Teaching with Your Mouth Shut by Donald L. Finkel Paperback - 208 pages 0 edition (March 15, 2000) Boynton/Cook; ISBN: 0867094699 

A Biological Brain in a Cultural Classroom: Applying Biological Research to Classroom Management In Stock:Ships within 24 hours. Robert Sylwester / Paperback / Corwin Press, Incorporated / July 2000 Our Price: $24.95

Selected articles and online readings as assigned

1) Actively participate in response to the required readings. Post two times a week to the blackboard discussion groups to which you've been assigned.  in regards to the assigned texts and "presentation" material. Respond to at least one other person's post

2) Complete an annotated bibliography of 10-to 15 recent articles related to an area of interest (e.g., various aspects of the teaching of composition, literature, oral language; assessment; motivating the at-risk student; multiculturalism in the English curriculum; etc.)

3) Design a teacher research project in which an instructional innovation identified through the course of compiling the annotated bibliography is implemented in the students' classrooms and the results of this study are documented and evaluated. Students who do not have access to a middle or high school classroom may instead conduct a thorough review of the literature on a problem in English/language arts and a suitable design for a classroom research project addressing the problem.

4) Secure an electronic mail account and seek advice on the teacher-research project through appropriate Internet discussion groups (e.g., NCTE-Talk).

5) Create an online blogger or web page

6) Write an article suitable for publication in a practitioner journal (e.g., English Journal, North Carolina English, etc.) describing the teacher-research project and its results for an audience of classroom teachers. Report the results of the research project. 

1. Threaded Discussion - 20%
2. Research Project -50%
3. Web Page - 10%
4. Quizzes (Over Course Readings & Teacher-Provided Information) - 20

Teaching Tips:

An assortment of totally practical and totally decontextualized instructional ideas

Example: Have students write a reflective piece on the drafts that they are submitting and respond to their reflections in your comments, rather than to the draft itself. This is one of the old standbys. I ask students to tell me what their concerns and focal points are; I respond to their perceptions of the text. Since it's as important for writers to be able to read and think about their text as it is for them to do the actual writing, this technique works well -- and it keeps me from telling them what I think about their text. Instead, we enter a conversation about THEIR perceptions of the text. If you've not tried this before, you might begin by asking students to include responses to three issues: (a) What part of this draft is the strongest? (b) What part of this draft will you work on next? (c) Turn in 3 what-if's. Imagine at least 3 things that you might do to change this text: tell me what they are and why you're thinking of doing them. Begin your response with "What if" -- for example, What if I cut the second paragraph completely?