g., some will begin to recognize that a story is about someone or something, others will realize that something is going to happen to that person or thing and that it may affect them. Generally, because children are introduced to many fairy tales and children's stories during these years, most of the stories will be romantic in nature with good winning over evil. These titles are sufficient for teaching the elements of a story.
Besides exposing students to many different stories in grades K-4, teachers should encourage students to tell their own stories. The students might relate true stories or invented ones. Both types of stories have their importance. In encouraging students to relate true stories, the teacher is better able to see how the students view themselves, their families and their world. On the other hand, when students make up stories they deal with romanticism and idealism as well as real~ ism - not only what happened or what probably would happen but also what possibly could happen. Through inventive storytelling, students learn alternative courses of action and possible results of these actions. They also decide which are preferable. The perceptive teacher can use such imaginative information as well as the child's reality to help direct a child's learning experiences about relationships with others.
After creating these stories. students should have the opportunity to share them. They might act out their story for another class or an assembly; they might tape their story for others, or they might draw pictures for the story and make a bound and covered story book. A project the entire class can carry out is to create a series of stories about the same character or characters. Students should discover early that writing is not usually an end in itself. Writing is a means of communication. It is meant to be read. considered. performed and. most of all. enjoyed.
At the 5 through 8 grade level. students should continue to develop an understanding of the elements of telling (what it is and how to do it),

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and they should begin tounderstand the steps involved. During these years, students should be exposed to a wider variety of stories. Tile focus should broaden from romanticism and comedy to include tragedy and irony. As the students read more and more, they should begin to identify stories according to purpose. The teacher must supply good examples of stories with different purposes and help the students see how the author achieves purpose. Questions concerning characterization, actions and language help students see that the author's purpose determines the type of story written and that the author's style determines how well the purpose is accomplished. However, in-depth study of structure and style should not be attempted. Discovering the author's purpose through discussion and teacher questioning will help the student become more involved with literature and reinforce the concept of reading as a pleasurable activity.
The students should have the opportunity to write their own stories after deciding on a purpose. This age enjoys group work and can help brainstorm ideas for the story. The result is usually a much more interesting story and a much more enjoyable learning experience for the students. Again, these stories can and should be published.
Students begin to read stories with different purposes and in different forms (novels, short stories, dramas, narrative poems, musical ballads). They should begin to recognize these forms and expand their writing to include them. By the eighth grade students should begin to answer questions dealing with the structure of the story

and why authors build their stories in certain ways. They will not be able to formulate their own questions about structure, but they should be able to respond intelligently to teacher questions about the elements and function of storytelling. It is not until high school or after that most students become independent readers capable of understanding, enjoying and learning through self-directed efforts. This is the ultimate yoal for which we are striving.
In grades 9-12 students should become more involved with critical reading of stories and with writing and using different forms of fiction to meet their own purposes. Also, the students should begin to use the different forms of presentations (drama, chamber theatre, oral interpretation) for publication of their own works. More focus should be put on what makes a good story. Students should begin asking themselves why the author used certain words and decided on certain events; they should become familiar with Widely used symbols and feel more comfortable about interpreting the literature personally. Such exercises help students discover the author's purpose, a precondition in many cases to a student understanding or enjoying a selection.
The goals for storytelling can be accomplished through integrated activities in the language arts; i.e., reading stories, listening to and discussing stories, writing stories and ultimately publishing and performing stories. Such activities fulfill two basic needs - the need to create and the need to communicate - and thus become an important part of the learning experiences.

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Sample Activities

Make-a-Story Grades K-2

Purpose
To help young children create a story.
Objectives
The learner will
re-tell events in sequence. discuss informally why an event occurred.
discuss informally the characters in a story.
discuss cause/effect relationships.
create a sequence of events and describe a character within these events.
listen to other students' ideas.
help make small group decisions based on group discussion.
Materials
Tape recorder and tapes Chalk and chalkboard Story Volunteers to aid
Summary
This activity has several important aspects. The students will be learning to relate events in the time order and in cause/effect sequence. The students will also be inventing a piece of fiction. They will be speaking, listening, siaaring ideas and reaching group decisions. Through this interaction, they will be involved in the process of constructive group work. Finally, the students will perform their story in front of others. They will be learning that creative fiction is by its nature a communicative art meant to be read or performed. The teacher's role is that of moderator and questioner, supporting student decisions concerning their story unless obvious contradictions appear in the story. In the event that the teacher must intervene, the problem should be stated clearly to the small group and they should

decide how to alleviate the contradiction. The teacher or an aide must also serve as the recorder for the group.
Procedures
1. Students listen to a short story.
2. The teacher elicits from the group events in order of occurrence.
3. As students offer information, the teacher lists events in one column on the board. As characters are mentioned, they may be listed in a second column and any descriptive elements in a third column. (The teacher facilitates this process by asking directed, leading questions to the students.)
a. What happens in this story? b. Why did these things happen? c. Are there other things that happened? d. Who are the characters in the story? e. Describe one of the characters. How did
that character look?
4. After students have retold the story, the teacher gives them a list of questions relating to storyinventing. This list is similar to the questions that have been directed orally to the students, and it provides a format for collecting information to be used in inventing a new story. Sample questions for the list might include
a. Who is in the story? b. What is he or she like? c. What happens to this person? d. How did it happen? e. Why did it happen? f. What happened after that? g. How did that make you feel?
Note-The teacher reads these aloud as the students look at the list.
5. The teacher (student aides, parents, paraprofessionals) then divides the class into four or

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five groups of five and begins to meet with each group at different times to help them create their own story.
6. After the story has been created in rough form, descriptive details are added.
7. The students in the group should practice telling the story in order with all details. (Each member of the group could be responsible for telling a portion of the story.)
8. When students have practiced the story enough and feel confident about it, the class then might have a "Storytelling Day." Each group presents its story to the other groups.
Evaluation
1. Teacher observes individual student efforts in
large group participation at initial reading and retelling.
small group participation in developing the story.
class presentation of story.
2. Students can evaluate their own efforts by using the questions in Procedures, #4 above.

3. Peer evaluation of the Group Presented Story can also be used if the teacher can assure responses will be supportive.
Folio.... Up
An alternate procedure might be for some students to write their stories in their own words, making any changes they would like. They could draw or paint covers for their stories and make story books. These could then be shared with other classes or exhibited on a bulletin board or in the school media center. Some stories might be suitable for acting out.
If so, the group could practice an improvisa-
tional form of the story, adding any dialogue they need and perform the story for the class or an assembly.
Students can create a puppet show through which to tell their stories. This might provide an outlet for the shy student as well as provide an opportunity for creative expression by designing and creating the puppets and sets to be used.

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Planet New Grades 3-4

Pupose
Students will write a description of a new planet and use it as the setting for a space story that they will create.
Objectives
The learner will
create a realistic planet with features based on those found in our solar system.
devise a space adventure using the new planet as the setting.
demonstrate an understanding of why setting is important to a story.
Materials
Resources on planets (e.g., filmstrips, pictures, printed materials)
Chalk and chalkboard Paper and pencil
Summary
This activity is designed to integrate language arts skills with scientific information. After discussing planets and their characteristics, students create a planet. A story writing session follows and culminates in class presentations.
Procedures
1. Students select one of the planets of our solar system to research.
2. Students are grouped according to the planet researched.
3. The different groups share their information, creating a knowledge pool for each planet.
4. Each group then shares this information with the entire class. (Teacher can ask for a volunteer from each group to tell the class about their planet or a specific person in each group can be assigned the role of reporter.)
5. After all reports are given, the students list on the board some of the information that was

true for all the planets. Example-No plant life, little oxygen, mountains and valleys.
6. Students use this information to describe a new planet, making that planet as real as possible.
7. Students then read their descriptions to each other, the teacher or to the class.
8. The teacher then assigns each student to write a short space adventure that might take place on the new planet.
9. Students read finished stories to their group for feedback and editing.
10. Groups exchange stories for individual reading.
11. When completed, the stories should be prominently displayed in the room.
Evaluation
1. Peer evaluation is an integral part of the procedures as in steps 9 & 10 above.
2. Teacher evaulation should focus upon completion of the steps within the task, the task itself, the class readings or individual speaking assignments and the accuracy of information.
3. Language/syntax problems which emerge in the final written products should be noted and corrected individually at another time and as is appropriate for the age/maturity group involved.
Follow Up
Students can illustrate their stories and display them in the library/media center or on a bulletin board.
Students can read or listen to other space stories and consider similarities between their stories and the others read.
Note-This activity would lead towards an Inductive method of defining the elements of any science-space travel stOI]l.

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Outcomes Grades 5-6

Purpose
Students will discuss possible story outcomes and tell their own version of how they think a story will end. Students begin to understand that authors carefully construct stories and consciously plan endings.
Objectives
The learner will
discuss the relationship of decisions with outcomes.
complete a story's ending. contribute to a large group discussion. engage in small group discussion and decision-
making.
compare story endings and make a decision as to which length ending is best and why.
Materials
An entertaining short story, e.g., "Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes.
Summary
This activity combines discussion, listening and writing as the students produce an ending for a short story that is unfamiliar to them. Students then listen to the different student-produced endings, discuss them and decide which are most appropriate. Afterwards, the teacher reads the author's ending and the class discusses the author's choice and speculates upon the possible reasons for the author's decision.
Procedures
1. The teacher reads an interesting, action filled story to the class.
2. The teacher reads enough of the story to involve the students, identify the problem and the main characters.
3. The teacher stops at the most critical point of the story.
4. The students discuss what might possibly happen (large group, teacher-led discussion).

5. The teacher should remind the students that the ending should be realistic and probable, based on what they know of the characters, what the characters are like and what has already happened in the story.
6. Remind students that individual decisions are based on values and knowledge.
7. Ask the students to think about the main character values and what he or she might do.
8. After the possible endings have been discussed along with the reasons why students feel the way they do, the teacher breaks the class into different groups based on how students think the story should end. For example, if four students thought the main character would capture the villian and bring the villian to justice, let those students work in the same group.
9. The teacher, working with the different groups, makes sure students are on task, writing an ending for the story, and checks to be sure they are including appropriate details and making their ending logically consistent with characters in the story and previous events.
10. After endings are completed, one person designated by each group reads that group's ending.
11. The class as a whole decides which ending is most appropriate and why.
Note-dlscussing why Is most important. It is through this discussion that students begin to realize the importance of realistic details and actions.
12. After the discussion, the teacher reads the author's story ending to the class.
13. Students then discuss (large group, teacherled discussion) and critique the original ending. (It is important that the teacher let students express their likes and dislikes. It is also most important that the teacher help the students see why the author ended the story as he or she did without detracting from the students' ideas.)

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EvaluatioD
The teacher's evaluation of the students' work should focus on the appropriateness of details and actions in the students' papers, observation of group work and observation of participation in large group discussion. Peer evaluation is inherent in the selection of endings as in Step 1 above.

Folio.... Up
The teacher can repeat this tactic with other stories.
As students develop their skills in relating events, the middle of the story or its beginning might be the portion omitted for student development; in either case logical appropriate development and consistency are stressed.

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Ballads Grades 7-8

Purpose
Students will recognize that telling a story takes different forms. As a part of this activity, they will develop their own narrative poem and present it as a choral reading.
Objectives
The learner will identify narrative poems. write an extended definition of a narrative poem
(including a definition of the ballad, the refrain, the possible rhyme schemes and the stanza length).
write a narrative poem. define and perform a choral reading of the
poem.
Materials
Several examples of interesting narrative poems Printed copies of ballads and recordings of them if available 30-35 copies of human interest stories (high interestllow vocabulary; some newspaper stories can be used)
Summary
In this activity students will be creating their own stories and using new story forms. They will read some of the human interest stories. They will then adapt a story and develop a poem in a narrative style. Finally. the students will perform their poem through a choral reading for the class.
Procedures
1. Read one or two examples of narrative poems to the class and play some song ballads; e.g. Kenny Rogers, "The Gambler;" Gordon Ughtfoot. "The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald;" "The Legend of Barbara Allan:'
2. After listening to the poetry, ask students to explain what they think is a narrative poem.

3. After students have arrived at a definition (which might be skeletal but accurate). extend the definition.
4. Explain how the ballad differs from narrative poems. Use examples.
5. Divide class into small groups.
6. Give each group relatively short. but actionfilled human interest stories to read.
7. After they have read stories, instruct students to decide on one from which they will write a narrative poem.
8. Using their notes on narrative poems and two or three examples, have students write their narrative poems.
9. Explain briefly what choral reading is. i.e. group interpretation of poetry, and work with each group to decide how best to present their poem.
10. Have students perform their poems as a choral reading.
Evaluation
1. Peer evaluation ofthe presentations is advised. A form can be developed that permits students to evaluate their peers' work on various elements of the narratives and on the presentations. Emphasis should be upon commendation with criticism limited to one or two points.
2. Teacher evaluation should focus upon individual participation in the group work and upon the groups' collective products.
foUowUp
Narratives which were developed can be printed, duplicated and bound into a class book.
Sections of the class narratives can be illustrated independently or as a part of the class book project.
The class can select one or more from among their works and practice and present these to other classes throughout the school.

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Explaining

Explaining undergrids other modes of discourse, such as interpreting. It involves activities quite similar to those in other instructional areas, such as reading. Thus, it becomes doubly important in itself as a mode of communication and as a building block for other phases of instructions.
The similarity of activities in both instances offers the teacher the opporunity to reinforce, through additional practice, elements common to several skills. However, if the activities seem redundant, economize through careful planning. One or a series of activities could be used to build concepts useful for reading and writing and for specific disciplines such as social studies, science or mathematics.
In explaning an individual must be able to make something clear to someone else. The stated or unstated how mutt be answered. "How did this happen?" "How do I get to your house?" "How do you bake a cake?"
To satisfy this how question an individual must
recognize that a process or procedure is comprised of steps.

identify the steps in the process or procedure.
recognize the order inherent in the steps.
organize and present the data in a fashion appropriate to the audience.
As students progress in age and ability, their efforts should obviously take on a greater level of _ sophistication. Providing logical development, making connections and demonstrating relationships will require more effort and rely upon the students' increasing maturity.
The how question for older students will become more abstract. Their responses will require the use of appropriate examples and appeals to precedent for justification.
When working with older or younger students, the teacher will need to alert them to the differences in an explanation that is face-to-face (i.e., one in which the receiver's reactions can be seen and his or her confusion resolved by the other) and one that must stand on its own merits (one in which the sender is unable to react to the receiver's confusion or responses, such as a set of written directions).

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.Sample Activities

Sequencing Grades K-2

Purpose
Through identifying and sequencing the steps in a process students will gain practice in an important part of explaining as a mode of communication.
Objectives
The learner will
employ appropriate explaining processes. order the steps in a process. build group work concepts.
Materials/Aides
One large, action picture for class demonstration
Several magazine action pictures of children in the midst of an activity, e.g., playing ball, skating, dancing, eating ice cream
Tape recorders/tapes
Chalk/chalkboard
Markers/chart paper
Adults or older students, if possible
Su ary
This activity leads students through the ordering and explaining of steps in a process. Both small group and whole class discussion are used.
Procedures
1. Show the large action picture to the class; be certain that an explanation of sequential action is possible. Ask the students to identify the main action in the picture. Write student response(s) on the board, such as "The children are playing ball;" "They're playing baseball."
2. Ask the students to name three different tasks or movements such as pitching, batting, catching, running required to complete or carry out the action in the picture. Write these on the board.

3. Ask the students which of these moves is the beginning action (put a #1 by it on the board), the next action (put a #2) and the next action (put a #3). Orally review the steps inthe action by reading the words, phrases or sentences on the board in the correct sequence.
4. Divide the c1a~ into small groups and give each group a magazine picture. With the aid of an adult, an older student or a tape recorder, have students repeat the group procedure above in their small group. Activities will include identifying the main action, identifying three tasks or movements required to complete the action and putting these tasks in order.
5. When the groups have finished, each should report its findings. One student in each group might volunteer to show the picture, another to tell the main action and others to identify the steps, in appropriate order, in the task. The teacher should list these on a chart as they are spoken and display the charts to the class.
Evaluation
The teacher should be aware of specific word choices used by the students in the explanation process. The ordering process should be noted in the small group and large group discussions. Students cooperative behavior as large group and small group participants should be mentioned and praised.
FoUowUp
Reinforce this process whenever possible by asking students to identify the sequences involved in certain tasks, e.g., going to lunch, passing out books, collecting papers.
Reinforce this process and the idea of group cooperation by allowing students to suggest ways to accomplish classroom tasks. Be certain to have them identify the steps involved and then carry through with their suggestions to test the procedures.

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TV Shows
Grades 3-4

Purpose
This activity is intended to help students gain in their understanding and employing appropriate explaining processes.
Objectives
The learner will use a personal experience as an example of
explaining. participate in brainstorming group activities. explain individual choices using several rea-
sons.
Materials
Pencils, crayons, paper Chalk/chalkboard
Summary
Beginning with whole class brainstorming, this activity guides individual students into identifying and developing reasons for their television preferences.
Procedures
1. Discuss the general process or procedure for brainstorming.
2. Brainstorm with class for a list of favorite television shows.

3. Discuss what students believe to be important for a good television show. List the criteria on the board as students suggest them.
4. Have each student select a personal favorite from the board list or one that has occurred to them since the list was made.
5. Based upon the criteria listed on the board, the students should cite three reasons for their choices, e.g., it is funny; it is exciting; they do interesting things.
6. Students should brainstorm five or six more reasons and then select the best three.
7. Complete activity by displaying each student's selection and reasons in written or pictorial form.
EvaluatioD
Teacher, peers and individual students should evaluate each product looking for three clear, specific, well-explained reasons.
Follow Up
A surveyor a ranking of the top programs could follow; the reasons for choices could be explored; the most common or most unusual programs could be discussed to discover first, second, third television choices.
A similar activity can be developed around favorite foods, sports, books and songs.

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Things
Grades 5-6

Purpose
This activity is intended to help students understand and employ appropriate explaining processes.
Objectives
The learner will
practice using a variety of audience appeals.
cite relevant examples for support.
investigate ways of sequencing explanations.
make an informed selection from a range of organizational possibilities.
Materials
Paper and pencils
Summary
This is an individual writing assignment, but the teacher should generate enthusiasm for the task by brainstorming "things" with the class. Students share their finished writings with the large group.
Procedures
1. With students, brainstorm "things" which they might use as topics, e.g., lightbulb, weathervane, matches, clothes dryer, ball point pen, popcorn popper, mouse trap. The items should be suitable for a description of their use, i.e., something which involves a process and which is not too complicated.
2. Ask students to select one item and instruct them to make a list of information about the item.
Example
Mouse trap-small wooden platform, a spring, bait holder, bait, mechanism, wire guillotine.

3. Determine the audience for which the students are to write, e.g., younger students or peer group or parents.
4. Ask students to arrange list items in a logical sequence. Options-backward sequence, random sequence. Think about a sequence to interest and engage your audience.
5. Ask students to freewrite the paper.
6. Ask them to think about the way the paper begins. Remind them that the paper will be read aloud. Hook the audience.
7. Ask them to share their papers with the class.
Evaluation
1. An informal evaluation comes as writers read their papers.
2. Audience comments on particularly effective use of sequence, interesting openings and concreteness of language. A more formal evaluation could be done using an evaluation check~ list.
Opening 1-5 Sequence 1-5 Concrete language 1-5 Overall impact on audience 1-5
Include any usage and mechanics conventions you have been stressing in your teaching. i.e.. complete sentences 1-5 or punctuation 1-5.
Follow Up
Asimilar assignment on another object could lead to small group feedback or use of the formal evaluation procedure noted above.

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Make It Appealing Grades 1-8

Purpose
This activity offers students the opportunity to extend their understanding and use of appropriate explaining processes.
Objectives
The learner will
practice a variety of audience appeals.
cite relevant examples for support.
investigate ways to order an explanation.
make an informed selection from the range of organized possibilities.
Materials
Chalk/chalkboard Paper/pencils Copy of opinion paper
Summary
This lesson depends on teacher-guided whole class discussion. In addition to individual writing assignments, peer evaluation is used with a set of identified criteria (checklist).
Procedures
1. Review with students the difference between fact and opinion statements.
2. Ask the class to suggest some opinion statements such as, "I like that music", "Our backfield played badly." Accept all statements offered and write them on the board.
3. Ask students to determine if all the statements are opinion. Strike those that are not.
4. After the students are comfortable with the difference and are making opinion statements consistently, let them practice finishing statements such as "I like that music because ... " or "Our punter is not as good as theirs because ... "
5. Guide the discussion toward considering support for an opinion. What is appropriate? How should support be stated?
6. Ask them to note the opinion expressed and to identify the support given that opinion in the paragraphs below.

'" think television commercials should be banned. Commercials constantly interrupt my programs. Every fifteen minutes during a movie there are /ive minutes oj commercials.
"Most commercials are not truthful. Take dogJood com mercialsJor instance. , know companies want more pe0ple to buy their product, but really, most people don't care. Dog food is dog Jood! My dog wl/l eat any kind of dog Jood, and his health is the same as it always was. Besides. my dog doesn't even watch the commercials.
"Television would be more enjoyable if there were no
commercials. Come to think oj it. though, when would' get to get a snack?"
7. After the supporting statements are listed, lead the students in a brainstorming session to provide support for the following opinion, "Students should decide the menu for the school cafeteria." List supporting statements or reasons on the chalkboard.
8. Then brainstorm a second list of situations in which students might need or want to state and support an opinion, e.g., the appropriate age at which young people should begin dating or at which young people should be allowed to drive or any topic of interest to the age group.
9. Ask them to choose one ofthose brainstormed topics for an opinion paper. Remind them to make a list of supporting ideas on their own before beginning to write.
Evaluation
When the students finish, have them exchange papers for teacher-guided peer evaluation using a checklist which might include the following.
Evidence
Look at the reasons (evidence) given for the opinion. Are there at least three reasons? Can you suggest any better ones? Are there specific examples to illustrate reasons?
Arrangement
Think about how the paper is arranged. Is the strongest evidence first? Last? Is each reason in a separate paragraph?
Language
Is the opinion expressed clearly? Is the language forceful?

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Punctuation and Spelling Check spelling. Check for capitalization and punctuation in each sentence.
Reread
Reread the paper one final time. Does it sound convincing? The checklist developed can also be used for revision and self evaluation.
Follow Up
Following peer evaluation (use of checklist) in small groups, students (still in small groups)

could brainstorm for both topic and support (evidence) for pro or con positions. Give particular emphasis to audience-what is convincing to different groups of listeners. or readers.
Use one or several of these topics in a classroom debate.

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Persuading

As members of a highly communicative social group. we regularly send and receive numerous messages; many of these messages are intended to persuade. We exhort others to believe as we do. and we are ourselves exhorted to accept the beliefs. statements or opinions of others. In addition. if the statistics describing our viewing habits are to be credited. we are literally innundated with efforts at persuasion in the form of commercial advertising. It is. therefore. extremely important to help young people become more aware of and effective in their use of persuasive discourse; furthermore. it is equally important to help our students become more effective in their ability to identify persuasive arguments.
Predictably. efforts with younger students concentrate on developing awareness. not proficiency. The teacher's initial task is to help students recognize their own natural. normal attempts at

persuasion. Once students understand that persuading is not a new or an alien activity. efforts should be directed at helping students to present their own ideas convincingly and to provide supporting information such as examples which help substantiate a position.
Activities at the elementary level include evaluating points of view. developing explanations. providing supporting examples. identifying individual motives. anticipating counter arguments and so on. At the high school level these practices are pursued in greater depth. Students work to refine their persuasive skills and to become more adept at penetrating the manipulative messages aimed at all of us. Efforts focus on providing experiences which will help students recognize attempts (their own and those of others) at persuading.

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Sample Activities

Don't Argue, Persuadel Grades K2

Purpose
As senders and receivers of messages in society we must be aware of the elements of persuasion. This activity provides an opportunity for students to develop that awareness, to become familiar with persuasive behaviors that they or others use regularly and to identify these behaviors as persuasive. Further, it provides experience in oral communication, in role playing, in making value judgments and in logical thinking for decisionmaking. The teacher should work to develop awareness in the young person that they are doing this already at a subconscious level.
Objectives
The learner will
develop insight into persuasion.
become aware of personal feelings and the feelings of others.
demonstrate logical thinking and decisionmaking.
Materials
Collections of stories, fables, tales; material may be in print or on film, tapes, slides.
Summary
The activity is related to the students' environment and to literary selections read by or to the class. It includes the use of listening, speaking, valuing and evaluating skills. Role playing permits the students to walk in the shoes of the characters. (Students alternate between active roles as participants and passive roles as observers and jurists.)
Procedures
1. Introduce for discussion some topics or issues directly related to the students' world, e.g., the length and number of recesses, a playground, a school regulation, privileges reserved for older students.
2. Observe the students as they react to these topics and choose one or two topics for dis-

cussion based on the students' apparent interest.
3. Allow students enough time to consider the matter(s), and then elicit reasons why they think changes are necessary.
4. Help them to formulate their answers so that they are convincing. i.e., help them show you why something is unfair. why recess is too short. Help them develop and recognize the pattern inherent in a persuasive response.
5. More mature students might be able to explain the reason(s) for the present policy with assistance from the. teacher or other adults in the classroom. If possible, invite an administrator or other adult to provide some rebuttal to the students' arguments. Again, emphasize the element of persuasion.
6. Help students develop an awareness that there is more than one side to every issue. (Reminding students of a story that they have read, seen or heard in which two sides are clearly presented clarifies this concept for them.)
7. Supply examples of how things are changed through persuasion and discussion, perhaps from events at home, in the community or in the school.
8. If possible invite an attorney to visit the class and explain his or her role in presenting a client's side of a legal problem. Emphasize in the discussion the importance for an attorney to persuade a judge and jury through evidence and support.
9. Discuss the role of the attorneys, the judge and the jury in a trial.
10. Using a piece of literature read with the class. invite students to choose a character and to represent that character's side of an issue. (Material which features differences among parents and children, among siblings or among friends will work best as will certain beast fables such as "The Mouse and

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the Lion" and "Mice in CouncillBelling the Cat".)
11. The teacher with the class's input can formulate questions to ask each character which will elicit responses that support or represent a character's point of view. The important element in this step is to provide students a neutral setting in which to use persuasion, an opportunity to be persuasive while playing the role of their characters.
12. Students not representing a character can assume the attorneys' roles, the judge's role or the jury's role.
13. A mock trial is then held and the characters are given the opportunity to respond to the attorneys' questions and to present their sides ofthe issue as persuasively as possible. The jury votes on each case.
Evaluation
1. Teacher evaluation should focus on participation and upon the attempts, successful or otherwise, at persuasion.
2. Peer evaluation of the students' role playing is inherent in the jury ballotting.
3. The individual student ~hould evaluate his or her own participation. Some questions which might be appropriate follow.

Did I participate in the activity as completely as I could?
Did I listen as carefully as I could? When it was my turn to contribute some-
fhing, did I have something to say? Did I represent my character or role as well
as I could? What might I do next time to improve on
my own performance? What did I learn from this activity?
Follow Up
Using a cassette recorder, have the members of the jury record their reasons for voting as they did.
Arrange a field trip to the courthouse to see the courtroom and meet some of the people who work there.
Act out some of the scenes in the story which were involved in the trial. Have the witnesses exchange roles.
Sketch or draw an important scene from the story, one that was involved in the trial.
Ask some of the students to appear as character witnesses to present facts not brought out at the trial. Students should be encouraged to be imaginative. to go beyond the story.

85

You End It
Grades 3-4

Purpose
This activity combines each of the competencies inherent in the language arts, i.e., listening, speaking, reading and writing. It provides an opportunity for students to practice persuasion in the "low threat/no threat" context of a group activity while insuring that the students' efforts have a real audience which will prOVide immediate feedback.
Objectives
The learner will develop skills in persuasion through the use of
reasons and convincing argument. demonstrate the integrated use of language
arts competencies; i.e., listening, speaking, reading and writing.
participate in a presentation. provide immediate feedback to peers for their
efforts.
Materials/Aides
Two engaging. open-ended stories. e.g.. Frank R. Stockton's "The Lady or the Tiger?" Additional adult personnel or older students to help with the groups
Summary
The class is divided into two groups. each with a different story. The groups, after reading or hearing their stories, prepare arguments for possible endings which are to be presented to the other groups. The stories are exchanged and the endings presented. The second group to read each story votes for the ending they were persuaded is the best.
Procedures
1. Divide the class into two groups through random assignments. Each group should have an adult or older student to assist with the material to be read and the procedures to be followed.

2. Provide a different, open-ended story for each group to read or to hear.
3. Upon completion of the reading, the members of each group should nominate appropriate endings for the story that they were assigned.
4. As differences emerge within the group, ask the participants with similar points of view to work together. (Within each larger group there should be at least two different endings for the story.)
5. The students who favor one particular ending should (list) all the reasons why they believe their ending is best. The same procedure is followed by those with an opposing or different point of view. (Within any given classroom, there would be two stories in use and each story would have student groups developing persuasive arguments for at least two points of view for each story.)
6. Provide help for students as they organize their lists of reasons and suggest ways they might most persuasively present their views.
7. After these lists of reasons are prepared and the students feel they are ready to present their ideas, the class should be rejoined as a total group.
8. The open-ended stories are exchanged.
9. When the groups have finished their second story, they hear the endings suggested by the first group and the arguments for those endings. This can be done by panel presentations or less formally from various members of the group. Rebuttal time can be allowed if a modified form of a debate is desirable or appropriate.
10. The second group votes on the ending they believe to be most suitable based upon the arguments provided. This becomes a form of peer evaluation and is an automatic measure of success in persuasion.
11. The roles are exchanged so that each group has had an opportunity to present endings for their stories.

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Evaluation
1. Peer evaluation is inherent as described in 10 above.
2. Teacher evaluation should be ongoing, focusing upon group participation of individuals and upon the individual and group performance which takes place before the class as a whole.

Follow Up
Students can depict some scenes from the story in sequence including the ending agreed upon by the class
Groups could reenact their endings through improvisations or the use of puppets.
The second group reading the story could develop their own endings and discuss or debate them.

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Very Important People Grades 5-6

PlII'Pose
This activity provides students an opportunity to practice persuasive techniques by developing reasons and explanations in a noncompetitive environment. It also acquaints them with community personnel and helpful. supportive adults who work in vocations worth considering.
Objectives
The learner will
provide reasons and explanations for choices.
persuade others that the choices are good ones.
acquire information concerning some vocations concerned with community support.
become familiar with some of the services available in the community.
Summary After exposure to professions which are directly related to the community, the students select a particular vocation and develop persuasive arguments, using reasons and explanations as to why the profession they have selected is so important. Winning or being most convincing should not be emphasized; providing persuasive evidence is the emphasis.
Procedures
1. The students should be given an overview of professions directly related to the community, professions which might interest them. The list could include members of various professions such as healing (doctors, nurses, medical and X-ray technicians, emergency personnel), law and public safety (firefighters, police, sheriffs, court recorders, tax assessors, bailiffs,), agriculture (fanners, foresters, extension agents, marketers, implement dealers,). The list is limited only by the community; however, even at an introductory level, the teacher should preselect and limit positions to avoid bewildering the students.
2. The class should select three to five specific jobs, positions.or professions presented or discussed. Those selected will then represent areas of interest for the class.

3. Working individually or in groups, the students select the occupation which they wish to present and begin to list the reasons which make this an important occupation.
4. Individuals who hold these positions should be invited to the class to explain to that group or to the class at large what they do for the community and how they carry out their work.
5. Set a minimum number of reasons or explanations for the students to supply for the profession chosen, but encourage them to go beyond this minimum. Remind them to concentrate on convincing others of the importance of the selected profession.
6. Students should then present their work to the class as a group report or as a panel discussion. If public reporting is not feasible, individual or group reports to the teacher will suffice.
7. Some written product should accompany the report or culminate the activity.
Evaluation
1. Collectively, the student(s) who have completed a report and the teacher should determine if the preestablished minimum has been met.
2. They should discuss how convincing the arguments were, e.g., did the student(s) show how vital the position they discussed was to the community? Did the student(s) show what might happen if no one filled that position?
3. Class members outside the reporting group can be asked to provide positive comments about the report.
Follow Up
Displays can be created about the chosen professions.
Field trips to work sites can be arranged.
Students might prepare papers individually on profession or positions other than the one they or their group discussed, using the information provided by their classmates.

88

Focus Grades 7-8

Purpose
It is possible to work with persuasion in a number of ways. However, all such efforts are made easier when there is a supportive and accepting environment. To encourage this kind of climate in the classroom both the teacher and the students must learn to respect each other's right to hold and present different views; developing such a rapport is the purpose of this activity.
Objectives
The learner will
give supportive reasons or evidence for ideas and beliefs.
be open to, accept and understand different points of view.
listen carefully without interruption.
listen actively and accept opportunities to pose appropriate questions.
Materials
Several short, young adult pieces of literature which include problem situations and characters with which students can identify
Summary
Students have the opportunity to deal with beliefs and values in an activity which provides practice in persuasion, in active listening and in questioning.
Activities
1. After completing an appropriate piece of literature (print, film or audio version), students are asked to concentrate on the characters' feelings.
2. Students complete, in writing, several sentences that relate to one of the characters, e.g., "I feel best when I am with people who " or "I like to ... " and "I don't like to " Students, in effect, adopt a role.
3. After each student has completed the unfinished sentences, the teacher may ask the students to arrange themselves into groups of three.

4. Each student, as a story character, is to have the full attention of the other two group members for three minutes. During this period that student is to talk about the character's responses, giving reasons and evi~ence why these are appropriate for that character.
5. Interaction is to be governed by the foIlowing rules. Explain these carefuIly to the class. A demonstration by adults or older students is helpful.
Focusing-Each group member is to be a focus person for three minutes. Do not let the attention of the group shift from the focus person until time is up or until that person asks to stop.
Acceptance-Be supportive. Give nods, smiles and expressions of understanding. If you disagree With the focus person, do not express disagreement or negative feelings.
Dra"'ing out-Attempt to understand the focus person's position and beliefs. Ask questions which wiIl help to clarify reasons for the person's feeling. Do not shift the focus to yourself.
(This activity can be used with almost any topic that requires small group discussion. It teaches listening as weIl as reasoning.)
Evaluation
1. Peer evaluation entails the individual group members commenting supportively on the observance of the rules established and the explanations supplied.
2. The teacher should observe the performance of individual students and student groups.
3. The teacher should be alert to the evidences supplied and reinforce as many student supplied responses as possible and warranted.
4. Participation in discussion should be praised.
Follow Up
Have students model the characters in the story as pieces of sculpture.

89

The sculptures should become animated as they speak in defenseof their action for those minutes.
Students may write and read letters. of persuasion in defense of their characters' actions.
They may make three dimensional objects as an extension of their explanations, highlighting events that were significant and set the stage for the actions explained i.e., a poster, collage, mobile, bulletin board displaying vocabulary words that describe the character.
In this assignment students are to assume that their audience is a mend and that their mend has not read the work being discussed. The students' purpose is to persuade that mend to read the work. The work is to be one of the short stories read (seen, heard ... ).
When trying to interest someone else in a story, one usually tells something about the plot. One

ofthe following thesis statements may be helpful in beginning a paper.

You will enjoy

_

(title)

by

because

(author)

the plot

from beginning to end.

is suspenseful keeps the reader guessing is humorous arouses human interest and sympathy has many reversals illustrates a problem illustrates a time in history

Then develop the thesis by referring to three incidents in the story.

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Researching

Research is literally a process of discovery and organization. There are a number of steps in this process.
Clearly defining the purpose and the direction of the research
Identifying the available sources of information (in and out of school)
Gathering data from among the sources
Organizing the information obtained
Reporting the results
Traditionally. school related research has relied upon the school media center and the local public library. While these are valid and reliable sources. research should not be limited to or by these facilities. Recognition of the community as a valuable adjunct to the classroom is valuable in researching. Community members. business and governmental agencies and the media (national and local) are often underused sources for student research; everything from rock concerts to retirement homes should be given consideration as rich. relevant sources.

To be successful the researcher must gather useful information efficiently; most students will not be able to intuitively accomplish this. Teacher effort and instructional time will acquaint students with tactics and strategies for streamlining their efforts. Since the majority of this work is done outside the classroom and. frequently. outside the school. the teacher must adapt some . systematic method for assuring that students are progressing toward their goal(s).
Reporting findings is usually done in school to the class or a small group within the class; the teacher should rarely. if ever. be the sole audience. This reporting can legitimately take a number of forms; e.g an oral report. a project. a studentmade tape or media product. or the traditional paper.
Ideally. the information sought by students should be of value' and interest to them. The specified tasks are more successfully accomplished when they are related to the students' needs and when the students perceive the process. methodology and results of research as valuable means to a goal which they recognize.

91

Sample Activities

Who Am I
Grades K-2

Purpose
Since "Who Am I" may be the students' first efforts at research, it should be a positive experience. The activity is intended to help students gain confidence as they acquire research skills through practice and performance. The teacher must provide continuous and genuine encouragement and praise for all student efforts. The purpose is to provide practice in research skills at a level appropriate to the elementary student by exploring sources of information, collecting data and summarizing and sharing findings with class members. Cooperative behavior in small and large groups is an integral part of this activity.
Objectives
The learner will
explore potential sources of information.
collect data.
report findings.
exhibit cooperative behavior.
Materials
Copies of class developed interest inventory Pencils, markers and butcher paper Glue and scissors Magazines Chalk and chalkboard Manila envelopes or folders for each student Older students, paraprofessionals or volunteer
adults
Summary
Students are introduced to the research process through an activity focused on finding out about themselves. They seek information, collect, and share findings. A subject of immediate interest has been selected-the students themselves.
Students participate in individual, small group and large group interaction. Speaking and listening skills are practiced. Cooperative efforts should be encouraged and praised.

Procedures
. 1. In a large or small group setting, involve students in developing an interest inventory, e.g.,
What things do you like to daydream about? What do you enjoy discussing? What is your favorite fragrance? What song do you like best? book? dance? What is your favorite toy? game? activity?
hobby? Which of your things do you value most? In what room of your home do you feel
most comfortable? If not at home, then where do you feel most
comfortable?
Record their answers for the inventory on the board or butcher paper using the students' own language. If this was done in small group, collect and merge the lists.
2. Provide stacks of magazines. Have students find pictures that represent their individual responses to their interest inventory. Tell students to collect more examples than they think they will need. Give each student a folder or manila envelope in which to collect and store pictures.
3. Have students find a partner. Spread large sheets of butcher paper on the floor and distribute pencils. One student should lie face up on the butcher paper while the partner traces that student's outline. Have partners switch places usng a new sheet of butcher paper and repeat the tracing so that each student has an outline.
4. Encourage partners to help each other cut out their traced body outlines.
5. Students glue pictures onto traced outlines. i.e.. favorite foods pasted to stomach area. favorite dreams are pasted to forehead area and so on. Students can print their names or cut out and glue the letters of their names

92

onto their traced outline. Mutual assistance is appropriate throughout this activity.
6. Allow the works to dry and display them in the room.
7. Encourage students to select three items from their body outlines that best answer the question, "Who am I?"
8. Before making their final decisions, ask students to consult their parents and at least one friend. Have students add this in-put from the three sources (self, parent, friend) in pictorial or sketched form to the body outline.
9. Students are now to narrow the collected data to those three items that best represent them. These items can be starred or circled.
10. Divide the class into small groups of three to five. Students are to answer the question, "Who am I?" They can tell about themselves by explaining their traced body outlines and by identifying their three chosen items.
11. Encourage group members to ask questions.
EvaluatioD
1. Carefully monitored peer feedback should be an integral part of this activity and its evaluation.
2. The teacher should observe and note student interaction, participation and enthusiasm. Additionally, teachers could evaluate the degree of success of this activity by considering questions such as "Did all students participate? If some didn't, why not? Were stu-

dents involved in their research? Did they enjoy the activity? How cooperative were the partners? Did students listen well to each other?"
3. Arrange students in a circle. Conduct a class meeting to help students evaluate their own performance as well as the success of their partners and small groups. Use open-ended questions that help students consider the process.
Was I a cooperative member of the group? Did I have something to say? Did I say it? Did I listen when someone else had some-
thing to say? Did I not offer some suggestion that I should
have? Did I say something or do something that
did not deal with the topic.
FoUowUp
Have students bring in a baby picture of themselves. Post these on a bulletin board without names. Students can make up and tell imaginative stories for the pictures. (Tape these stories.) They can match baby pictures with classmates. Students can be encouraged to talk about reasons for their choices.
Encourage students to begin a scrapbook entitled "ME!" They can collect family pictures and memorabilia. Students can make a cassette tape of a walk through their scrapbook. Others can listen to the story and flip through the pages.

93

Biographical Research
Grades 3-4

Purpose
This activity gives students further practice in research. Teachers should concentrate upon helping students see that research is a process. At this age students are not expected to become masters at research; rather, student efforts should be encouraged and reinforced. Specific tasks include selecting a topic, locating possible sources, collecting information and reporting findings.
Objectives
The learner will
select a topic.
locate potential sources of information.
coIlect information.
report findings.
Materials
Articles on famous or well-known people such as sports heroes, rock stars, explorers.
Magazines such as People, Life, Sports Illustrated, MS, Ebony
Special reference books, resources Bulletin board display of pictures of famous or
well-known people Additional personnel such as the school/media
specialist Checklist for student use in preparing report
and for use in teacher and student evaluation
Summary
This activity involves students in biographical research. They respond to stories and articles about famous people. Students brainstorm for a list of famous or well-known people that they would like to research. They explore the school media center for sources, collect information and report findings in creative ways.
Procedures
This activity involves students in biographical research. Set the climate by preparing a bulletin board of famous 20th century people. Involve students in adding additional pictures and by reading to them articles about these people. Bring in a number of magazines such as People, Life, Sports Illustrated. MS. Ebony.

1. Explain to students that they will be doing some research on famous people.
2. Brainstorm for a list of famous people alive in the 20th century such as sports heroes, rock stars.
3. Identify for students the steps in research, i.e., selecting a topic, locating sources for information, coIlecting data and reporting findings.
4. Discuss criteria for this activity with students. (See "Possible Research Criteria.")
5. Provide opportunity for students to make additions, deletions, alterations.
6. Provide a copy of the final criteria for media specialists' and students" use.
7. With the aid of the media specialist and teacher, students locatethree different sources of information about the people they have chose, e.g., encyclopedias, biographies (individual, collected), special reference books (biographical dictionary, Junior Book of Authors, magazines).
8. Students should summarize information in a brief, biographical sketch. Assist students with format. Assist students in summarizing and sequencing information.
9. Write, dictate, practice dramatization or tape record the reports.
10. Share reports with the entire class. Students can become the famous person and share a brief synopsis of that person's career.
11. Encourage the class to ask questions.
EvaluatioD
1. Students should use the checklist to evaluate their own project.
2. The teacher should use the agreed upon criteria to evaluate the student's presentation. (See #4 above.)
3. The teacher should observe the presenter's willingness and ability to respond to questions asked. (Is student involved in assignment?)

94

4. The teacher should remain aware of the peer audience participation; i.e., did the individual members of the audience listen actively, attentively and supportively.
5. A modified form of the criteria can be used by peers to evaluate each other's projects.
Follow Up
Have students write or tape letters to the famous people they chose. Mail them.

Develop a bulletin board or wall display using student reports and pictures of the people collected by the class.
Select one or two individuals from among those researched for the class to study in depth as a group project.

Possible Research Criteria

1

2

3

4

Rating

Topic Selection Considered no alternatives
Topics Little interest
Locating Sources of Information Didn't try to identify resources

Some alternatives
Mildly interested
Asked teacher or media specialist to suggest some sources

Collecting Data Used only one or two resources
Resources Resources were similar*

Used only three resources
Used only two kinds of resources

*AII encyclopedia or all magazines **i.e. magazines. encyclopedia. newspapers and so on ***minimum value 5; maximum value 25

Many alternatives
Really wanted to know about
Asked teacher or media specialist. friends or parents to suggest sources
Used more than three resources
Used three or more kinds of
resources*~'
Total***

95

Elderly Character Sketch Grades 5-6

Purpose
The purpose of the related activities leading toward a character sketch of an older person is to acquaint students with a procedure for collecting information from live sources-people in their community-and for reporting their findings effectively. The activities include reading literature related to the subject, learning the techniques of interviewing and practicing writing skills related to composing the character sketch.
Objectives
The learner will
explore biases and attitudes concerning the elderly through literature, the visual media and discussion.
work cooperatively in small groups.
formulate interview questions.
practice and conduct interviews.
select the most relevant and interesting information from interviews for writing.
paraphrase and summarize information in their writing.
use appropriate punctuation in quoting their source.
concentrate on effective introductions and conclusions in their writing.
Materials
File of possible community resource people Photographs of the elderly clipped from maga-
zines Literary material which portray the elderly Short stories or excerpts from novels Cassette tape recorders Rating sheets
SaDlDlary
Interest in the activity is generated through an exploration of attitudes toward the elderly. Students select subjects, practice the skills of interviewing, conduct the actual interview, free-write their findings with reference to their notes and revise their character sketch with references.

Procedures
The following activity involves students in listening, speaking, reading and writing. The research process is emphasized. Interest in the activity is generated as students explore their own biases and those of others concerning the elderly. Teachers develop a resource file of community members willing to be interviewed. Data are gathered via the interview method with students selecting subjects, going out into the community, conducting interviews and preparing findings. The final product is a character sketch of an elderly citizen.
1. Generate interest in the project. Have poems on hand written by and about the elderly. Display photographs of older persons. Read a news story, short story or an excerpt from a novel concerning the elderly.
2. Divide the class into small groups of 3 to 5. Have each group appoint a recorder. Review the rules for brainstorming with students. Brainstorm with students for a list of words and phrases sparked by the word elderly.
3. Have students analyze the lists generated. Ask them to divide their responses into two categories-Positive Images, Negative Images. Explore the topic of stereotypes and discuss biases toward the elderly. If time permits, students can freewrite on this topic.
4. Introduce the project. Students will conduct an interview of an elderly person. Project will culminate in a character sketch of an elderly person written by the student.
5. Brainstorm for a list of potential interviewees (grandparents, neighbors, community members, residents of local retirement village or nursing home).
6. Prepare students for a successful interviewing experience. Some of the areas in which students will need help include
a. asking good interview questions-invitations to tell you more, think questions, etc.;
b. avoiding dead end question-yes/no questions, those which invade privacy;

96

CJaaracter Sketch Rating Scale
Yourteacher will rate your finished conversation using this guide.

1

2

3

4

5

~

Beginning Think about your opening sentence again. Can you find a more interesting beginning
Direct Quotations
What happened? You didn't use three quotations. Look back over your interview notes.
Punctuation
Whoops! You still need practice with all those marks.
Ending
What ending? Did you forget to try several different endings?
A Feel for the Person
Your paper is just too sketchy. Not enough detail and description. I couldn't hear your person talking.

I see you've been working on the hook.
Introduce your quotations carefully. Try to get the person's exact words.
You made a good effort. Check all of your quotation marks and punctuation carefully. These are a few mistakes.
Your ending needs work. Maybe you could find a more effective wrap-up.
Good effort. You are beginning to get the feel of good writing. Spend more time reworking and polishing your piece.

*Total minimum value 20; total maximum value 100

Good hook! You got me into the paper quickly.

_x 4 =--

Yes! You used your quotations very well. I can hear the person talking.

__ x 4 = --

Good. You were __ x 2 = - -
very careful to capitalize and keep the commas and end marks in the right places.

A very effective ending. Good work.

_ x 4 = --

Yes. You captured your person on paper. I felt as if I were there during your interview.

_x 6 =--

Total

_

97

86
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c. taking helpful notes; d. conducting an interview-being prepared
and being attentive; e. writing up interview notes.
7. Conduct practice interview sessions among students. Provide tape recorders if possible. Give students roles to play (interviewer, interviewee). Have students go through the entire interview process (see step 6 above). Replay taped interview. Let students talk about what went right or wrong.
8. Have students make appointments for their interviews. Be ready to supply letters of introduction for students. Have a list of people willing to be interviewed for those students who are unable to locate an elderly citizen. This is a good time to review courtesies with students, e.g., thanking interviewees for their willingness to help.
9. Allow several days for interviews to be completed.
10. Maintain interest in the project by continuing a literature unit on the elderly. Have students talk about ways the young and old are alike and different. Create a collage or other mini-project where students share their work. Because students will be using the exact words of their interviewees, this is a good time to teach students how to punctuate direct quotations on an elementary level.
11. When students have completed interviews, have them review their notes and mark interesting parts to include in their papers. Ask them to freewrite about their interviews and to share findings with a partner.
12. Help students use their interview notes to develop their character sketch. Introduce effective beginnings and endings. Urge students to include vivid descriptions and actual quotations (at least three) from their interviews.

13. Have students write their papers and share them in small groups. Encourage students to give each other feedback on their papers.
14. P!ovide a self-check rating sheet. Points should include beginning, direct quotations, punctuation, ending, detail and description.
15. Give students adequate time for revisions based on their self-check rating scale.
Evaluation
1. Students will use a rating scale for self-evaluation during revision of the character sketch. (See "Character Sketch Rating Scale.")
2..The character sketch may be presented in small groups for peer response before final revision. The finished product may be presented to the entire class.
3. Once the research project has been completed the teacher should use the rating scale to evaluate the written product.
Follow Up
This activity lends itself to follow-up study in several areas.
Students may find that the subjects of their character sketch are good sources for narrative writings such as folk tales, ghost stories, family histories.
The procedures for interviewing used in this activity may be applied to other subjects in the community, e.g., community leaders, business people and people in various professions.
Students may continue to work on using quotations, paraphrases, appropriate punctuation, effective openings and closings in sketches of people that they don't know directly such as personalities in the news, literary figures, historical characters.

99

TV Action Research Grades 7-8

Parpose
This activity provides an action research experience for students in which they learn to collect and synthesize data.
Objectives
The learner will
collect survey data.
organize and display findings.
present and explain conclusions to peer group.
Materials
Background information on Nielsen rating. Model for a Nielsen-style television viewing log. A television watching survey form. Poster board, lettering pens and butcher paper.
Summary
This activity involves students in collecting data on the programs they watch, in reacting to those programs and in analyzing their viewing habits. They conduct a lV viewing survery and share their findings through small group projects.
Procedures
1. Assign students to keep a general activity log which will include the ways in which their out-of-school time is used.
2. Poll students concerning their recreational habits. Ask "How many hours do you watch lV per day, on weekends? Are family meals planned around lV? What are some of your non-lV activities, nonmedia entertainment activities? What is your general opinion oftelevision programming? What is your opinion of community recreational opportunities for young people?
3. Provide nontechnical background information on rating systems such as Nielsen.
4. Assign students to keep a detailed diary of their television viewing habits to include day, time, channel and name of program plus their comments, if any. Have students compile and publish a class summary of viewing habits at the end of the week. To ensure success, carefully structure the assignment so students

know exactly what to do. Provide examples. Check on their progress after two days to clarify directions.

5. Introduce a lV viewing survey. (Students examined thier own viewing habits in the above.) For this survey, students will investigate the viewing habits of a wider audience. Students are to survey three people- an older person, a younger person, a person their own age. Students should be involved in the construction of the survey form to be used.

6. Give students well-defined directions for administering the survey. Caution students to be the detached researcher. Have students summarize the findings on their own.

7. Offer options for group projects. A sample project follows.

A. Collect all the lV viewing diaries your classmates prepared. Tally and analyze diaries, rating shows to determine which ones were most frequently watched. Work in pairs with one person reading the diaries and one person making the tally sheet. For example, you and your partner are tallying Monday. Make a tally sheet like this.

Moad.y.2:00 Show A ShowB ShowC Not watching

Number S viewers 3 viewers 7 viewers 11

B. When you have finished the tallying job, go back and give each show a rating. In this example, 26 students responded to their viewing at 2:00.

Monday 2:00

Number

Show A

5

Show B

3

Show C

7

Not watching

.!!.

Total Potential Audience 26

Percent 19.2 11.5 16.9

C. Find Show A's rating by solving this problem-5 is what percent of 26? Divide the number (5) by the total potential audience (26).

100

.192
26\5.0
Multiply by 100 to getthe percent-.192 x 100 = 19.2 and show A's rating is 19.2. Practice on Band C to be sure you understand the process. Use a pocket calculator if one is available. Continue this procedure until you have given all the shows on Monday a rating. A second pair of students can tally Tuesday's shows, a third pair Wednesday's and so on.
D. Select the 10 top-rated shows from your list. Compare their ratings with other shows on other days.
E. Meet as a group to select the 10 top-rated shows in your survey.
F. Put the results on a poster and display them; use pictures and banners from TV magazines if possible or appropriate. The teacher can ask various groups to explain their findings to the class.
Evaluation
1. Teacher observation of the process will be facilitated with a checklist as follows.
InterestStudents were involved throughout the process
Care and thoroughnessStudents kept a careful journal of their own viewing habits
Carefal surveyInterviews were complete, i.e., the three people of appropriate ages were interviewed and the students recorded their responses in detail

Effective group .e.ber-Students were cooperative and helpful in and to their group Presentation of findingsStudents prepared attractive, readable displays and gave effective oral presentations
2. Selfevaluation may include A log of participation and effort A final checklist of completed activity
3. Peer feedback should feature the same check list as that used by the teacher (see #1 above) and should be used as an evaluation of group presentations.
Follow Up
Students could write explanatory or persua sive papers about the advantages and disad vantages of television viewing.
Students could write letters to television networks supporting or criticizing the quality of programming.
Students could write papers comparing and contrasting their own viewing habits with those of the individuals surveyed.
Students could write articles for the school newspaper and the community newspaper reporting their class's findings.
Students could read and discuss articles on the positive and negative influences oftelevision.
'* '* Note -Step lin procedures and step lin evaluation are
copyrighted by Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1981. Reprinted with pennlsslon.

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Interpreting

Interpreting is the act of deriving meaning from something. The something might be a fairly simple experience or a very complex philosophical treatise. We may interpret a child's throwing a pencil to mean that he or she is angry or that he or she seeks attention; on the other extreme we may interpret Kant's Critique of Pure Reason to mean whatever it might mean.
Constraints upon the interpretation vary. Something may be interpreted in light of its personal significance - what does this event or this statement mean personally or privately? Things may be interpreted to determine the intent of their author - what does a gesture or statement mean? There are other constraints - what is the significance of this statement to a nation, to a listener. to the future of education or to the detective who overhears it? These varying constraints may be thought of as differences in the purposes of the interpreting.
Finally. the situation or the context for interpretation may vary. It may be undertaken alone in preparation for a paper; it may be presented orally as either a carefully prepared or an impromptu statement; it may be the consensus of a group; it may be the winning position in a debate; or it may simply be a discussion in which a' variety of possibilities are explored and no resolution is necessary.
Within this wide range of subject. purpose and situation. there are two constant elements. All interpretation demands both explanation and inference; that is. all interpretation attempts to make something clear or understandable. to find reasons for something or to identify significance. These are all explanations of a sort; however. interpretation also demanas reference to things outside the speaker or writer. It is not simply the reporting of feelings generated from within. It

demands an accounting for things outside. It demands that the writer observe features in the event or the statement and draw inferences from them. Interpretive writing is not unchecked. It is bound by the subject being interpreted. If the features of that subject are neglected, then the writing is no longer interpretation.
A program that intends to provide students with experience and instruction in interpreting must draw upon a wide range of subjects, purposes and situations for writing assignments appropriate to the age and ability of the student, assignments that require explanation and inference. A variety of assignments are necessary to encour, age the student to interpret. Drawing all topics from a narrowly conceived pool of resources, giving all assignments an identical purpose or asking the student to perform in only one situation is clearly inappropriate. A program, for instance. that directs all interpretive writing to poems. asks the author's intent and uniformly demands a three-to-five page paper on each topic, might be considered anemic. The opportunity to consider several genres or other materials should not be missed. A broadly conceived program. encouraging the teacher to vary assignments by subject, purpose and situation would certainly better sustain the interest of the student and more effectively teach him or her the precision of thought and expression demanded by the act of interpreting.
Clearly. the few plans offered below do not exhaust the possibilities. They simply suggest ways of varying interpretive writing assignments. The individual teacher, reflecting upon the nature of his or her students. the subject matter of the course and the aspects of interpretive writing that might be varied will find a vast range of possibilities for instruction in this mode.

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Sample Activities

Emotions Grades K-2

Purpose
In this activity the students will begin to work with interpretive discourse at an introductory level. After discussing words which represent emotions, they will try to interpret these emotions pictorially in collages.
Objectives
The learner will
discuss emotions.
explain some reasons which cause emotional reactions.
develop pictorial representations of specific emotions.
Materials
Poster board/sentence strips for word cards Magic markers Magazines/scissors Display pictures
Summary
Students will engage in a discussion of words which represent emotions; then they will select emotion pictures from magazines and organize these pictures into collages, interpreting them for their classmates.
Procedures
1. Use a recent happening at school as a foundation for a general discussion of emotions and reasons for them. The situation might be a week of rain and no recess, winning the school's paper drive, a thunderstorm, a classmate moving away.
2. The teacher should relate personal feelings about the incident and invite students to do the same.
3. Establish that emotions are normal, that they affect younger and older people and that, while men and women (boys and girls) may show emotions differently, each person has emotions.

4. As the word for an emotion is ",sed in the discussion, display a pre-made word card (or make the word card at that time) so that students can readily see the word as they discuss the feeling.
5. Suggest other words that describe or represent emotions; e.g., joy, sorrow, happy, sad, anger, fear.
6. Discuss each word and feeling with the students. Ask them to relate other experiences they might have had which cause them to feel the same way.
7. After personal experiences are reviewed, displaya picture from a magazine which depicts emotion such as a child crying.
8. Invite the students to describe what is happening (tears are visible on the child's face) and how they think the child feels (sad).
9. Encourage the students to use all available picture cues (e.g., a broken toy in the background) to explain a possible reason for the feeling.
10. Have students cut out various emotion pictures from magazines and newspapers.
11. The students should arrange their emotion pictures in a collage either focusing on a single emotion such as sadness or happiness or focusing on a range of emotions.
12. Once their collages are complete students should present them and provide the reasons for each picture selection; i.e., interpreting both the picture content and the word for the emotion.
Evaluation
1. Comments and questions from the class or group can be used as an informal assessment.
2. Teacher evaluation should focus upon the student's interpretation of both the word(s) they are representing and of the pictures they have selected to represent the words.

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Follow Up
To reinforce the importance of the activity, the students' work should be displayed.
The students can dictate or write brief stories about one of the pictures emphasizing the emo-

tions felt by the individual(s) and perhaps the reasons for those feelings.
Stories from #2 above could be read to or by the class members and suggestions for improvement and revision could be provided as well as some praise for the student author's work.

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What it Means Grades 3-4

Goal
The purpose of this activity is to provide students the opportunity to practice interpretive discourse.
Objective
The learner will
interpret action, behavior and meaning in the absence of verbal cues.
discuss the interpretations which are possible in relation to actions which lack verbal cues.
Summary
Students will see either a performance of mime (live or on film) or a film without dialogue. They will then discuss in small groups their interpretations of the material viewed. After some discussion and an opportunity to review the material, the students will prepare individual written responses which are interpretations of the actions.
Resources
Paper and pencil Film as described above or volunteers to perform mime
Procedures
1. As background discuss the term interpretation with the students so that they will be comfortable with the word. Some familiar examples might prove helpful; e.g., the meaning they attach to the ringing of a bell or the sounding of a buzzer to start and end class, the meaning they attach to a nonverbal cue such as a scowling face or a smiling one.
2. The students should be shown that interpretation is a normal occurrence and that they regularly interpret meanings from cues that are visual.
3. Explain to students that they will view a series of events for which there will be no printed or spoken cues and that they will have to interpret the meaning of these events for themselves.
4. Point out that interpretation is not the same thing as wild guessing, that it is based on events from which meaning can be deduced but which require some thought.

5. Once students have a grasp of the concept, proceed with the prearranged visual stimulus.
a. If mime is used either live or on film, select the least complex version available and prepare the students by explaining briefly what mime is and some of its most obvious traits.
b. If a film is used, turn off the sound and . substitute some simple background music. Select a film that is short, one which lends itself readily to interpretation, one in which the action is uncomplicated enough for the less able student to interpret. If it is impossible to find a short film that meets this criteria, a segment of longer film or videotape can be used. Teachers should consult with a school media specialist for specific titles that would be appropriate.
6. Once the students have had an opportunity to view the performance or film, arrange them in small discussion groups. Be certain each group has a student moderator who understands that role.
7. In small groups students should share their impressions and interpretations ofthe events.
8. A second showing should be arranged after the brief discussion.
9. After students have had a chance to review the material, they should individually write their own interpretation of what they have seen.
10. The students can exchange papers with partners for editorial advice and revision after which their papers should be submitted to the teacher for evaluation.
EvaluatioD
1. Peer evaluation is provided throughout in the discussion groups and in the partnership editing.
2. Teacher evaluation should focus upon the students' attempts at interpretation. Key elements include the actual content of the students' papers, students' use of evidence as recalled from the viewing and the absence of

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wild or extraneous interpretations, those
clearly unrelated to the events itself. (This lat-
ter should be discussed with the students to

be certain that they have not simply seen something the teacher missed or seen it from a different perspective.)

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Dialogue Grades 5-6

Goal
This activity ties writing to drawing; it focuses on the act of composing while creating the need for the students to interpret their work.
Objectives
The learner will
segment a simple activity or process in discreet logical steps.
represent the segments pictorially.
write brief sentences explaining each of the illustrated steps.
incorporate suggestions offered by classmates and the teacher.
read the paper of another student and offer constructive criticism.
Materials
Large sheets of paper, pencils or crayons
Summary
After the teacher has explained the task and provided some examples, the students draw and caption a cartoon strip illustrating a process they know well. They are then to discuss thier products with one another, explaining their own and asking questions about the work of their peers.
Procedures
1. The teacher should demonstrate on the board or with overhead transparencies or chart paper a simple process based on an experience familiar to the students. One possible example might be a fire drill; the series might first depict the bell ringing, students leaving the class, students passing through the outer doors and students lining up for roll call. Other possibilities might be going to lunch or collecting papers.
2. Brainstorm with the class some school or home related events which would lend themselves to this step-by-step presentation.
3. After the list is created, encourage students to select one from among those listed or one that they feel would work well.

4. Students should begin to divide the event into steps that can be depicted and captioned in a four-panel cartoon.
5. When each child has some subject in mind, provide all with large sheets of paper which can be divided into panels.
6. Ask the students to draw each step of the process they have chosen in a separate block from left to right and ask them to write a brief explanation of the step in the space at the bottom of the block.
7. When they are finished, ask them in pairs to read one another's paper and ask questions about points they don't understand. Tell them that if they discover that they have been unclear at any point, they may improve the drawing or the writing. You might also suggest that they help one another with details such as spelling. The teacher, too, should assist here, so that students are encouraged to seek assistance, so that they do not avoid using words about which they are unsure.
8. Try to provide opportunities to discuss the papers with each student, so that you may praise what was done well and help them understand where they may have failed to explain adequately.
9. The drawing, captions and explanations are interpretations of actions and provide an opportunity for students to work with these skills.
Evaluation
The teacher may observe both the written work and the subsequent talk to note
a. how thorough and accurate the explanation is.
b. how well the students observe and examine what others have written.
c. how well they ask and answer questions.
Follow Up
Follow up work might include similar drawing and writing about activities in the science program or about processes studies in the social

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science curriculum. Teachers may also enlist the aid of a library/media specialist in obtaining simple books about the topics children have identified so as to encourage further reading.and interpretive writing exercises that might be based on that reading.

Some of the students may enjoy elaborating their work. Blank filmstrip kits are available; however, regular 35 mm film which has been cleared of emulsion will serve for student-drawn filmstrips.

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The Poet Means Grades 7-8

Goal
In the earlier grades, students' comments are often paraphrased, evaluative and expressive of personal reaction. It is appropriate to encourage students as they become more mature to interpret the material they read. Such interpretative assignments. while initially brief. acquaint the students with the importance of observing details and interpreting their significance.
Objectives
The learner will
read, discuss and interpret some short poems.
write a brief interpretation of a poem.
Materials
Copies of some short. poetic pieces for student use such as Frost's "The Secret Sits," Hughes's "Mother to Son" or Sandburg's "Primer Lesson"
Summary
This activity involves students in the interpretation of poetry, both orally and in writing. The first step invites a personal, imaginative interpretation; the demand for careful. inferential reading is not a concern here. The second step encourages students to speculate about the writer's intended meaning and effort at inference; it also requires reflection on personal associations which serve as the basis of both discussion and brief writing.
Procedures
1. Provide students with copies of several short, poetic pieces which invite interpretation. These pieces need not be serious; a popular song lyric might be among them or even something capricous or whimsical by a writer such as Ogden Nash.
2. Each student may work with every poem individually. Students may be assigned to work in groups with the groups working on a single poem or on all of the pieces selected or the class may consider each poem collectively. The purpose is to invite interpretation and to encourage the students to refer to the text of the poem to illustrate or justify their observations.

3. For example, in Frost's "The Secret Sits," the students could be encouraged to speculate about the possible meanings of "The Secret." They might enlarge their discussion to include a secret which they know individually or as a group.
4. In step three the students have worked with a piece in a speculative. imaginative way. The teacher should continue to encourage speculation but should now emphasize referring to the text of the poem for support.
For example, in Hughes' "Mother to Son." students might be asked to consider the parent's background. Is the woman speaking as if she were well-educated? Has she had a life of leisure or of hard work? What expectations does she hold for her son? What kind of stairway has life been for her? What kind of stairway does she expect life to be for her son? In responding to these questions or those related to a similar poem, the students should refer to the poem to support their interpretation. A right or wrong answer in the critical sense is less important here than a response which is logical and supportable.
5. At this point students should have had an opportunity to read, discuss and interpret several poems. If more practice is needed. several other pieces should be used. The students should be familiar with the task and the expectations before they are asked to continue.
6. Introduce the poem that you wish the students to interpret in writing. one such as Sandburg's "Primer Lesson." Read it aloud to the class and provide some time for a brief discussion. After the discussion, distribute copies of the poem to the students and ask them to write a short paper. interpreting the poem.
If "Primer Lesson" is used, you might help the students by asking them to consider the poet's meaning; i.e., "What does Sandburg mean by proud words; why should you look out how you use proud words; have you ever used proud words yourself?" Similar questions for other poems are appropriate to aid the students in developing the appropriate mindset to develop their papers.

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7. After the papers have been written, the students should exchange them with a partner or with several members of a group for editing or revising.
EvaluatioD
The papers should be analyzed for the degree to which the students have attempted to refer to the words in the text and to explain them. If students are simply expressing an opinion without reference to its origin in the text, then further instruction emphasizing close attention to the text should be planned.

Follow Up
The interpretive writing based on the poems might be followed by work in other genres-short stories. plays. essays. In all cases. take care to allow time for personal response to the literature. so that it is not simply the object of analysis. Students should be willing to search their memories and imaginations for associations with literature and to talk about its personal significance. They should also become accustomed to talking about the writer's intentions as they may be inferred from the text. Interpretation involves both.

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Social
~nteracting
(Ritualizing)

Some communication acts function for purposes other than to convey information about the world or to influence opinions. What is the purpose of small talk about weather, family or crops? We often engage in such familiar interaction as, "Some game last night, huh?" "Yeah, some game." Why do youngsters and adults tease each other and participate in riddling bouts? We place great importance on greeting each other, even if just to acknowledge another person's existence. Why? Are we concerned with exhibiting proper norms of politeness and, in some situations, proper norms of rudeness?
These are examples of social interactions of communication rituals. They serve a vital function by helping us build, redefine and maintain relationships. Through communication rituals we keep channels of communication operating smoothly. We manage the flow of conversation so that we can accomplish the business of informing, influencing and expressing to everyone's satisfaction. Social interaction (ritualizing) is the

primary way in which we express perceived role relations like intimacy, status and affinity. It helps our partners know how to interpret our messages; e.g. as an order. a joke. an expression of warmth.
In face-to-face interaction, rituals operate in both verbal and nonverbal modes. Back slapping is an instance of ritualizing as is the spoken phrase."Let's sit down for a minute and see if we can work out this problem together." In written communication ritualizing is related to tone and helps establish a relationship between reader and writer. In a consumer complaint letter positive results can often be obtained by including. "I have long enjoyed Crispy Shnozzies and look forward to the satisfactory solution of this problem so that I can once again purchase your product with confidence." In reading works of literature. the author's depiction of communication rituals offers us cues with which we can infer relations between characters.

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Sample Activities
Nice to Meet You Grades K2

P . . . . .o . e
Introductions serve an important purpose. One of the greatest hindrances to communication is uncertainty. Introductions provide some minimal shared information. They justify our presence in a group. Students need to be able to make appropriate introductions of themselves and others, to be able to do so in situations of varying formality, to develop a sense of what makes for a good introduction and to recognize the need for introductions.
Objective.
The learner will
practice making introductions in various situations.
know the reasons for introductions.
recognize how it feels to enter a group with and without introduction.
Materials/Aids
Drawing paper and crayons, open space for role-playing.
Summary
In this activity students will discuss and role-play various situations which call for introductions.
~ocedare./Activiti. .
1. The teacher introduces the concept of introductions to the entire class by asking, "Who can remember meeting someone for the first time at a friend's house or at a ball game or at church?" "What did you feel at first about that other person?" "What's the first thing you did?"
Discussion should focus on feelings when meeting people when you are the only stranger in a group. Teachers should encourage students to comment on the kinds of information they would like to know about a newcomer. The teacher should offer concrete examples of situations in which introductions would be helpful (changing schools or classes, an adult

guest visiting class, visiting a relative in a distant town and meeting his or her friends).
2. In small groups, students brainstorm different situations which require introductions. Each student chooses a situation. On a folded piece of drawing paper, students draw a situation in which a new person is being introduced. On the other half they draw a situation in which a person is not being introduced. Students should try to first imagine how lonely the second person might feel, and then they should try to draw a face that expresses these feelings.
3. The groups plan and act out the situations in which people are introduced and those in which they are not.
4. Within the large group, students discuss how they felt in the various roles and situations; they might also discuss the introductions which seemed most satisfactory, e.g., what information was most helpful and useful to the group, what made the newcomer most comfortable and so on.
Evaluation
Teachers should note for evaluation each of the following.
Involvement in the initial discussion, grasp of the need for introductions, volunteering situations calling for introductions.
Involvement in small group discussion, staying on tasks, creativity in thinking of situationespecially situations involving adults.
Attention to drawing, proper physical placement (nearness) of characters and facial expressions.
Role-playing participation, concentration on role and situation, production of talk, cooperative interplay, extended introduction.
Ability to identify feelings in final discussion.
Follow Up
Use ice-breaker activities such as the Name

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Chain (each succeeding student must remember the names of all preceding students) on the first day of class.
Assign a student the responsibility for introducing all guests to the class.
Dictate letters of introduction pretending that a book character is going to visit a distant penpal.

Secure telephone company training units: practice telephone introductions at the beginning of conversations for various informationgathering purposes.
Read aloud selections from Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, pointing out the absurd manner in which characters handle introductions. Locate illustrative selections from other readings.

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Look '0 See Grades 3-4

Objectives
The learner will
develop social observation skills.
develop an awareness of the varied social rituals which are a part of life.
become aware of the importance of both verbal and nonverbal social interactions.
Materials
Paper and pencil
Summary
In this activity the students with the teacher's guidance will discuss, observe and record a variety of verbal and nonverbal social interactions, rituals which are daily occurrences and which affect their lives. They will organize and report their observations after a period of several days.
Procedures
1. The teacher should establish the topics and reality of social rituals (verbal and nonverbal) by asking students questions which will lead them to an awareness of the topics.
"What do you say when you see your friends in the morning?"
"How do your parents greet their friends?"
"What do you say when you answer the phone?"
"Do you know someone who doesn't answer the phone as you do? What do they say?"
"How does the school secretary answer the phone?"
2. Discuss with the students the reason those behaviors in # 1 above differ and whether some are more appropriate than others.
3. Ask students what the verbal behaviors above indicate about the person and what they represent; i.e.. professional person. business person. younger person. older person.
4. Brainstorm (describe) a variety of settings where differences exist in verbal and nonverbal social rituals; e.g., the ball field, church, school. home, libraries, skating rinks, elevators, movie theaters, balls, classes, steps.

5. With class input develop an observation form for their use to log observations of the rituals.

Observation Fol'DI

Event

Two people meet

Who

Adult friends

Verbal

"Good morning."

"Hi! How are you?"

Nonverbal

Handshake

Response

Smile

Place

Street

nme

Morning

6. Instruct students to log at least three events at differing times each day, more if possible; it is important to establish a clear, accomplishable minimum.
7. At the end of the time period, students should present their logs and discuss the most frequent exchanges (responses) recorded, least frequent, most unusual.
8. The information from their logs should then be the basis for discussion on the reason these rituals exist, what they mean and how they differ among age and social groups.
Evaluation
Teacher evaluation centers upon students' class contributions and upon the thoroughness and quality of the logs submitted.
Follow Up
Using log strategy have students focus upon a particular form of encounter in its various forms (partings for example, or meetings among relatives).
Invite someone to class who has lived and traveled extensively outside North America. Discuss with them the logs and the observations and ask them to explain how these might differ ID the country within which they lived or traveled.
Invite a foreign national to comment on his or her culture with respect to follow-up activities above.

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Hello and Goodbye Grades 5-6

Purpose
We have available to us many more resources for greeting and taking leave than simply saying "heI0I" and"goodbye". 0 ur greetings and leavetakings are more than just polite and empty gestures. They express how we feel about our relationship with an acquaintance and how we are feeling about ourselves. Because these rituals are so common and also so varied, they represent a good vehicle for allowing students to develop a concept of relationship, role and formality.
Objectives
The learner will
observe interpersonal relationships in various environments.
infer the nature of relationships.
recognize how formality in oral and written language signals.
the nature of relationships.
learn some parts of the latter.
Materials
Writing paper and pencil Butcher paper and markers Resources for field trips
Summary
In this activity, students will observe greeting and leavetaking behavior. In groups they will compile a list of these rituals and put them in categories according to intimacy of relationships. The categories will also be applied to salutations and closings in letter writing.
Procedures/Activities
1. In large groups, students discuss the varieties of greeting and leavetaking strategies they know, simply to sensitize them to the fact that they will need to look at more than just "hello" and "goodbye" in the observation step.
2. Students discuss available contexts for observing such interactions; e.g., beginning and

ending of school day, religious services, family interaction, playgrounds, any public meeting place.
3. Students record in journals all the greeting and leavetaking behavior they observe in a week's time. Observations should include not only utterances, but also as much information as possible about situations and participants. (An alternative might be a trip to an airport, bus or train station, where students can engage in intensive observation jointly.)
4. The class should be divided into groups of four.
5. Half of each group will list or describe ways of saying "hello," half will list or describe ways of saying "goodbye." Lists will be written on four different sheets of paper. The first is headed loving. The second is/riendly. The third is cordial and the final heading is respectfully /onnal.
6. Each of the four sheets is divided into three columns headed respectively, spoken, nonverbal and written: letter.
7. Group members compile their observations and any strategies they can think of to add to the lists.
8. With large groups assembled, teacher compiles lists on butcher paper from each group's list.
9. On subsequent days students can add new observations to the proper list.
10. The reason we participate in the rituals of greeting and leavetaking should be the focus of a large group discussion. Include ideas about how others feel when these rituals are ignored. Lead students to the point that help them define relationships by means of these and other rituals.
Evaluation
Evaluation should include
1. participation in large group discussions; relevance insightfulness of comments.
2. involvement in observational phase.

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3. participation in small group work and in task and social contribUtions.
4. comprehension of the four relationship categories and three code categories used in compiling the observations.
Follow Up
This is natural place to present the parts of the letter heading, saluation, body and closing.
The same type of analysis can be applied to other social rituals such as congratulations, thanking and asking for favors.

Students can experiment by selectively violating the rules they have discovered. For example, they can greet a friend on the playground. "My dear James, how goood of you to join us this afternoon." Violations of norms are a rich source of discussion materials, but sometimes, the consequences can be series. Use this tactic with more mature students and then only with careful preparation and caution.

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Just Kidding Around Grades 7-8

Purpose
Students in the middle school grades are masters of various forms of verbal dueling including teasing, joking and riddling. These rituals serve important functions. They are a form of entertainment, transferring play to verbal channels. In some cultures they are a rhetorical training ground, teaching skills necessary for survival such as control and quick response. They are a means for handling conflict nonviolently, for establishing a peer pecking order. Word play of this type can also be a way of showing acceptance. By the same token, these rituals can be used most cruelly to ostracise those who are not in.
Objectives
The learner will
become sensitive to the functions of verbal dueling.
distinguish between friendly and unfriendly insults.
become sensitive to the effects of verbal repartee on others' feelings.
practice cooperative problemsloving.
write dialogues.
practice performing dialogue.
Materials
Writing materials and flexible space for discussing and performing
Summary
In this exercise students will discuss types of verbal repartee and their effects. Working with parents they will create a scene involving two characters, write a dialogue within structured requirements and perform the dialogue.
Procedures/Activities
1. The teacher should begin by pointing out that many rituals of this type involve taboo subjects and profane or obscene words which are inappropriate for most classrooms. The teacher should straightforwardly acknowledge this fact, mentioning that every culture has a set of taboos. The class should be challenged to

be imaginative enough to invent material which does not violate classroom propriety.
2. In the large group discussion, begin with volunteers telling jokes, "knock-knock" routines, playground chants, riddles. The teacher should ask students if they are aware how these rituals are used in conversation in various settings (ball field, parties, other informal conversations).
3. Still in a large group, discuss the difference between friendly put-downs and insults that hurt. How do you know when someone is just kidding around? Where is the cut-off point? When do insuhs lead to combat?
4. The teacher should assign the follOWing. Pairs of students are to create a situation involving two friends. There is initial tension between the two in this situation. (They both perceive that one has let the other down in some important way.) The mythical friends are to practice this put-down session, ending on amiable terms. After the student partners decide upon the basic situation, they are to write dialogue.
5. Students work on the assignment in pairs with the teacher circulating to give aid. The product is a written dialogue about three pages long.
6. Each pair of students perform their dialogue before the large group. In a large group, discuss what made some of the dialogue especially successful (creative, situation, humor, realistic language).
Audience members should be able to identify the characters and the nature of the situation from what is expressed in the dialogue. No external narration is permitted.
Evaluation
The teacher should focus on each question below for evaluation.
Did each student participate and cooperate in the dyadic task? Were the resulting dialogues creative, realistic representatives of peer relations? Was information about characters and context included? Was the lauguage natural?

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Did performance skills include projection, oral expression and appropriate gestures?
Were contributions to large group discussion made? Were students' comments relevant? Did they display understanding of the functions of verbal duelling?
FoUo..,.up Activities
Record putdown sessions in journals.
Alter dialogue so that friendship is broken at conclusion.
Advanced students may view or read several of Shakespeare's comedies or any of a series

of modern productions for examples of verbal dueling.
Discussion of riddling and joking can lead into a study of more extended forms of folk humor and literature. Students can collect shaggy dog stories, ghost stories and tall tales or compose their own.
In multicultural classrooms, discuss differences among cultures in use of word-play rituals.
Introduce the art form of punning. Conduct a pun contest along the lines of "The Gong Show" or "$1.98 Beauty Show".

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Appendices
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Appendix A Evaluation of Reading

Evaluation of student performance in reading should involve more th'cm the collection of scores from various reading tests. Evaluation means arriving at informed judgments regarding the degree to which continuous goals and objectives have been achieved by the individual learner. A variety of formal and informal procedures should be used to reach this professional judgment. Some are listed below.
Teacher Observation-By observing individual students, talking with them and studying their performance of various specific reading tasks, the teacher can obtain considerable information about the student's reading capabilities, needs, strengths and interests. Teacher observation may occur whenever a student is reading, either silently or orally. When the learner is allowed to read orally, the teacher can immediately detect phrasing, rate, mispronounciation, substitution, omission and reversals. It is important to remember to allow the student to review the section to be read orally prior to the reading. Round-robin reading should be discouraged as c1asssroom practice. Care should be taken to prevent the diagnosis of dialect differences as reading problems.
Infol'lDal Reading Inventory-The Informal Reading Inventory is another useful tool that can be easily administered by a classroom teacher. This inventory uses a series of increasingly difficult passages to assess a student's reading strenghts and weaknesses. Word recognition and comprehension questions may be asked. The main purpose of the Informal Reading Inventory is to determine a student's instructional reading level (see chart) in addition to obtaining valuable information regarding the student's word recognition skills.
Standardized Reading Tests-A standardized reading test may be administered to an individual student or to small groups of students who have been observed and identified as achieving below their potential or capability levels. The test is administered to determine specific strengths in a variety of reading areas.. The tests may be diagnostic or of the survey variety. It is important to remember that standardized tests are normed on populations that may be different from the stu-

dents in your classroom. The results received from such tests, therefore, must be examined within the total context of the student's performance. The limitations of such instruments and the use of the results have been actively questioned in several parts of the educational community.
- SkiOs Checklist-The use of a structured skills checklist enables the teacher to determine specific areas of student progress. The skills checklist should be maintained on an individual basis. Many basal reader series contain skills checklists. However, there are several that can be secured from other sources or even produced by a local school system. Several commercial checklists are currently available. It is necessary that the skills checklist accurately reflect all the skills to be mastered by the student.
Other useful evaluation measures include the foOowing_
1. Informal teacher-made tests designed to assess specifically what is taught, using formats similar to daily types of activities prescribed
2. End-of-Ievel or end-of-book mastery tests that accompany reading stories
3. Georgia Criterion-reference Tests (second, third, fourth, sixth and eighth grades)
4. The doze technique
Finally, when evaluating student progress, it is im, portant to remember the following. 1. Keep accurate and up-to-date records of stu-
dent performance on each of the identified skills in the program.
2. Provide regular meaningful feedback to the student concerning his or her progress.
3. Evaluate fairly, using techniques that match the student's style or learning.
4. Use a variety of formal and informal evaluative techniques to formulate judgments and make instructional decisions.
5. Review and revise evaluative techniques periodically.

120

Informal Reading Inventory Chart
How to Determine the Appropriateness of a Set of Materials

Level
Independent
Instructional
Frustration

Student BehaviorlMaterial Vse
Student reads material comfortably. Material can be used for free reading, enrichment, resource, researching and independent work.
Student reads material with assistance. Material can be used for instructional purposes with teacher direction.
Material is too difficult for the student.

Level of Performance
Recognizes 99 percent of vocabulary.
Answers 90 percent of questions about the selection.
Recognizes 95 percent of vocabulary.
Answers 75 percent of questions about the selection.
Recognizes 90 percent or less of the vocabulary. Answers less than 50 percent of the questions about the selection.

121

Appendix B
Learning Environment Checklist Rank yourself on a 15 continuum,S being the highest ranking.

In my classroom

1

2

3

4

5

1. Many types of books are available for browsing and reading-fiction and nonfiction.
2. Interest centers are available.
3. A library corner is provided.
4. Students have access to tapes and records that accompany books.
5. Reading material other than books is provided.
6. Films and filmstrips are available.
7. Creative materials are available for per
sonal interpretation.
8. Research opportunities are provided.
9. Space is allocated for oral activities (readers'
theatre. choral speaking, playacting) so as not to interfere with silent reading or listening activities.
10. Tapes are provided so that students may listen to their own stories or their oral reading experiences.
11. A quiet corner is established where students may write. read, think.
12. Bulletin boards enhance the learning environment.
13. Charts are used both as a means of improving the classroom living and also as a vehicle to improve reading, skills.
14. Space is available for creative sharing of books.
15. Learning centers provide reinforcement of learned activities through independent work.

Source - Curry. J. "How Am I Doing? Assessing the Components of a Managed Curriculum." Diane Lapp. editor. Making Reading Possible Through E/fectilJe Classroom Management. Newark. Delaware: IRA. 1980.
123

j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j
J

Appendix C
Self.evaluation Checldist for Classroom Teachers Rate your present skill or knowledge for each of the following aspects of teaching reading.

Ve.
1. I understand the processes involved in reading comprehension.
2. I know a variety of methods of reading Instruction - the strengths and needs of each method.
3. I know my role as teacher in the learning process. 4. I understand the sensory and perceptual factors that
affect the reading ability of the student. 5. I understand the cognitive factors that affect the reading
ability of the student. 6. I understand the language factors that affect the reading
ability of the student. 7. I understand the socioeconomic factors that affect the
reading ability of the student. 8. I understand the concept of readiness at all levels. 9. I understand the importance of motivation in helping
students learn to read. 10. I know books that should be read to students. II. I know how to read aloud well. 12. I have enough knowledge about children's literature to
be able to buy appropriate books for my classroom. 13. I know how to establish a reading center or corner. 14. I read aloud to my students every day. IS. I know how to assess my students attitudes toward
reading. 16. I know many ways that students can share books with
one another. 17. I know how to involve students in dramatic play. 18. I know the processes involved in developing listening
skills. 19. I understand the interrelatedness of the language arts. 20. I know the processes involved in developing speaking
skills. 21. I understand the use of syntactic cues which allow
students to understand word arrangemen~. 22. I understand the use of semantic cues which enable
students to understand the meaning of texts.
125

Somewhat.

but I need

No

more Infor-

mation

23. I know sight word strategies for analyzing unknown words.
24. I understand the role of structural analysis strategies in word recognition.
25. I understand the role of contextual analysis strategies in word recognition.
26. I understand the role of questioning in the development of reading comprehension.
27. I know the study skills.
28. I can help students learn to use study skills effectively.
29. I know the skills common to reading in any content area.
30. I understand the interrelatedness of reading and mathematics. reading and social studies. reading and science. and reading and music and art.
31. I know the historical overview of reading instruction in the United States.
32. I understand. the special needs of bilingual and Englishaso a-second-Ianguage students.
33. I understand the linguistic influences in second language teaching.
34. I know the most appropriate methods of diagnosing the reading abOIty of bOingual and second language speakers.
35. I know methods to teach reading in the native language as well as reading in English.
36. I know how to determine the readability of printed material.
37. I know how to informally assess a student's achievement.
38. I know how to compute the reading expectancy levels of my students.
39. I understand the concept of thematic teaching.
40. I understand the techniques of grouping.
41. I understand the value of classroom management.
42. I can use a process of continuous evaluation.
43. I understand the value of sequencing instruction.
44. I know what the International Reading Association is and have read the publications of the organization.

So_ _hat.

v

bat I .eed

No

_orel.foro

.atlon

Soaree - Adapted &om Curry. J. "How Am I Doing? Assessing the Components of a Managed Curriculum." Diane Lapp. editor. Making Reading POPlbie Through Effective Classroom Management. Newark. Delaware: IRA. 1980.
126

Appendix 0
A Quick Checldist for Learning Centers

Do the Learning Centers
1. Provide activities to develop and enhance reading skills?
2. Provide opportunities for the students to reinforce a previously presented skill?
3. Provide opportunities to listen to material being read aloud? 4. Provide the students with activities that will allow them to
practice their writing skills? 5. Provide the students with activities that will allow them
to respond creatively?
6. Provide opportunities for students to share their work with their peers?
7. Provide activities which the students can do alone. in pairs. in small groups?
8. Provide games which will reinforce formerly presented reading skills?
9. Provide complete directions and materials so that confusion and noise are kept to a minimum?

Ves

No

Source - Adapted from Cuny. J. "How Am I Doing? Assessing the Components of a Managed Curriculum." Diane Lapp. editor. Making Reading Possible Through Effective Clossroom Management. Newark. Delaware: IRA. 1980.
127

Appendix E
Learnin. Style Indicator
Read each pair of statements and mark the box next to the statement that most closely describes you.

1. I understand things better from a picture.
2. I look at charts and diagrams before I read the written part.
3. I memorize things by writing them out.
4. I like examples first, rules later.
5. I usually get more done when I work alone.
6. I enjoy doing a number of things at the same time.
7. I usually ask "why" questions.
8. I prefer working quickly.
9. I answer questions quickly.
10. I take chances at making mistakes

DD
DD
DD
DD DD
DD
DD DD DD DD

I understand things better from some one telling me or reading about them. I read the written part before I look at the charts and diagrams. I memorize things by repeating them aloud. I like rules first, examples later. I usually get more done when I work with others. I prefer doing things one at a time.
I usually ask about facts. I prefer to work slowly. I answer questions carefully and slowly. I try to avoid making mistakes.

Soue. - Adapted &om Diane Lapp and James Flood. Teaching Reading to Every ChI/d. New York: Macmillan. 1978. p. 146.
129

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
I

Appendix F
Silent Reading Checklist
Students name Material read Grade level of material read

Date

_

_

~

_

When reading silently. the student
o 1. Is distracted o 2. Persists in endeavors.
o 3. Moves lips.
o 4. Reads at a rate commensurate with the purpose of reading. o 5. Exhibits smooth left-to-right eye movements. o 6. Exhibits effective eye hand coordination. o 7. Uses hand as a marker. o 8. Assumes a proper reading posture. o 9. Comprehends recall type questions. o 10. Displays adequate vocabulary skiIls. o 11. Can find rnain idea. o 12. Can skim to locate details. o 13. Can scan for particular items of information. o 14. Can follow the sequence of the story. o 15. Can follow directions. o 16. Exhibits competence in critical and creative thinking.

Never Sometimes Always

Source _ Adapted from Curry. J. "How Am I Doing? Assessing the Components of a Managed Curriculum." Diane Lapp. editor. Making Reading Possible Through Effective Classroom Management. Newark. Delaware: IRA. 1980.
131

Appendix G
Survey of Vocabulary Skills Name of Student ______________________ Date

The student
1. Can define a word by example. 2. Can define a word by description. 3. Can define a word through comparison and contrast. 4. Can define a word by using a synonym or antonym. 5. Can define a word by apposition. 6. Can develop meanings for new words through experiences. 7. Can develop new meanings for known words through experiences. 8. Understands the connotation of words. 9. Understands idiomatic expressions. 10. Can use figurative language (similies. analogies. metaphors). 11. Makes use of context clues. 12. Understands compound words. 13. Can discriminate between/among homonyms. 14. Understands and can use prefixes. 15. Understands and can use suffixes. 16. Understands the root meaning of words. 17. Is aware of multiple meanings of words. 18. Understands concept of acronyms. 19. Can use the dictionary competently. 20. Can use a thesaurus.

Usually Rarely Never

Source - Adapted from Curry J. "How Am I Doing? Assessing the Components of a Managed Curriculum:' Diane Lapp, editor. Making Reading Possible Through Effective Classroom Management. Newark, Delaware: IRA. 1980.
133

Appendix H
Georgia Criterion-Referenced Tests Objectives K-8
Kindergarten Communication Arts Objectives

Section l--Listening
The child participates in oral activities as an active listener in her/his environment.
This objective deals primarily with the recall of specific oral information through a variety of techniques.
The child recognizes and discriminates among common sounds in the child's environment.
This objective deals with recognizing and discriminating a variety of environmental sounds within the child's experiences.
The child demonstrates understanding of a basic vocabulary related to his/her environment.
This objective deals with descriptive vocabulary to include informational words, color words, directional words, measurement words, comparative words, naming words, action words and feeling words.
The child listens and responds to orally presented language for the purpose of appreciation.
The child listens and responds to orally presented language. for the purpose of gathering information and following directions.
The child indicates ability to follow specific oral directions.
This objective deals with the child successfully responding to questioning for the purpose of gathering information.
The child listens and responds to orally presented language for the purpose of making judgements.
This objective deals with ways for the child to process oral information in order to arrive at a judgment consistent with the child's background to include questioning on how, why, who, which, when, where.
Section 2-Speaking
The child uses oral language to describe experiences.

This objective deals with using language in a variety of settings. The child ~odulates voice to accommodate the activity setting.
This objective deals with the use of appropriate volume and expression in both indoor and outdoor settings.
The child uses language understandable to others.
This objective deals with the child's enunciation and articulation of language so that he/she is understood by peers and adults. (It is important to recognize that dialectical differences do not indicate language deficiencies.)
The child uses functional vocabulary related to experiences.
This objective deals with the child's ability to label and use those labels accurately in her/his environment.
This child uses elaborated language to describe objects, events, feelings and their relationships.
This objective deals with the child's ability to use descriptive language (adjectives, adverbs and phrases) for a variety of purposes.
The child uses elaborated language to communicate with others for a variety of purposes.
This objective deals with the child's ability to use elaborated language in a variety of social contexts.
Section 3-Reading
The child demonstrates interest in being read to as a way to extend/enrich personal experience.
This objective deals with the child requesting and attending to reading.
The child discriminates auditory similarities and differences in commonly used words.
This objective deals with the child's ability to distinguish sounds that are the same and different in words.

135

The child discriminates visual similarities and differences in commonly used words.
This objective deals with the child's ability to visually match and recognize visual similarities and differences in the context of words.
The child analyzes and interprets pictures of objects, people and events using elaborated language.
This objective deals with the child's ability to understand that pictures can represent an event or set of events. The child may recall, sequence. predict, draw conclusions, make judgments or evaluate.
The child demonstrates understanding of terms used in reading instruction (e.g. top of page, left to right progression, same-difference. beginningending of words).
This objective deals with the child's ability to understand terms such as same, different, beginning-ending of words, letter, word, etc.
The child identifies individual letters of the alphabet, high interest words and phrases that appear frequently in his/her environment.
This objective deals with the child's ability to identify letters, words and phrases that generate from the context of children's experiences.

Section 4-Writing
The child demonstrates interest in a variety of written materials.
The child requests and attends to a variety of written materials.
The child demonstrates fine motor coordination in a variety of situations.
This objective deals with the movement of hands and fingers in a variety of ways with or without equipment to achieve a purpose.
The child orally dictates meaningful information to an adult.
This objective deals with labeling, ordering, sequencing, planning and dictating original information.
The child demonstrates understanding of the left to right pattern of writing.
This objective deals with a variety of activities that demonstrate knowledge of left to right patterning.
The child writes name and other meaningful words from her/his experience.
This objective deals with legible writing, manuscript and/or cursive, on unlined paper.

136

First Grade Reading Objectives

Concepts for Readins
1. The student distinguishes between-letters and words, words and sentences, left and right, and beginnings and endings of words in the context of academic materials.
2. The student matches beginning sounds, ending sounds, letters and rhyming words in the context of academic materials.
3. The student selects letters representing beginning sounds, letters representing ending sounds, and single vowel sounds in words in the context of academic materials.
Literal Comprehension
4. The student recognizes explicitly stated main ideas, details, sequences of events, and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic materials and everyday situations.
5. The student identifies the main character in a story in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.

6. The student interprets instructions in the context of academic materials and everyday situations.
Inferential Comprehension
7. The student selects syntactically and semantically appropriate words to complete sentences in the context of academic materials and everyday situations.
8. The student classifies words in the context of academic materials and everyday situations.
9. The student recognizes implicitly stated main ideas, details, sequences of events and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic materials and everyday situations.
10. The student makes predictions in the context of academic materials and everyday situations.

137

Second Grade Reading Objectives

Uter" eo.prehension
1. The student recognizes explicitly stated main ideas, details, sequences of events and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.
2. The student identifies the main character in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.
3. The student interprets instructions in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.
Inferential eo.prehension
4. The student recognizes implicitly stated main ideas, details, sequences of events and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.

5. The student interprets syntactically or semantically appropriate words in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.
6. The student classifies words in the context of academic materials.
Proble. SolvinB
7. The student selects letters representing beginning sounds or ending sounds, and matches single vowel sounds in words and rhyming words in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.
8. The student uses reference skills in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.
9. The student makes predictions in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.

138

Third Grade Reading Objectives

Uteral eo.prehenslon
1. The student recognizes explicitly stated main ideas, details, sequences of events and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.
2. The student interprets instructions in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.
inferential Co.prehenslon
3. The student recognizes implicitly stated main ideas, details, sequences of events and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.

4. The student interprets semantic relationships in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.
5. The student classifies words in the context of academic materials.
Proble. Solving
6. The student matches similar sounds represented by letters in the context of words.
7. The student uses reference skills in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.
8. The student makes predictions in the context of academic materials or everyday situations.

139

Fourth Grade Reading Objectives

Literal Comprehension
The literal comprehension skill area tests the student's understanding of information explicitly stated in written material. This category requires the student to identify, interpret. and recognize explicit information and to follow directions in the context of academic tasks and everyday situations.
ObJecdve J-The student distinguishes between fact and opinion in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.
Objective 2-The student recognizes 'explicitly stated main ideas, details, sequences or events, and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic materials, narrative prose or everyday activities.
ObJecdve 3-The student interprets instructions in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.
Inferential Comprehension

and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic materials, narrative prose or everyday activities.
Objective 5-The student interprets semantic and syntactic relationships in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.
Objective 6-The student classifies words in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.
Problem Solvin.
The problem solving skill area tests the student's skill at locating, recognizing, interpreting and evaluating information in its various forms and sources.
Objective 7-The student matches similar sounds represented by letters in the context of words.
Objective 8-The student uses information in reference sources in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.

The inferential comprehension skill area tests the student's understanding of information which is not expressed literally in written materials. Inferential comprehension items require the student to recognize and interpret implicitly stated information in the context of academic tasks and everyday situations.
Objective 4-The student recognizes implicitly stated main ideas, details, sequences of events,

Objective 9-The student makes generalizations and draws conclusions in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.
Objective J0-The student makes predictions and comparisons in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.
Objective 1 J-The student recognizes the relevance of data in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.

140

Sixth Grade Reading Objectives

Uter" Co.prehension
The literal comprehension skill area tests the student's understanding of information explicitly stated in text. This skill area includes the following objectives.
1. The student distinguishes between fact and opinion in the context of academic or everyday materials.
2. The student recognizes explicitly stated main ideas, details, sequences of events and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic or everyday materials.
3. The student interprets instructions in the context of academic or everyday materials.
Inferential Co.prehension
The inferential comprehension skill area tests the student's understanding of material that is not expressed literally in text. This skill area includes the follOwing objectives.
4. The student recognizes implicitly stated main ideas, details, sequences of events and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.

5. The student interprets semantic relationships in the context ofacademic materials or everyday activities.
6. The student interprets nonliteral meanings in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.
7. The student recognizes persuasion techniques in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.
Proble. SolvinB
8. The student uses reference sources in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.
9. The student makes generalizations and draws conclusions in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.
10. The student makes predictions and comparisons in the context of academic or everyday materials.
11. The student recognizes relevance of data in the context of academic materials or everyday activities.

141

Eighth Grade Reading Objectives

Literal Comprehension
The literal comprehension skill area tests the student's understanding of information explicitly stated in text. This skill area includes the following objectives.
Objective J-The student distinguishes between fact and opinion in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.
Objective 2-The student recognizes explicitly stated main ideas. details. sequence of events. and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.
Objective 3--The student interprets instructions in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.
Inferential Comprehension
The inferential comprehension skill area tests the student's understanding of material that is not expressed literally in text. The skill area includes the following objectives:
Objective 4-The student recognizes implicitly state main ideas. details. sequences of events and cause and effect relationships in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.
Objective 5-The student interprets semantic and syntactic relationships in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.

Objective 6-The student interprets figurative langu'!ge in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.
Objective 7-The student recognizes propaganda techniques in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.
Problem Solving
The problem solving skill area tests the student's skill at locating. interpreting and evaluating information.
Objective 8'-:""The student uses reference sou.rces in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.
Objective 9-The student makes generalizations and draws conclusions in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.
Objective J0-The student makes predictions and comparisons in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.
Objective JJ-The student recognizes relevance of data in the context of academic. everyday. or employment materials.

142

Topic A. Language Study
B. Listening Skills

Appendix I
Essential Skills for Georgia Schools

C o n c e p t i SkiIJ

K-4

The learner will

1. make choices which indicate an appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of oral and written language.

2. use a variety of oral and written language structures.

a. learn ways of expanding basic language

structures.

(1) use (not label) whatever language

structures best express ideas and learn

alternating ways of phrasing ideas.

10

(2) use modifying phrases. compound structures, single word embeddings and single clauses.

(3) use phrases. clause embeddings and complex clauses.

b. experi ment with and learn how word order reveals meaning.

c. recognize and use options for word order.

3. use appropriate usage patterns in oral and

written language.

10

a. distinguish between informal options of word choice and formal counterparts.

b. use a variety of usage patterns in different contexts.

4. demonstrate an understanding of how

dialects differ.

10

5. demonstrate an acceptance and understanding of other dialects.

6. use generally accepted oral and written language forms.

7. demonstrate the knowledge that language functions in a variety of ways. e.g .. for personal expression. to regulate. to receive information. to create and imagine.

8. demonstrate an understanding that language can be described in a variety of ways. e.g .. grammars. parts of speech.

9 demonstrate an understanding of word etymologies.

The learner will

1. expand the number of words understood when heard in context.

a. learn multiple and specific meanings of

words. their denotations and connotations.

10

b understand figurative language. idiomatic expressions. colloquial terms and allusions.

c. learn specialized vocabulanes

143

KEY I = Introduce 0= Develop R = Reinforce

5-8

9-12

0

R

0

oR

10

oR

oR

0

oR

0

oR

0

R

0

R

oR

R

10

oR

0

oR

10

oR

10

oR

0

oR

0

oR

0

oR

Topic

Concept/Skill 2. adjust listening strategies according to

K-4

5-8

9-12

I

I

I

a. the purpose (distinguish message from

noise, concentrate, suspend judgment. avoid

distraction, wait for turn to talk, avoid inter-

I rupting, display interest and involvement).

10

b. the nature of the material (topic, density

and concept difficulty).

I1

c. the organizational cues of the speaker

(statement of points, organizational phrases.

repetition).

I1

3. listen and respond for a variety of purposes.

I0 I0
I0

I DR I oR
I oR

a. pleasure and enjoyment b. to follow directions c. to make intelligent consumer judgments

I10 10 I

I I0 0 oR

R R R

d. to function as an informed citizen. e.g.,

news broadcasts. editorials. speeches. political appeals
e. to obtain information

I I I 1

oR

R

10

oR

R

f. to apply information heard to new situations
4. recognize and discriminate among

I 10 I 0 I o R

common sounds and sound signals in his or

her environment.

I lOR I

RI

R

I 5. demonstrate understanding of a basic
vocabularv related to his or her environment. 10

I0

I oR

6. recognize and recall the following when

specifically stated by the speaker.

I 10 I 0 I o R

a. main ideals)

b. details

c. sequence

d. cause-effect

7. infer the following when not specifically stated by the speaker.
a. main ideals)

I 10

I0

I oR

b. details

. c. sequence

8. receive and comprehend varied materials at difference levels of thinking. e.g.. literal. inferential. evaluative and appreciative.
9. receive and evaluate material critically by making judgments about validity. bias. speaker qualifications, fact and opinion, fantasy or realism.
10. recognize and identify the qualities of a speaker's style. imagery, word choice and technique.
11. accept and understand other dialects as valid communication.

I 10
I I
I 10

I 0 I oR
I 10 I DR I 10 I DR
I o R I DR

144

Topic C. Reading Readiness
D. Word Recognition

Concept/Skill
The learner will
,. show an-interest in hearing materials read.
2. discriminate auditory similarities and differences in commonly used words in and out of context.
3. discriminate visual similarities and differences in commonly' used words in and out of context.
4. identify individual letters of the alphabet. high-interest words and phrases that appear frequently in his or her environment.
5. analyze and interpret pictures. people and events using elaborated language.
6. demonstrate understanding of terms used in reading instruction, e.g., top of page. leftto-right progression. beginning-ending of words.
7. attempt self-expression in writing using individualized spellings.
The learner will
,. recognize and use sight vocabulary in context from various sources. a. his or her own vocabulary b. high-frequency word lists c. basal readers d. words specific to content areas

K-4 10 10 10 10 10
10 lOR
lOR

2. demonstrate an understanding of and use various aids to develop and expand vocabulary. a. context clues
b. synonyms. antonyms and homonyms c. acronyms
d. multiple m'eariings of words e. classification (categories, general to specific)

3. demonstrate an understanding of and use phonetic analysis clues and principles to identify new words.
a. consonant sounds and clusters b. silent consonants
c. multiple sounds of consonants d. short and long vowels e. variant vowel sounds (dipthongs, controlled vowels)

4. demonstrate an understanding of and use

structural analysis clues and the related

principles of

a. syllabication,

e. possessive forms,

b. accent,

f. compound words,

c. contractions,

g. plural forms,

d. abbreviations, h. word parts.

lOR lOR lOR

5-8

9-12

R

R

R

R

R

R

R

oR

oR

R

oR

oR

R

145

Topic E. Comprehension

ConceptiSkill
5. demonstrate the understanding that symbols stand for referents.
I The learner will 1. recognize, recall and retell a. the main ideals), b. details. c. sequence, d. cause-effect relationships.

K-4

I

I

I I lOR

5-8 i
oR I

9-12
R

I 10 i o R i

R

2. read and follow printed directions. 3. draw conclusions from facts given.

I I I 10

oR

R

10

OR

R

4. infer that which is not explicitly stated

in a selection

I 10 I o R i

R

a. main ideals),

b. details that support main idea.

c. sequence.

d. cause-effect.

o 5. recognize information and ideas through I 10 I OR i

R

a. classifying.

b. outlining,

c. summarizing.

d. synthesizing.

6. make judgments. 7. predict outcomes.

I 10 10

8. infer literal meaning from author's use of

figurative language.

I 10

I IOR

OR

0 R

R

i oR i

R

9. infer figurative meaning from author's use

of literal language.

10

10. distinguish between fact and opinion.

10

11. distinguish fiction from nonfiction.

10

12. distinguish reality from fantasy.

10

OR

R

OR

oR

OR

oR

oR oR

13. make comparisons using stated information.
14. make comparisons using implied information.

II 10 10

15. recognize use of propaganda techniques. I

I oR I R

I I 0

oR

0

oR

16. interpret symbols (including special subject area notations) and symbolic language.
17. recognize relevance of data.

10

oR

R

10

oR

18. recognize relationships of time and place. 10

19. make appropriate generalizations.

10

OR

R

oR oR

20. interpret and use information presented

graphically, such as

I 10 i o R i

R

a. maps

b. graphs

c. charts

d. tables

e. schedules

1. diagrams.

146

Topic

ConceptiSkill

K-4

F. Study Skills
G. Functional Reading Skills

The learner will
1. demonstrate knowledge of alphabetic sequence.
2. alphabetize words up to the third letter.
3. locate information using a variety of sources.
a. table of contents. page numbers
b. dictionaries - guide, entry words
c.' glossaries
d. indexes - key words. main and subtopics e. encyclopedia
f. thesauri
g. library card files (card catalogs, periodical files) h~ catalogs i. newspapers
4. locate materials in a media center.
5. use dictionaries for a variety of purposes.
a. identifying word meanings
b. finding synonyms
c. identifying and interpreting phonetic respellings to aid pronunciation
d. selecting appropriate meanings of words in context
6. use titles. headings. subheadings and pictures to locate and preview information.
7. use a variety of study techniques. e.g., survey. question, read, recite, review,(SQ3R).
8. adjust reading technique and rate according to the difficulty of material and purposes for reading. a. rereading b. skimming c. scanning
The learner will
1. interpret and use basic instructions and labeling information. a. recipes b. clothing care instructions c. appliance instructions d. warning labels (poison control, electrical hazards, etc.) e. medicine labels f. product contents and nutritional information labels

lOR 10 lOR 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
10

5-8
R R
R R R R R 10 R R R R
oR
10 10
oR oR
0

9-12
R R
R R R R R
oR
R R R R R
R R
R R
oR

147

Topic
H. Oral/Written Communication

Concept/Skill

K-4

5-8

9-12

2. interpret and use forms. applications and

agreements_ including those relating to money

management (at a nontechnical level).

II

a. discou nt coupons

b. credit cards

c. banking procedures

d. payments and loans

e. change of address form

f. social security card application

I0 I

3. interpret and use various forms of written

communication.

-

II

a. directories

b. correspondence (personal and business)

c. mass media (newspapers. magazines.

advertisements)

I0 I

4. interpret and use functional transportation

information.

II

a. routes. schedules and timetables

b. signs, marquees and billboards

c. driver's manual

d. travel brochures

I0 I

5. interpret and use occupational and career

information.

I

a. job listings

b. paycheck stubs
c. salary schedule and benefits
IThe learner will

1. demonstrate an understanding that speech

and writing are tools of communication.

II

2. speak clearly and write legibly.

I 10 I
I oR I

a. use language understandable to others. I 10 I 0 I

b. demonstrate understanding of left-to-right

pattern of writing.

I lOR

c. manuscript and write standard letter forms.

lower and upper case.

I lOR I

R

3. increase, enrich and refine oral and written

expression.

I 10 I 0 I

a. use functional vocabulary related to experiences.

b. eliminate unnecessary words such as and. well, um, uh, ya know.

c. use standard language patterns.

4. use oral language for a variety of purposes. I I 0 I 0 I a. personal and creative expression b. relating and obtaining information c. describing experiences d. communicating feelings

oR
oR oR oR
R
oR oR oR

148

Topic I. Literature

Concept/Skill

K-4

5. use oral language in a variety of ways.

10

a. dialogue and discussions

b. retelling-and paraphrasing

c. summarizing

d. interviews

6. write and compose for a variety of

purposes.

10

a. personal and business communication

b. clarifying thoughts and ideas

c. self-expression and personal satisfaction

d. recording information, e.g., message and

note taking

e. entertainment

7. write and compose in a variety of ways.

a. organize paragraphs using various modes (argumentation, exposition. narration. description)

b. combine paragraphs to create longer works

(letters, stories, essays, reports)

ID

8. demonstrate the ability to adjust manner and style of speaking and writing to suit audience and situation, e.g., formal and informal.

The learner will
1. recognize and demonstrate an understanding that literature has a variety of purposes.
a. artistic expression
b. recording events, ideas and values of diverse societies and cultures (past through the present)
c. entertainment and diversion
d. extension of individual knowledge and experience
e. comparing values. beliefs and behaviors
2. recognize and demonstrate an understanding that individual reactions to and perceptions of literature are affected by many factors. e.g., attitudes. experience~, maturity, knowledge.
3. recognize that literary representations of individuals. events and society are influenced by the perceptions of the writer and the perceptions of the reader.
4. demonstrate an understanding that literature has a variety of external structures, eg .. poetry. prose, fiction, nonfiction, drama.
5 recognize the complexity of the individuals and situations as depicted in literature.
6. recognize that critical reading reqUires reader involvement and interaction with the material bemg read

5-8 0
0
10 0
ID
D D D D
D ID
DR

9-12
oR
oR
DR
oR
DR
DR R R R R
DR DR
R DR DR

149

Topic
J. Mass Communication

ConceptiSkill

K-4

i

7. reCognize the importance of making

inferences and drawing conclusions in

reading literature.

.

II

8. demonstrate the understanding that

literature can be read and compared from

several perspectives, e.g., genre, theme,

chronology, nationality, author.

I

9. recognize that literary works can take a

number of forms, e.g., fables, myths, fantasy,

short story, novel, essay.

II

10. recognize and understand the various

recurring features of each literary type, e.g.,

romance, irony, tragedy and comedy.

II

11. make individual, personal determination

of worth, desirability and acceptability of

various pieces of literature.
IThe learner will

II

1. differentiate among several classes of

communications - intrapersonal, interper-

sonal and mass communications.

II

2. distinguish four essentials of the com-

munication process - source, message,

medium, audience.

I1

3. analyze relationships among source,

message, medium and audience.

II

4. identify primary communication vehicles

comprising American mass media.

II

5. analyze complexities distinguishing mass

communications from interpersonal and intra-

personal communications.

I

6. evaluate degree of saturation of mass

media in contemporary society.

I

7. describe the primary functions of mass

media.

II

8. analyze the fulfillment of information,

persuasion and entertainment functions by all

major mass media.

II

9. show how mass media depiction of

standards of living affect contemporary living

standards.

I1

10. assess the probable reliability of media

message sources.

II

11. demonstrate an understanding of the

influences advertising has on personal buying

habits.

II

5-8

i

I

II

I

II I I0 I II I
I0 I

I0 I

I0 I I 10 I I 10 I

II I

II

I

I0 I

I0 I

I0 I II I

I0 I

9-12
OR
lOR R
oR
R
oR oR oR oR oR oR
R OR OR
oR oR

150

Topic

Concept/Skill

K-4

12. define and identify propaganda devices of mass media; messages as glittering generality. .card stacking, name calling, testimonial, plain facts, bandwagon, transfer and elitism.
13. understand and use basic components of visual literacy
a. identify visual persuasion techniques, including logical processes and affective appeals such as use of color, placement. sequence and repetition.
b. differentiate between visual fact (representation) and visual fiction (creation/ fabrication)
c. differentiate between visual fact (representation) and visual metaphor (imagery, allegory, fantasy).
d. differentiate between visual fact' (representation) and visual commentary (selection/slanting).
e. recognize visual appeals (color, shape, familiarity).
f. recognize visual stereotypes in film and television, including hero/heroine, villain, man, woman, child. family, professional, ethnic group.
g. differentiate between visual logic and visual fallacy.
14. explain the influence of advertising on editorial role. tone and stance.
15. analyze nonverbal symbols of communication used in television programming and visual advertising.

5-8

9-12

0

oR

0

oR

0

oR

0

oR

Source Essential Skills for Georgia Schools. Language Arts Section. pp. 19. Atlanta. Georgia: Georgia Department of Education 1980.
151

AppendixJ

Correlation of Essential Skills for Geortria Schools with ThinkAboDt SldIIs

niakAboat SIdUs

ProtIr
N. .ben &seadal SIdUs

lIeading

Adjusting the rate of reading to suit one's purpose and the type of material being read. 36

F-8

Comparing and contrasting ideas in a selection with one's own ideas.
Identifying ambiguous statements
Identifying an author's assumptions.

12 9 9. 14

E-13, E-14, 1-2. 1-3. 1-6 E-17 E-4

Stating the main idea of a selected work.
Summarizing the meaning of a selection.
Using context clues to clarify the meaning of a selection.

12.41

E-l, E-4

12.21,41 E-5

5,13

D2. D-4

Using headlines and the first paragraph of news articles to get the main idea.

12

E-l, E-4. F-6. G-3

Writing
Arranging paragraphs in a sequence. Perceiving the importance of legible handwriting.
Preparing an outline as an aid to writing.
Producing a written description, narrative. or poem about an event. experience or
feeling.
Supporting generalizations with specifics.
Writing a communication that is designed to convince or persuade.

51

H-7

29

H-2

21

H-6

3.12.26 A2. A-7. H-3. H-6 H7

41

H-6

20.41.51 H-6

Listening Demonstrating appropriate listening behavior. Identifying the probable purpose of an oral communication.
Paraphrasing or summarizing an oral communication. Recognizing how emphasis. intonation. context. pauses, and nonverbal behavior add
to the meaning of an oral communication.
Understanding orally presented directions

2.35 13
2
10.50 32

B-2 B-2, B-3 B-3
B2. B-3 B-3

153

TllhlkAboat SIdUs
Spealdn.lDgc. .s.n.IPresen"n.
-
Considering the effects of a presentation upon a particular audience. Demonstrating respect for one's audience. Developing criteria for judging the appropriateness of a presentation for a specific
purpose.
Making a presentation interesting. Making an audivisual presentation. Making relevant comments while participating in a discussion. Organizing throughts in a useful pattern when making a presentation. Rehearing a presentation. Using analogies and metaphors to explain complex ideas. Using appropriate nonverbal behavior to add to the meaning of a communication.
Using emphasis. intonation. and pauses to add meaning.
Using style of communication appropriate to the audience. Using various art forms as alternative forms of communication.
Viewing and Obseruin.
Describing factually what was observed.
Describing how the audio and visual portions of a film contribute to its meaning. Identifying clues that contribute to or detract from the total message of a visual
communication
Identifying probable purpose of a visual communication
Study Sid'"
Conducting a survey. Determining if the source is reliable. Locating print and nonprint reference material in a library or media center Making predictions from data. Performing an experiment.
Planning and completing a task independently. Remembering reqUired information.

Prop N. .ben Es__dal SIdUs

11.32.37 52.53.54 H-2. H3. H8. J2
11.30.52 H8

30

52. 54

Holl

11.24.32

2.30

Holl. H5

11.51

50.52.53

4.19.21 H3. Holl

25.52

10.50.52 Holl. H8

50

H8

23.54

12. 16. 17. 21 24.27.46 11
11.32 48

18

44

89. E7

1.17.23 Foll

27

E7

24. 27

31.43.49

4. 19

F7

154

TIIiDkAboat SIdUs

-

.

Taking and using notes.

Using a problem-solving guide.

Using resource persons to obtain information.
Using standard reference aids:
-bUingual dictionary. -classified ads in a newspaper, -encyclopedia.
Using test taking strategies.
Using the index and table of contents of a book to locate information.

P r o p Na.ben En.ad" SIdUs

16,17.19 21,45,46 H-6

8,23

F3

17, 18,21. 29,30,44. 46,47,59 F3

45

F3, G3

16

17

34

1

F3

155

Appendix K
Evaluating Speaking and Listening Skills in the Classroom

Communication does not thrive in a climate of evaluation. Presentation of self through speech is always extremely ego-involving and normal speech anxieties are heightened by testing. Oral style. which is so dependent on situation. audience and honest purpose. becomes artificial. Self-disclosure is inhibited. Meanings are distorted. Still. speaking and listening must be evaluated in some manner so that teachers can diagnose strengths and weaknesses. so that students can be aware of their successes and the routes to further growth. and so that oral communicaton can be legitimized for those who believe that educators are accountable for tangible outcomes. But in evaluating speech communication skills it is especially important to maintain a supportive climate. one in which students are encouraged to try out new communication behaviors without threatening their self-esteem. It is equally crucial that students feel they are communicating for genuine purposes, that the evaluation function is incidental to. and not the primary motivation for, interaction. Finally. feedback to students should be useful in gUiding their further development. It should be concrete. primarily descriptive and include positive as well as negative remarks. The evaluator is a party to classroom communication and is therefore subject to limitations of his or her own communication skills. Evaluation might best be prefaced by. "This is what I observed your group doing:' or "This is how I responded to your presentation."
Typically we think of speech evaluation in terms of teachers grading formal speaking assignments on some rating scale including criteria of pronounciation. standard usage. audibility. intonation and perhaps quality of written outline. This is too narrow a view in a number of respects since this typical speech assessment loses sight of the primarily communicative nature of the performance. We should try to define rating criteria in functional terms like appropriateness to audience. intelligibility and expressiveness. Also. criteria should go beyond elocution. should reflect that oral skills include ability in discovering, selecting and organizing supporting materials.

Evaluation of oral skills need not be limited to formal public speaking. Especially in the elementary grades, students are not ready for this type of assessment. Although it may be easier to evaluate the extended noninterrupted discourse of public speaking. other classroom situations calling for evaluation include participation in small and large group discussions. role-playing interpersonal interactions (and other forms of dramatic improvisation). listening for various purposes and performance of social rituals. Not all evaluation need be teachercentered. Peer evaluation reinforces the notion that the teacher does not solely comprise the audience. All audience members experience valid reactions. Selfevaluation encourages students to introspect and to apply communication principles in personally meaningful ways.
Finally. not all oral activities need be evaluated in a formal manner. Some assignments. even formal public speaking assignments at the secondary level. can be left upgraded. Often a teacher may discuss the class' performance in general terms rather than directing evaluation to individuals. and may discuss the class' performance in purely descriptive terms with no evaluative tone.
The suggestions and examples on the following pages illustrate these various approaches to evaluating speaking and listening. In using these illustrations. teachers will need to adapt them to grade and ability level.
A. Listening J. Standardized Tests. A number of com-
mercially published tests of listening ability are available. Among these are the Brown-Carlson and the STEP listening tests. Often a unit which sensitizes students to the need to listen actively will result in gains on such evaluation instruments.
2. Listening for Comprehension. Teachermade tests of listening comprehension are easy to construct. At the upper grades these

157

can be administered inconjuction with lecture materials. Frequently film and film strip teacher guides include comprehension questions. If students are presenting informative talks. it is a good idea to ask them to construct their own comprehension quizzes. Their fellow students' accuracy will serve as useful feedback concerning the speaker's effectiveness. It is helpful to offer instruction in notetaking along with pratice in listening for comprehension.
3. Listening to Distinguish Facts from Opinions. A typical newspaper editorial will contain both facts and opinions. Read an editorial aloud and ask students to identify each sentence as fact or value judgement. Sports reporting often blurs the distinction. Here. vivid adjectives and verbs may evaluatively color accounts of events. One way in which factual accounts are distorted is by the inclusion of unwarranted inferences. Critical inference tests such as that in Example A can assess students' skills at distinguishing fact from inference in narratives.
4. Listening for Speakers' A"itudes. Students should be able to identify a speaker's point of view in public discourse. Locate a tape of Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" speech. a videotape of the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debates or a recording of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "The Nonviolent Method." Ask students to identify the speakers' points of view on the various issues they are discussing. Ask students to extrapolate how these speakers would react to various current events. When students are delivering persuasive presentations. ask audience members to identify their theses as specifically as they can. Student speakers may be surprised to learn how often their peers have misinterpreted their claims. In interpersonal interaction. when we listen for speakers' attitudes we are trying to listen emphatically. Students should be able to practice such techniques of emphatic listening as reflecting feelings and paraphrase ("What I hear you saying is ... "). The empathy test illustrated in Example B is suitable for high school students. but has been simplified for use by students as young as fourth grade. The students engage in a conversation about favorite movies or the like for about 10 minutes before marking the scales.

5_ L"tening to Evaluate Ideas. As students engage in discussion. listen to prepared presentations or receive broadcast messages. they should be able to judge the validity of the many persuasive appeals they encounter. This type of listening is important for at least two reasons. First. students need to learn to defend themselves intellectually from inflated claims and propaganda. In addition to engaging in such defensive listening. students need to be able to listen to evaluate ideas so they can participate constructively in group discussion. One typical failure of classroom discussions is that individuals are eager to offer their own contributions without acknowledging or following up the ideas of their classmates. In some methods of conflict resolution. participants must state their opponent's point of view to the satisfaction of their opponent and identify points of agreement before offering a new argument or _ proposal. This is a workable system for many types of classroom discussions. as well. Since the mass media are major sources of persuasive messages in our society. students should dE'lIlor.strate skill in analyzing and evaluating broadcast advertisements. Bring in videotapes of television advertisements or secure films of CLEO Award winning advertisements. In the primary grades. students should be able to distinguish advertising from program content and recognize the persuasive intent of commercials. In middle school. students should be able to name several basic advertising strategies (bandwagon. testimonial, glittering generalities).
6. Listening for Aesthetic Appreciation. Much literature is written to be read and heard. This is true of a good deal of poetry and drama. Younger students enjoy listening to stories told or orally interpreted from text. So do older students. A teacher who reads well may find that students are eager to complete assigned work if they know that odd minutes before the bell rings will be spent in listening to literature. Tape recordings of radio theatre ("The Lone Ranger" or "War of the Worlds"). recordings of authors reading from their works or recordings of actors interpreting prose are available. Evaluating students' responses to aural literature centers on their degree of engagement. empathy for characters and ability to relate themes to their own lives.

158

Example A
Observations, Assumptions and Inferences Worksheet
Teacher reads the following passage aloud Harry got out oj the sports car. The police officer approached him with a pad in one hand and pencil in the other. After talking with Harry for a few minutes, the officer wrote down the necessary information. Harry returned to the car, slammed the door and continued to school.
Students number their pages 1.10. Based on the story above, are the following statements True (T), False (F) or Unknown (?).

T

F

? The police officer stopped Harry.

T

F

? The police officer approached Harry before he had a chance to get out of the car.

T

F

? The officer had a pad and a pen with him.

T

F

? Harry was driving his car.

T

F

? The man who talked with Harry was a police officer.

T

F

? Harry received a traffic ticket.

T

F

? Harry slammed the door of his car.

T

F

? Harry was angry.

T

F

? Harry went to work after talking with the police officer.

T

F

? Harry was traveling in a station wagon.

159

Example B
Empathy Test Circle the answer that best describes how you feel.

A. This is how' perceived myself.
Happy 1 234 5 6 7 Sad Secure 1 234 5 6 7 Insecure Calm 1 234 5 6 7 Excited Tough 1 234 5 6 7 Gentle Open 1 234 5 6 7 Guarded

C. This is how' perceived my partner.

Happy 1 234 5 6 7 Secure 1 234 5 6 7 Calm 1 234 5 6 7 Tough 1 234 5 6 7 Open 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Sad Insecure Excited Gentle Guarded

B. This is how my partner perceived me.

Happy 1 234 5 6 7 Secure 1 234 5 6 7 Calm 1 234 5 6 7 Tough 1 234 5 6 7 Open 1 234 5 6 7

Sad Insecure Excited Gentle Guarded

D. This is how my partner perceived him. self or herself.
Happy 1 234 5 6 7 Sad Secure 1 234 5 6 7 Insecure Calm 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Excited Tough 1 234 567 Gentle Open 1 234 5 6 7 Guarded

'fllltructiOflll for obtaining score
1) Compare your D predictions with your partner'. A. Find the numerical differences for ratings on each of the five lines. Find the sum of these differences. 2) Compare your B predictions with your partner's C. Total the differences as before. 3) Add the sums from steps (1) and (2). A small numerical value tends to indicate a high degree of empathy. Discuss with your partner possible reasons why each of you received the scores you did.
160

7. Listening to Identify Sounds. In kindergarten and first grade it is wise to devote some attention to sound discrimination. Teachers can create their own tapes of common sounds or buy commercially available sets. For example. students can practice counting by listening to the sound of footsteps on dry leaves. Or students can demonstrate their knowledge of "safety sounds" by identifying a police officer's whistle. a fire engine siren. an auto horn. etc. Practice in discriminating speech sounds, - especially common articulation errors such as 'r. t, is and !th is also helpful. Notice that evaluating speech sound discrimination is not equivalent to assessing reading phonics skills. In teaching speech sounds, no graphemic representations are provided. Instead, students may learn to associate a picture of Sammy the Snake with the snake hissing sound or Rudy the Race Car with the motor sound.
B. Self as Communicator J. Communication Apprehension. AnXiety
about oral communication is a personality trait with far reaching consequences. About one in five adults experiences communication apprehension to such a degree that it negatively affects their academic success. choice of career and sometimes influences their choice of mate. Communication apprehension is a learned trait. and evidence points that it is learned somehow between kindergarten and third grade. Experts speculate that students learn to withdraw from the risk of communication when they are punished for speaking up and rewarded for silence. It is important that students learn from an early age that it is normal to be fearful of some communication situations. but that they need not avoid interactions. This requires open discussion of communication fears. It is vital that teachers identify apprehensive students in the classroom. (Note: Reticence is a broader concept and may be due to hostility, uncertainty or other factors. The quiet child is not necessarily apprehensive.) Apprehensive students need especially tender care and should never be forced to speak. Some valid assessment instruments are available and may be used for diagnosis or simply as stimuli for classroom discussion. The "Measure ofElementary Communication Apprehension," shown in Example C. may be read aloud with students

marking smiling. frowning or neutral faces to show their agreement with each statement. The "Personal Report of Communication Fear," presented in Example D. is intended for grades 712.
2. Daily Interaction. Students should be aware of their daily interaction patterns and assess their own effectiveness as communicators. Students at all grade levels can keep a "conversation diary." In the primary grades this may take the form of a picture book with students draWing and perhaps labelling their various daily conversations. For older students. logging and reflecting on conversations should be encouraged as a regular part of journal writing. From time to time. remind students not to harp on the more negative interactions, as we all are wont to do. Students in early adolescence are beginning to form self-concepts and this is an especially important time to stress the role of communication in daily life. For it is primarily by seeing how others react to us that we get a feel for who we are. The family is a fundamental interaction unit and students at all ages can begin to understand how their families work by analYZing conversations among family members.
3. Communication in Careers. In exploring and choosing career options, students need to be especially aware of the role of communication in work. Some jobs. such as attorney or teacher, are transparently and exclusively careers in communications. Some jobs, such as physician or auto mechanic, require communication skills for effective functioning. Still other careers, such as interior decorator or police officer. are essentially communications oriented. but are rarely thought of as such. Students can choose and prepare for careers more Wisely if they are aware of the roles of communication in the world of work.
4. Consumer of Mass Communications. For many Americans. the role of mass communication receiver is significant both in terms (If our lifestyles and our personal development. Yet for students who may spend up to 40 hours a week viewing television alone. the immersion in mass communication is taken for granted and the significance of this role is rarely appreciated. Students need to evaluate their exposure to mass media and the effects this type of communica-

161

Example C
Measure of Elementary Communication Apprehension Items-Refer to Subsequent Tables

very happy I like it a lot.

happy I like it.

no feelins I don't care.

unhappy I don't like it.

1. How do you feel when you talk to teachers or your principal? *2. How do you feel about talking to someone you don't know very well? *3. How do you feel when you hold something and talk about it? 4. How do you feel about talking to people who aren't close friends? 5. How do you feel about talking when you have a new teacher? *6. How do you feel about talking a lot when you are on a bus? 7. How do you feel when you are picked to be a leader of a group? *8. How do you feel about talking a lot in class? 9. How do you feel when you talk in front of an audience? 10. How do you feel about talking to other people? 11. How do you feel about trying to meet someone new? *12. How do you feel after you get up to talk in front of the class? 13. How do you feel when you know you have to give a speech? 14. How would you feel about giving a speech on televisibn? ' 15. How do you feel about talking when you are in a small group? *16. How do you feel when you have to talk in a group? *17. How do you feel when the teacher calls on you? *18. How do you feel about talking to all of the people who sit close to you? 19. How do you feel when the teacher wants you to talk in class? *20. How do you feel when you talk in front of a large group of people?

very unhappy I really don't
like it.

-Items with asterisks were responded to with the faces in reverse order.
162

Example 0

PersoDal Report of CommuDicatioD Fear

Verbal Activity Scale
YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO YES yes ? no NO

1. Talking with someone new scares me. 2. I look forward to talking in class. 3. I don't like it when it is my turn to talk. 4. I like standing llP and talking to a group of people. 5. I like to talk when the whole class listens. 6. Standing up to talk in front of other people scares me. 7. I like talking to teachers. 8. I am scared to talk to people. 9. I like it when it is my turn to talk in class. 10. I like to talk to new people. 11. I enjoy talking. 12. Most of the time I would rather be quiet than talk. 13. Other people think I am very quiet. 14. I talk more than most people. 15. Talking to other people is one of the things I like the best. 16. Most of the time I would rather talk than be quiet. 17. I don't talk much. 18. Other people think I talk a lot. 19. Most people talk more than I do. 20. I talk a lot.

163

tion has on them. To become aware of their media use. students may participate in a "media withdrawal" exercise. Students spend a day or a weekend free of print and electronic media. Beware of violent reactions from students whose fundamental lifestyles are threatened by this activity. Afterwards. discussion centers on heightened sensitivity to their own and others' use of mass media. on how students felt during withdrawal. on the difficulties in this society of isolating one's self from seemingly omnipresent mass communication messages and on how students otherwise occupied their time and minds. Other ways of sensitizing students to their use of mass media include media logs (recording time, lo<;ation. content of diary fashion). and media inventories. one of which is reproduced in Example E. Once students are attuned to their media habits. they can begin to explore how their lives and attitudes are affected by this exposure. Sometimes a comparative approach may help lend perspective. Introduce students to examples of popular culture current two decades ago and ask if students a generation back might differ from today's youngsters because of their different mass media exposure. Discussion of mass communication effects can pertain to three areas - use of time (time spent with mass media as opposed to interacting with family and friends. developing hobbies, studying; time spend viewing and listening as opposed to reading); interests and values (mass media models for ideal career. malefemale relationships. consumer goods, physical appearance. sex roles, interaction styles; have mass media extended student interests by giving entry to a "global village"?); and intellectual functioning (attention span. perseverance or easy frustration in acquiring knowledge. analytical skills. range of knowledge).
5. Classroom Communication. Achievement in school. and pleasure in school. is a function of verbal interaction. The class is a community - what does the student contribute and what does he or she reap from this community? Students should be encouraged to evaluate their participation in large-group discussion focusing on questions of attitude. topics and occasions that seem to bring out comments. listening habits. relationship to

mood and out-of-school concerns. relationship to homework and preparation. In addition to judging their own participation in the larger group. students should be given every opp.ortunity to assess their own performances in communication exercises and in small group activities. If students criticize their own public speaking performances. they will probably acquire more insight than could be imparted by reams of teacher rating forms. They may also be more honest about their own shortcomings than most teachers can bear to be.
C. Oral Language
1. Speech Disorders. Classroom teachers cannot be expected to serve as professional diagnosticians or therapists. On the other hand. teachers are in the best position to screen dysfunctional speech and refer students for proper treatment. This is of particular importance in the early primary years. Certainly every student should receive routine hearing checks. But if students show repeated hearing difficulties due to infection, abuse or disease. the school nurse should be alerted. Expressive disorders are defined by three criteria. They render the student difficult to comprehend. They call attention to themselves rather than to the student's message. They make the student uncomfortable. Speech disorders most commonly encountered are dysfunctions of voice. of articulation. of fluency and delayed language development. Voice disorders of pitch (as in running up and down a musical scale when speaking) and quality (hoarseness) are often transitory. Also. young children may have some difficulty controlling voice volume. Students should have the opportunity to hear tape recordings of their voices and should learn not to abuse vocal apparatus. Consistent misarticulation. (e.g . substituting Iwl for Ir f or lJi. "slushy" or whistled lsi) are common and usually outgrown by time the student reaches third grade. Persistent problems should be referred. Informal enunciation is an element of style. not an articulation disorder. (See following section.) Fluency disorders (stuttering and stammering) are serious because many can be prevented by avoiding over-correction in the elementary grades. Apparently some people are actually taught

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Medium Books Newspapers Comic: Books Magazines Pamphlets Broadside/Bills Radio Rec:ordslTapes P.A. Announc:ements Muzak 1V Movies Others

Example E
Media Inventory

TItles

T~e
E I P Times Used Plac:e Used

Conc:urrent Ac:tivities

Comments

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to stutter because parents and/or teachers call attention to natural hesitations and dysfluencies in speech. Children then be come overly conscious of their speech and have difficulty getting words out. -For some reason, incidence of stuttering reaches a peak among fifth-grade boys. Don't tell students to choose their words before they speak. Don't tell students to speak more rapidly. Don't force a self-conscious person to speak. Lan guage delay (infantile vocabulary and syntax) may be due to lack of interaction or to emotional problems. In the first case, students will start to show great progress in kindergarten or first grade simply through exposure and interaction - so long as talk is encouraged in the classroom. In the case of speech delay due to emotional difficulties, professional help is required.
2. Standard Dialect. Children come to school speaking the language variety of their regional, social and ethnic communities. It is wellestablished that no variety is any more logicalor communicatively efficient than any other. There is no convincing evidence that language variety affects learning to read or write, so long as teachers do not confuse spoken and written language (as in correcting oral reading pronunciation). Instead, our culture teaches us to associate status and positive values with the kind of speech typified by "Broadcast English." This presents a serious problem for teachers since we often expect nonstandard dialect speakersto perform poorly, and those expectations may become selffulfilling. But we all speak one dialect or another. Dialect, itself, is not cause for remediation or negative evaluation. AnalYZing students' native dialects and comparisons with language variation around the nation may even be a fruitful avenue for instruction in language. The LingUistic Atlas of the Southeast is a valuable and useful source for teachers to use in this analysis and in discriminating genuine language problems from legitimate dialect variations.
3. Language Appropriateness. We sometimes want to teach our students to speak correctly. But what is correct speech? In some areas, in some situations, a person who speaks like a radiO news announcer would be ridiculed and ostracized. No one speaks grammarbook English all the time. Even in teaching

we don't always speak in complete sentences. Surely it is unfair to evaluate student speech by criteria of correctness, criteria which are based on written language and not oral. But at the upper grades it is reasonable to evaluate student speech by criteria of appropriateness. Each of us controls a range of styles (also called "registers") which we select from in any particular communication situation. For example. we speak with different enunciation. vocabulary and syntax in fro':'t of class. in the teachers' lounge and yet differently at home with our families. Some of the factors affecting the appropriateness of our choice of style include topic of conversation (e.g., baseball versus symphonic music); setting (cocktail party versus library); purpose (e.g., entertaining narrative versus academic exposition); and - perhaps most importantly - listener (child versus peer. small group versus assembly. friend versus stranger. boss versus colleague. celebrity versus neighbor). "Hey, Slick. ya wanna chow down?" may be an appropriate luncheon invitation for a close friend. but it would be highly inappropriate to address the School Board Chairperson in this manner. Recognize, however, that it would be equally inappropriate to invite your friend (unless done with humor) by uttering. "Pardon my interruption. Sir. might you be desirous of coordinating your midday repast with that of my own?" Grammatically correct but communicatively inappropriate. In teaching oral language we wish to expand our students' stylistic options and to inculcate criteria for shifting styles to adapt appropriately to communication situations. In assessing oral language. teachers need to determine what level of language usage is appropriate for the particular assignment. and evaluate on that basis. Thus. a student who says ain't may be adapting appropri ately if he or she is informally addressing an audience of peers. On the other hand. if the activity specifies a role-playing situation in which the student is interviewing for employment as a salesperson at a high-fashion boutique. ain't would rightfully incur negative evaluation.
D. Nonverbal Communication
It sometimes escapes both teachers and students that speech is more than language. Non-

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verbal communication accompanies language and is an integral part of speech communication. Probably the most important point of evaluation in this area is that nonverbal signals ought to be consistent with language. Mixed m~ssages are confusing and often have deleterious interpersonal consequences. Nonverbal signals often carry the relationship (as opposed to content) aspect of messages. They help us know how to interpret messages. They can also emphasize. illustrate. substitute (as in familiar signs for quiet. shop. etc.). and regulate the flow of conversation. There are six basic categories of nonverbal signals. Kinesic gestures include body posture. movement and facial expression. Eye contact is so significant in establishing relationships that it deserves singular attention. Through eye contact we acknowledge shared humanity. establish trust. express intimacy. Proxemic signals communicate by the use of space. We can distinguish between intimate. cordial and formal relationships by how we distance ourselves in conversation. Seating and furniture arrangement indicate relationships and can have profound effects on quality of communication. Touch is another important means for communicating relationships. Learning cultural meanings of touch is a major task for primary grade children. Paralinguistic signals include all oral sounds which are nonlinguistic. Among these are yawning. crying. sighing. intonation. volume. rate of speech. hesitations. hems and haws. Artifacts that we keep about us. our clothing. jewelry. cars. books and home decorations. are also means of nonverbal communication. In teaching and evaluating nonverbal communication. it is important to bear in mind that gestures such as laughter have universal meaning. but others. conversational distance for example. may be interpreted differently in different cultures.
E. Role Playing and Dramatic Improvisation
Role playing and creative dramatics can be powerful instructional strategies as well as tools for personal growth. especially if used consistently from the early grades on. In a sense. all classroom exercises which are other than natural interaction require a suspension of reality and entail a degree of simulation. lt is indeed difficult to know how to evaluate an imaginative performance. Certainly. it is defeating to allow evaluative purposes to overshadow students' joy in creative expression. Consider the follOWing six evaluative criteria.

Does the student display the communication skills specified in the lesson's objectives? If the purpose of the role-play is to practice introductions of various degrees of formality. does the student demonstrate these behaviors?
Is the student actively involved in the performance? Does he or she get into the activity by participating with energy. by solving the communication problem creatively?
Is the student able to maintain concen tration? In pantomiming a ball game. does the student jerk his or her hand back when catching the line drive? Does he or she see the scene so that one character does not set her or his elbows where another character has just placed the bowl of steaming porridge?
Does the student cooperate and interact with other players in planning and performing the scene? Does he or she feed lines to others (e.g. "So tell me about your day. John."). help others create their parts. (e.g.. "You don't have to prove you're so tough. Let me help you carry that treasure.")?
When proper, does the student play to the audience? Without stepping out of character. does the student project loudly. allow the audience to view actions. avoid blocking other actors?
Can the student analyze the performances? Can she or he abstract and express the communication principles which were demonstrated in the improvisation? Are alternative scripts apparent? Can he or she explain what the characters were thinking. what guided their behavior at various points? Can students relate the improvised situation to events they may have experienced?
F. Small Group Discussion.
Small group discussion skills are useful in their own right and can be useful instructional strategies. Peer group evaluation of compositions has been found to be helpful. But many teachers have found that for students to work well in groups. they must receive deliberate instruction in group dynamics. Whenever groups are used in a classroom. it is worthwhile evaluating the quality of the group process. Example F lists some basic questions about group process that may guide such evaluation. Understanding small group

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Example F
Questions_'or Group Communication Analysis
Important Note The purpose of this analysis is to describe your group's dynamics, not necessarily to evaluate.
1. How did the group go about biting into the task? Any initial procrastinating? Attempts at organizing members?
2. How did the group arrive at a problem solving strategy? Were alternative approaches (e.g., process of elimination, stating operating assumptions) discussed first? Any false starts? Any objections to the procedure finally adopted?
3. To what extent did the group engage in non-task oriented talk? At what point? Did this non-task oriented talk serve any function with respect to how the group was able to function in the task domain?
4. What kind of communication network operated? Were comments addressed to the group as a whole always, or occasionally to smaller factions? Did all members contribute comments equally?
5. What seating arrangement did your group assume? Any particular reason? Did the seating arrangement affect the flow of communication?
6. To what extent was disagreement voiced in the group? Did each member feel free to dissent? At what points in the discussion did you feel that further disagreement would be unwelcome or unwise? How did the group cope with conflict? Did the conflict help or hinder the final group outcome?
7. Did the group show signs of cohesiveness? How was this cohesiveness (or lack of it) established? How was it reinforced during the course of the meeting? Did you find a relationship between cohesiveness and conflict? Between cohesiveness and the final group outcome?
8. What role did each member play? Examples are experts, idea testers, switchboard operators, tension relievers, affect checkers, clarifiers, etc.
9. Was there any member perceived by others as the group's leader? Did this person perceive himlherself as leader? Were more than one leader evident? How were leadership tasks apportioned? In what sense did the leader lead? What were her/his contributions? Any relationship to expertise? Any relationship to seating arrangement?
10. Were both men and women present in the group? Did gender tend to affect the different roles assumed? Any relationship to the flow of communication or the degree of participation?
11. What was the group outcome? Did the group succeed at the task? Did the group succeed on the social dimension?
12. Was this a good task for your particular group to work on collectively? What were the costs of performing this task as a group as opposed to working as individuals? What were sources of members' satisfaction and dissatisfaction? Overall, what was the ration of costs to benefits in this communication event?
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communication entails synthesizing information concerning roles (more fine-grained than just one leader and several followers). norms for behavior (humor. expressing warmth). decisionmaking process (authoritarian leader. majority rule. consensus). interaction patterns (who speaks to whom) and outcomes (personal satisfaction. task success. group status. social success). Example G illustrates a self-evaluation form for group discussion. One system frequently used to represent group process is the Bales Interaction Process Analysis. consisting of six task-oriented categories and three positive and three negative group maintenance categories. As shown in Example H. participants or observers can rate each group member according to each type of behavior. Another method of recording group process is the communication network. Here. a line with an arrow is drawn from each name to each other member. When a participant directs a comment to one (or several) other members. an observer places a slash mark on the corresponding arrow(s). The flow of communication within the group thus becomes graphically apparent. When groups are assigned a joint project (panel discussion. group paper). the issue generally arises as to whether a single grade should be assigned to all group members. Under this system.
those who work hard carry the slouchers. and those who are less competent pull down those of high ability. One option is to assign both an individual and a group grade. However assigning a single group grade has the advantage of forcing the group to attend to its dynamics. rather than acting as a largely unrelated congregation of individuals. Groups should devote the last five minutes of each meeting to evaluating their communication. Structured methods of evaluation (e.g. process recording forms) should be used as often as possible. In any event. group members should be encouraged to write journal entries about each meeting. Outside peer observers should be used frequently. and the teacher should also conduct periodic unobtrusive observations.
G. formal Public Speaking
J. General Procedures. For many of our students an assignment to give a speech engenders more fear and loathing than a week of detentions. This reaction is due to a basic misapprehension about the nature of public speaking. Many of our students. who otherwise may be

competent talkers. fail miserably in presenting speeches. Often this is due to their attempting to conform to some distorted stereotype of oration. Formal public speaking is simply an area on the same gimension as interpersonal communication. albeit closer to the pole of formality. In fact. a speech is sometimes characterized as extended conversation. Formal speeches are planned. but they do involve improvisation. They are structured. but so are interviews. They allow limited audience interaction. Discourse is sustained. but audiences do provide meaningful feedback through nonverbal channels. Thus. public speaking builds upon interpersonal skills and. above all. it is an act of authentic communication. person to persons. Especially in the lower grades public speaking need not require students to stand before the audience nor to conform to rigid organizational patterns. Helpful evaluation of formal speeches shares some characteristics with writing evaluation. It should accentuate the positive. go beyond mere ratings or letter grades to include detailed comments justifying reactions. include more description than evaluation. and be returned to students soon after the speech for maximum reinforcement. Evaluating speeches requires great concentration and is among the more exhausting pastimes known to education. Peer evaluation is critical to help legitimize the larger audience for the speaker and also to emphasize the responsibility of listeners. Many teachers will stop after every few speeches to solicit audience comments. Students must learn that they are not a wolf pack intent on tearing apart their peers. that they are a team working together to improve speaking skills. Speakers should also receive written feedback. from both teacher and peers. to which they may refer in preparing their next presentation. On peer feedback forms. you should identify the topic as specifically as you can. such as one area that most impressed me. one area to think about next time and how the presentation affected me. Teachers must develop feedback forms that are workable for them personally. The more specific and concrete the feedback. the more helpful it is. Example I presents a teacher feedback form which combines rating scales with open-ended comments. When possible. written feedback should be discussed in conferences. (Conferences are also important in the planning stages.)
2. Public Speaking Evaluation Criteria. Public speaking encompasses the entire realm of

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Example G
Self-evaluation for Group Discussion

This is how the .roup operated.

1. We felt comfortable in the group.

2. We were interested in accomplishing the

task.

-

3. We encouraged everyone to participate.

4. We welcomed all ideas.

5. We all participated equally.

6. We listened carefully and made sure we understood each persons ideas.

7. We had an acknowledged group leader.

8. We were satisfied with the way in which we accomplished the task.

9. We were satisfied with the feeling of friendliness between members.

10. We accomplished this task more successfully as a group than we could have as individuals.

This is how I operated within the poup. 1. I felt comfortable in the group. 2. I was interested in accomplishing the task. 3. I participated as much as the others. 4. I was the acknowledged leader. 5. I was satisfied with the group's leader. 6. I was better off working with a group on this task than I would have been had I worked alone.

Strongly Agree

Agree

Digree Strongly D i g r e e

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Example H
Adaptation of Bales Interaction Process Analysis

Rate each member as follows. I--never, 2-sometimes, 3-usaally

Members

Behaviors shows solidarity shows tension release agrees shows antagonism shows tension disagrees gives suggestion gives opinion gives orientation asks for opinion asks for suggestion

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rhetoric. Aristotle's five Canons are still serviceable. Invention includes djscovering, researching and selecting ideas. An important part of speech instruction is educating students in methods of elaborating and supporting their ideas.-Arrangement refers to organization skills. Often public speaking is the place where students learn how to prepare outlines, but it is most important to stress the function of outlines rather than their form. Style is a tool for effectiveness and also a means for establishing a personal relationship with an audience. Delivery focuses on the specific linguistic and nonverbal devices used to express the message. Delivery should be natural and consistent with the student's personality. the occasion and the purpose of the speech. Nonverbal signs - hand gestures. facial expression, voice intonation. loudness. rate. posture and eye contact - should not be histrionic but should reinforce and emphasize the message. "Memoria." the fifth Canon, does not translate easily but generally refers to the speaker's control over the entire presentation. In situations other than oratorical contests students should be discouraged from memorizing their speeches (or composing a written text). Still. the speaker must be familiar with the sequence of ideas. with the types of support he or she can draw upon. The student should have more information available than he or she plans to use. information which can be spontaneously inserted in response to the audience's nonverbal feedback. Some more specific criteria are listed in Example J. Students may even have a hand in developing the points of evaluation they consider important. "Appropriateness to audience" relates to the speaker's attempts to interest and involve listeners and to use information and appeals meaningful to the audience. A pre-

sentation is "appropriate to purpose" if it conforms to the assignment (persuasive. demonstration. visual aids). stays within reasonable time limits. and maintains proper focus (topic and point of view are well defined). "Progression of ideas" should be logical and is most effective if organizational cues like transition statements and internal summaries are used. In persuasive speeches. students should include a section in which they anticipate and refute reservations to their arguments. (This is a worthwh~le goal for the elementary grades.) "Support" is an area which troubles many students. After making an assertion. they have difficulty knOWing what else to say; it is not obvious to many that their audiences need elaboration. illustration. explanation.
As discussed in the previous section on "Language Appropriateness". standards for judging "language effectiveness" in speech are different from those in writing. In fact, students may be penalized for using written texts. While notes are essential, manuscript reading is an advanced art. Manuscripts hinder spontaneity. relation to audience, and generally reduce sincerity conveyed by spoken delivery. This is equally true of memorized texts. True, students feel more secure with written or memorized texts. In fact, though. there is no substitute for thorough preparation and familiarity with material, for if a speaker loses his or her place in a memorized speech. it is very difficult to recover. The final criterion in Example I, "projection of personality." emphasizes to students that they must establish a personal bond or tone with the audience. reinforces the notion that public speaking is not some artificial form but a genuine act of communication.

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Example I

Speech Feedback Rate the speech on a scale of 1 to 5. (l = you forgot this and 5 = you did this superbly)

Appropriateness to audience Appropriateness to purpose Introduction Conclusion Progression of ideas Support Language effectiveness Voice rate Voice volume Voice intonation Eye contact Gestures and movement Projection of personality

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45

One aspect to think about especially for the next presentation

One aspect that especially impressed me during this presentation

Grade

_

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Appendix L
Standards for Basic Skills Writing Programs

The following standards were developed by a specially selected committee of teachers. supervisors. and writing specialists for use by states and school districts establishing comprehensive literacy plans. The National Council of Teachers of English urges study of these standards as a means of determining that plans attend not only to effective practice within the classroom but also to the environment of support for writing instruction throughout the school and the community. If effective instruction in writing is to be achieved. all the standards need to be studied and provided for in shaping comprehensive literacy plans.
At a time of growing concern for the quality of writing in the society. it is important to take the most effective approaches to quality in school writing programs. These standards will help states and school districts assure that efforts to be undertaken will indeed lead to improvement.
Planners must begin with an adequate conception of what writing is. To serve this purpose. we offer the following:
Operational Definition of Writing
Writing is the process of selecting. combining. arranging and developing ideas in effective sentences. paragraphs. and, often, longer units of discourse. The process requires the writer to cope with a number of variables: method of development (narrating, explaining, describing, reporting and persuading); tone (from very personal to quite formal); form (from a limerick to a formal letter to a long research report); purpose (from discovering and expressing personal feelings and values to conducting the impersonal "business" of everyday life); possible audiences (oneself, classmates, a teacher, "the world"). Learning to write and to write increasingly well involves developing increasing skill and sensitivity in selecting from and combining these variables to shape particular messages. It also involves learning to conform to conventions of the printed language, appropriate to the age of the writer and to the form, purpose and tone of the message.

Beyond the pragmatic purpose of shaping messages to others, writing can be a means of selfdiscovery, of finding out what we believe, know, and cannot find words or circumstances to say to others. Writing can be a deeply personal act of shaping our perception of the world and our rela. tionships to people and things in that world. Thus, writing serves both public and personal needs of students, and it warrants the full, generous and continuing effort of all teachers.
Characteristics of an Effective Basic Skills Propam in Writing
Teaching and Learning
1. There is evidence that knowledge of current theory and research in writing has been sought and applied in developing the writing program.
2. Writing instruction is a substantial and clearly identified part of an integrated English language arts curriculum.
3. Writing is called for in other subject matters across the curriculum.
4. The subject matter of writing has its richest source in the students' personal. social and academic interests and experiences.
5. Students write in many forms (e.g . essays. notes, summaries. poems. letters, stories, reports. scripts, journals.).
6. Students write for a variety of audiences (e.g self. classmates. the community. the teacher) to learn that approaches vary as audiences vary.
7. Students write for a wide range of purpose (e.g. to inform. to persuade, to express the self. to explore. to clarify thinking).
8. Class time is devoted to all aspects of the writing process: generating ideas. drafting. revising and editing.
9. All students receive instruction in both (a) developing and expressing ideas and (b) using the conventions of edited American English.

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10. Control of the conventions of edited American English (supporting skills such as speUing, handwriting, punctuation and grammatical usage) is developed primarily during the writing process and secondarily through related exercises.
11. Students receive constructive responses from the teacher and from others - at various stages in the writing process.
12. Evaluation of individual writing growth
is based on complete prices of writing;
reflects informed judgments, first, about clarity and content and then about conventions of spelling, mechanics and usage;
includes regular responses to individual pieces of student writing as well as periodic assessment measuring growth over a period oftime.
Support
13. Teachers with major responsibility for writing instruction receive continuing education reflecting current knowledge about the teaching of writing.
14. Teachers of other subjects receive information and training in ways to make use of and respond to writing in their classes.
15. Parent and community groups are informed about the writing program and about ways in which they can support it.
16. School and class schedules provide sufficient time to assure that the writing process is thoroughly pursued.
17. Teachers and students have access to and make regular use of a wide range of resources (e.g., library services, media, teaching materials, duplicating facilities, supplies) for support of the writing program.
Progam Evaluation
18. Evaluation of the writing program focuses on pre- and post-program sampling of complete pieces of writing. utiliZing a recognized procedure (e.g., ets holistic rating. the Diederich scale. primary trait scoring) to arrive at reliable judgments about the quality of the program.

19. Evaluation of the program might also include assessment of a sample of student attitudes; gathering of pertinent quantative data (e.g., frequency of student writing. time devoted to writing activities); and observational data (evidence of prewriting activities. class anthologies. writing folders and student writing displays).
Committee on Writing Standards Gary Tate. Chair Department of English Texas Christian University Martha L. King Department of Elementary Education Ohio State University
Barbara Leib-Brilhart Speech Communication Association Richard Gebhardt English Department Findlay College Betty Murray Language Arts Program Manager leXington Schools. Massachusetts
Lee Odell Department of English State University of New York. Albany Marjorie Farmer Director. English and Reading The School District of Philadelphia Eileen Tway Department of Elementary Education Miami University Charles Suhor Deputy Executive Director National Council of Teachers of English (formerly Supervisor of English. New Orleans Schools)

Reprinted with pennission - National Council of Teachers of English. 1111 Kenyon Road. Urbana. Illinois 61801. March. 1979.
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Appendix M
StaDdards for Effective Oral CommuDicatioD Programs

Adequate oral communication frequently determines an individual's educational, social and vocational success. Yet, American education has typically neglected formal instruction in the basic skills of speaking and listening. It is important that state and local education agencies implement the most effective oral communication programs possible.
The following standards for oral communication were developed by representatives of the Speech Communication Association and the American Speech-language-Hearing Association.
If effective oral communication programs are going to be developed, all components of the recommended standards must be considered. Implementation of these standards will facilitate development of adequate and appropriate oral communication necessary for educational, social and vocational success.
DefiDitioD
Oral Communication: the process of interacting through heard and spoken messages in a variety of situations.
Effective oral communication is a learned behavior, involving the following processes.
1. Speaking in a variety of educational and social situations. Speaking involves, but is not limited to, arranging and producing messages through the use of voice, articulation, vocabulary, snytax and nonverbal cues (e.g., gesture, facial expression, vocal cues) appropriate to the speaker and listeners.
2. Listening in a variety' of educational and social situations. Listening involves, but is not limited to, hearing, perceiving, discriminating, interpreting, synthesizing, evaluating, organizing and remembering information from verbal and nonverbal messages.
Basic AssumptioDs
1. Oral communication behaviors of students can be improved through direct instruction.

2. Oral communication instruction emphasizes the interactive nature of speaking and listening.
3. Oral communication instruction addresses the everyday communication needs of students and includes emphasis on the classroom as a practical communication environment.
4. There is a wide range of communication competence among speakers of the same language.
5. Communication competence is not dependent upon use of a particular form of language.
6. A primary goal of oral communication instruction is to increase the students' repertoire and use of effective speaking and listening behaviors.
7. Oral communication programs provide instruction based on a coordinated developmental continuum of skills, pre-school through adult.
8. Oral communication skills can be enhanced by using parents, supportive personnel and appropriate instructional technology.
Characteristics of aD Effective CommuDicatioD Program
Teaching/Learning
1. The oral communication program is based on current theory and research in speech and language development, psycholinguistics, rhetorical and communication theory, communication disorders, speech science and related fields of study.
2. Oral communication instruction is a clearly identifiable part of the curriculum.
3. Oral communication instruction is systematically related to reading and writing instruction and to instruction in the various content areas.
4. The relevant academic, personal and social experiences of students provide core subject matter for the oral communication program.

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5. Oral communication instruction provides a wide range of speaking and listening experience, in order to develop effective appropriate communication skills.
a. a range of situations; e.g., informal to formal, interpersonal to mass communication.
b. a range of purposes; e.g., informing, learning, persuading, evaluating messages, facilitating social interaction, sharing feelings, imaginative and creative expression.
c. a range of audiences; e.g., classmates, teachers, peers, employers, family, community.
d. a range of communication forms; e.g., conversation, group discussion, interview, drama, debate, public speaking, oral interpretation.
e. a range of speaking styles; impromptu, extemporaneous and reading from manuscript.
6. The oral communication program provides class time for systematic instruction in oral communication skills; e.g., critical listening, selecting, arranging and presenting messages, giving and receiving constructive feedback, non-verbal communication, etc.
7. The oral communication program includes development of adequate and appropriate language, articulation, voice, fluency and listening skills necessary for success in educational, career and social situations through regular classroom instruction, cocurricular activities and speech-language pathology and audiology services.
8. Oral communication program instruction encourages and provides appropriate opportunities for the reticent student (e.g., one who is excessively fearful in speaking situations); to participate more effectively in oral communication.
Support
1. Oral communication instruction is provided by individuals adequately trained in oral communication and/or communication disorders, as evidenced by appropriate certification.
2. Individuals responsible for oral communication instruction receive continuing education

on theories, research and instruction relevant to communication.
3. Individuals responsible for oral communication instruction participate actively in conventions, meetings, publications and other activities of communication professionals.
4. The oral communication program includes a system for training classroom teachers to identify and refer students, who do not have adequate listening and speaking skills or are reticent, to those qualified individuals who can best meet the needs of the student through further assessment and/or instruction.
5. Teachers in all curriculum areas receive information on appropriate methods for a) using oral communication to facilitate instruction and b) using the subject matter to improve students' oral communication skills.
6. Parent and community groups are informed about and provided with appropriate materials for effective involvement in the oral communication program.
7. The oral communication program is facilitated by availability and use of appropriate instructional materials, equipment and facilities.
Assessment lind vlIlulltion
1. The oral communication program is based on a schoolwide assessment of the speaking and listening needs of students.
2. Speaking and listening needs of students will be determined by qualified personnel utilizing appropriate evaluation tools for the skills to be assessed and educational levels of students being assessed.
3. Evaluation of student progress in oral commu. nication is based upon a variety of data including observations, self-evaluations, listeners' responses to messages and formal tests.
4. Evaluation of students' oral communication encourages, rather than discourages, students' desires to communicate by emphasizing those behaviors which students can improve, thus enhancing their ability to do so.
5. Evaluation of the total oral communication program is based on achievement of acceptable levels of oral communication skill deter-

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mined by continuous monitoring of student progress in speaking and listening, use of standardized and criterion referenced tests,

audience-based rating scales and other appropriate instruments.

Reprinted with pamiaion - American Speech-LanguageHearing Association and Speech Communication Association.

179

Appendix N

Instructional Resources

Effective instructional media programs in Georgia public schools focus both on providing a variety of instructional resources and equipment and on the use of those resources to meet student education needs. The media program supports the curriculum, aids access to information in all formats (print and nonprint) and provides services for production of locally designed, curriculum-related learning materials. The instructional resources should be available primarily in the local school. However, supplementary resources should be obtained through state, community and other education agencies.
To ensure a quality school media program, it is necessary to have the cooperative efforts of administrators, media specialists, teachers, students and other community representatives. Georgia Board of Education policy requires a process for identifying local media committees composed of these groups. One committee function is the development of pro~edures for selecting materials and using them effectively. Through involvement with the school media committee and cooperative planning with the media specialist, language arts teachers have the opportunity to assure support of their instruction and to improve media services as a whole. They also can gain timely access to information about the location of materials which support the language arts program, thereby preventing unnecessary duplication of resources. Teachers should express their interest in being represented on the local media committee to their principal and media specialist.
Media specialists should serve on curriculum committees to ensure effective integration of media and media skills into the instructional program. Their involvement would stimulate effective use of appropriate materials and would foster student growth in listening, viewing, reading and inquiring skills.
A community resource file, developed cooperatively by media and instructional staff, can enhance the language arts program by providing valuable information about local people, places, activities and resources. In some school systems,

services and resources are provided at the system level for use in all schools.
In addition to the resources available in the schools, the community and the system, resources also are provided by the Georgia Department of Education. They are available through the school media center or the system media contact person. Media personnel in each building can assist teachers in acquiring and using the following sources.
Georgia Tapes for Teaching_ Audiotape titles requested from the catalog are reproduced in both reel-to-reel and cassette formats. A school must register for the service (no charge) and furnish blank tape of sufficient length to record one program per tape.
Instructional Television Schedule_ Copies of the schedule with series descriptions and broadcast times are available on request through the media specialist from the system media contact person, who also coordinates orders for needed teacher manuals. Although recommended viewing audiences are indicated, the schedule and teacher manuals should be examined for potential use of program or series to introduce, develop or reinforce language arts concepts. Descriptions of telecourse series and programs in related fields should also be examined for programs with potential to support the language arts curriculum. Forthcoming broadcast specials are announced in Media Memo, a monthly newsletter sent to media specialists during the school year by the Georgia Department of Education, and on Bulletin Board, a daily five minute broadcast on the Georgia Educational Television Network.
Videotape Duplication Catalog_ Videotape duplication of titles are reproduced in %-inch U-Matic, %-inch VHS (standard play mode only) and lf2-inch Beta I (only) formats. A school must register for the service (no charge) and furnish a blank tape of sufficient length to record one program per tape. A charge of $3.50 is made for recording each program.

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Video Lessons. These resources are currently available only to public K-12 systems that pay participation fees. Video Lessons, broadcast for videotape duplication in participating systems, replace and update the 16mm films in the Film Library which will be phased out by 1985. The Duplication Center maintains a master set of the lessons for making additional or replacement tapes for participating schools. A charge of $3.50 is made for recording each program.
Additional Sources of Information Provided by the Georgia Department of Education
Educational Information Center (EIC), Georgia Department of Education. 1866 Twin Towers East. Atlanta. Georgia 30334. A research service of computer and manual searchers of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) data base. which includes over 450.000 references to education deocuments. is provided to Georgia public school superintendents and their central office staff.
Readers Service, Public Library Services Division, Georgia Department of Education. 156 Trinity Avenue SW. Atlanta. Georgia 30303. "Selected list of Books for Teachers" (and supplements) and "Periodical List" (and supple-

ments) identifying titles in the Georgia Public Library Information Network (GUN). another reference and bibliographic service. provides access to publications in the collections of participating public. special and academic libraries. Requests for these services and resources should be made through the local public libraries by the school media staff.
Other Sources of Information Ideas
Reviews and bibliographies of recommended resources and innovative program descriptions for language arts are published regularly in journals and periodicals. The following tools for selection are suggested.
English Journal. National Council of Teachers of English. Kenyon Road. Urbana Illinois 61801. monthly September-April.
Georgia Journal of Reading. Georgia Council International Reading Association. Box 218. Georgia State University. University Plaza. Atlanta. Georgia 30303. semiannually.
Journal of Reading, International Reading Association. 800 Barksdale Road. P.O. Box 8139. Newark. Delaware. 19711. monthly OctoberMay.

181

Bibliography
Oral and Written Communication
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National Textbook Company, 1976. Allen, Robert W. and Lome Green. The Propaganda Game. New Haven: AIM Publishers, 1969. Altick, Richard D. Preface to Critical Reading. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962. Anastasiow, Nicholas. Oral Language: Expression of Thought. Neward, Delaware: International Reading
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Teachers of English, 1973. Bergman, Floyd. The English Teacher's Activities Handbook: An Ideabook for Middie and Secondary
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Ed. T. Sebeck. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1960. Burrows, Alving Truet. They All Want to Write: Written English in the Elementary School. New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964. Clapp, Ouida, ed. On Righting Writing. Urbana, Illinois: The National Council ofTeachers of English, 1977.
Cooper, Charles R. and Lee O'Dell. Research on Composing: Points of Departure. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English, 1978.
Corbin, Richard and Jonathan Corbin, eds. Research Papers? A Guided Writing Experience for Senior High School Students. Rochester, New York: New York State English Council, 1978.
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183

Ervin-Tripp, Susan. "On Sociolinglistic Rules: Alternation and Co-occurrence" in Directions in Sociolinglistics. Eds John Gimperz and Dell Hymes. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1972.

Ezor, Edwin. Individualized Language Arts. Weehawken, New Jersey: Weehawken Board of Education, 1974.

Fagan, William T., Charles R. Cooper, and Julie M. Jensen. Measures for Research and Evaluation in the

English Language Arts. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English and ERIC Clearing-

house on Reading and Communication Skills, 1975.

.

Fletcher, James E. and Stuart H. Surlin. Mass Communication Instruction in Secondary School. Urbana, Illinois: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, 1978.

Fotheringham, Wallace C. Perspectives on Persuasion. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1966.

Friedman, Paul. Interpersonal Communication Innovations in Instruction. Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1978.

Galvin, Kathleen and Cassandra Book. Person to Person: An Introduction to Speech Communication. Skokie, Illinois: National Textbook Company, 1978.
Gamble, Teri and Michael Gamble. Oral Interpretation: The Meeting ofSelf and Literature. Skokie, Illinois: National Textbook Company, 1976.
Gray, John and Richard Rea. Parliamentary Procedure: A Programmed Introduction. Glenview, Illinois: Scott Foresman. 1973.
Gunther, Deborah. Writing: A Sourcebook of Exercises and Assignments. Menlo Park, California: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1978.
Irmscher, William F. Teaching Expository Writing. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979.
Jones, Anthony and Jeremy Mulford. Children Using Language. London: Oxford University Press 1971.
Judy. Stephen. Explorations in the Teaching of English: A Sourcebook for Experimental Teaching. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., 1974.
Judy, Stephen and Susan Judy. The English Teacher's Handbook. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Winthrop Publishers. Inc. 1979.
Kasden, Lawrence N. and Daniel R. Hoeber eds. Basic Writing: Essays for Teachers, Researchers, and Administrators. Urbana. Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English, 1980.
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Koch, Carl and James M. Brazil. Strategies for Teaching and Composition Process. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English, 1978.
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Kraus. W. Keith. Murder, Mischief and Mayhem: A Process for Creative Research Papers. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English, 1978.
Labov, William. Langudge in the Inner City. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1973.

Larson. Carl. et at. Assessing Fuctional Communications. Urbana, Illinois: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading ~nd Communication Skills, 1978.
Larson. Richard L.. ed. Children and Writing in the Elementary School. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975.

184

Leavitt, Hart Day and David A. Sohn. Stop, Look and Write. New York: Bantam Books, Inc., 1964. Leavitt, Hart Day. An Eye For People: A Writer's Guide to Character. New York: Bantam Books, Inc.,
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Orientations Among Elementary School Children." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association. Philadelphia. May 1979. Miller, James E., Jr. Word, Self, Reality: The Rhetoric of Imagination. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., Inc., 1972. Minnich, Wayne C. The Art of Persuasion. New York: Houghton-Mifflin Company, 1957. Moffett. James. A Student-Centered Language Arts Curriculum. Grades K-13: A Handbook for Teachers. New York: Houghton Mifflin. 1968. Moffett. James and Betty Jean Wagener. Student-Centered Language Arts and Reading. K-13: A Handbook for Teachers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976.
Moffett. James. Teaching the Universe of Discourse. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968. Morgan. Fred. Here and Now II: An Approach to Writing Through Preception. New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich. Inc.. 1972. Morrow, James and Murray Suid. Media and Kids: Real World Learning in the Schools. Rochelle Park,
New Jersey: Hayden Book Company, Inc., 1977. Neman. Beth. Teaching Students to Write. Columbus. Ohio: Charles Merrill Publishing Co., 1980. Newmark. Eileen and Molefi K. Asante./ntercultural Communication. Urbana, Illinois: ERIC Clearinghouse
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Nofsinger, Robert. "The Demand Ticket: A Conversational Device for Getting the Floor" in Speech Monographs. 42 (March, 1975). 1-9.
Purvis~ Alan, ed. How Porcupines Make Love. Lexington, Massachusetts: Xerox College Publishing. 1972. Pederson. Lee. Linguistic Atlas of the Southeast. Atlanta: Emory University, 1973. Ratliffe, Sharon A. and M. Herman Deldee. Adventures in the Looking-Glass: Experiencing Communication
with Yourself and Others. Skokie, Illinois: National Textbook Company. 1974. Robert, Henry M. Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised. Glenview, Illinois: Scott Foresman. 1970. Robinson, H. Alan and Truet Burrows. Teacher Effectiveness in Elementary Language Arts: A Progress Report.
Urbana. Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English. 1974. Ruben. B. D. and R. W. Budd. Human Communication Handbook: Simulations and Games. Rochelle
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185

Shrank. Jeffrey. Deception Detection: An Educator's Guide to the Art ofInsight. Boston: Beacon Press. 1975. Shrank. Jeffrey. Teaching Human Beings. Boston: Beacon Press. 1972. Sohn. David A. Pictures For Writing. New York: Bantam Books. Inc.. 1969. Squire, James. ed. The Teaching ofEnglish. Chicago: The National Society for the Study of Education, 1977. Stacy. Clement S. Write: Finding Things to Say and Saying Them. Glenview. Illinois: Scott. Foreman and
Company. 1974. Stanford. Gene. ed. How to Handle the Paper Load. Urbana. Illinois: National Council of Teachers of
English. 1979. Stewig. John W. Children and Literature. Chicago: Rand McNally Publishing Company. 1980. Sutherland, Zena. ed. The Arbuthnot Anthology of Children's Literature. Glenview. Illinois: Scott. Foresman,
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Council of Teachers of English. 1974. Wakefield. Beverly. Perception and Communication. Urbana. Illinois: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and
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Resources
Primary Grades
Aukerman, Robert c., ed. Some Persistent Questions on Beginning Reading. Newark, Delaware: Interna-
tional Reading Association, 1972. Beery, Althea, Thomas Barrett, and William Powell, eds. Reading Instruction: Selected Materials. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, 1974. Cazden, Courtney B. Child Lanugage and Education. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972. Durken, Dolores. Children Who Read Early. New York: Teachers College Press, 1966. Durkin, Dolores. Teaching them to Read. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1974. Hall, MaryAnne. Teaching Reading as a Language Experience. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Pub-
lishing Company, 1970. Hall,MaryAnne. The Language Experience Approach to Teaching Reading: A Research Perspective.
Newark, Delaware: ERIC/RCS and International Reading Association, ItJ78. Hillerich, Robert L. Reading FundamentaisJor Preschool and Primary Children. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E.
Merrill Publishing Co., 1977. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Let Them Be Themselves: Language Arts for the Elementary School. New York:
Citation Press, 1974. Karlin, Robert. Teaching Elementary Reading: Principles and Strategies. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975. Kaufman, Maurice. Perceptual and Language Readiness Programs: Critical Reviews. Newark, Delaware:
International Reading Association, 1973. Ollila, Lloyd, ed. The Kindergarten Child and Reading. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Associa-
tion,1977. Ollila, Lloyd, ed. Handbook for Administrators and Teachers: Reading in the Kindergarten. Newark, Del-
aware: International Reading Association, 1980. Samuels, S. Jan. "The Effect of Letter Name Knowledge on Learning to Read," American Educational
Research Journal. 9(Winter, 1972),65-74. Spache, Evelyn B. Reading Activities for Child Involvement. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. 1972. Aulls, Mark W. Developmental and Remedial Reading in the Middle Grades. Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
1978. Dillner, Martha H. and Joanne P. Olson. Personalizing Reading Instruction in Middle, Junior, and Senior
High Schools: Utilizing a Competency-based Instructional System. New York: MacMillan, 1977. Duffy, Gerald, ed. Reading in the Middle School. Newark, Delaware; International Reading Association,
1974. Hafner, Lawrence E.lmproving Reading in Middle and Secondary Schools: Selected Readings. New York:
MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1974. Hafner, Lawrence E. Developing Reading in Middle and Secondary Schools. New York: MacMillan
Publishing Co., Inc., 1977.
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Hudson, Floreine, et al. Patchwork Sampler I. Carrollton, Georgia: Southeast Educators Services,lnc., 1979.
Manning, Maryann and Gary Manning. Reading Instruction in the Middle School. Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1979.
Piercey, Dorothy. Reading Activities in Content Areas: An Ideabook for Middle and Secondary Schools. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1976.
Smith, Richard J. and Thomas C. Barrett, Teaching Reading in the Middle Grades. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. 1976. Word Recognition Bagford, Jack. Phonics: Its Role in Teaching Reading. Iowa City: Sernoll, 1967. Chall, Jean. Learning to Read: The Great Debate. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967. Clymer, Theodore. "The Utility of Phonics Generalizations in the Primary Grades," The Reading Teacher.
16(January 1963), 252-258. Dawson, Mildred A., ed. Teaching Word Recognition Skills. Newark, Delaware: International Reading
Association, 1971. Durkin, Dolores. Phonics and the Teaching of Reading. New York: Teachers College Press, 1965. Emans, R. "When Two Vowels Go Walking and Other Such Things," The Reading Teacher, 21(December
1967),262-269. Groff, Patrick. "Fifteen Flaws of Phonics," Elementary English, 50(January 1973),35-40. Kottmeyer, William. Decoding and Meaning: A Modest Proposal. New York: McGraw-Hili, 1974. Teaching Word Recognition Skills. Atlanta: Georgia Department of Education, 1974.
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Federal law prahibits discrimination of the basis of race. color or national origin (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964); sex (Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1102 and Title II of the Vocational Education Amendments of 1106); or handicap (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1103) in educational programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance.
Employees. students and the general public are hereby notifed that the Georgia Department of Education does not discriminate in an educational programs or activities or in employment policies.
The following individuals have been designated as the employees are responsible for coordinating the department"s effort to implement this nondiscriminatory policy.
Title II - Ann Lary. Vocational Equity Coordinator Title VI - Peyton Williams. Jr.. Associate Superintendent of State Schools and Special Services Title IX - Myra Tolbert. Coordinator Section 504 - Jane Lee. Coordinator of Special Education
Inquiries concerning the application of Title II. Title VI. Title IX or Section 504 to the policies and practices of the department may be addressed to the persons listed abave at the Georgia Department of Education. Twin Towers East. Atlanta 30334; to the Regional Office for Civil Rights. Atlanta 30323; or to the Director. Office for Civil Rights. Education Department, Washington. D.C. 20201.

!

Division of Curriculum Services Office of Instructional Services Georgia Department of Education Atlanm,Georgia30334 Charles McDaniel Smte Superintendent of Schools
1984

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