Many programs have been developed to help schools enhance students' health and reduce the prevalence of drug use, violence, and high-risk sexual behaviors. How should educators choose among these? This article describes selection criteria based on theory, research, and best educational practice that identify key social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies and program features. The SEL competencies for students include 17 skills and attitudes organized into four groups: awareness of self and others; positive attitudes and values; responsible decision making; and social interaction skills. The 11 program features critical to the success of school-based SEL programs emphasize curriculum design, coordination with larger systems, educator preparation and support, and program evaluation. Developed by the Collaborative to Advance Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the SEL framework can be used to guide selection of research-based prevention programs that address health, substance abuse, violence prevention, sexuality, character, and social skills.

Social and Emotional Learning: A Framework for Promoting Mental Health and Reducing Risk Behavior in Children and Youth

More or Better Student Teaching

Teachers today face increasing demands to ensure their students achieve high levels of literacy. They may feel overwhelmed by the challenges of teaching reading comprehension strategies that foster the integration, interpretation, critique, and evaluation of text ideas. The challenges are compounded because students of diverse backgrounds often enter classrooms reading far below grade level. In this article, the authors describe how Question-Answer Relationships (QARs) can provide a framework for comprehension instruction with the potential of closing the literacy achievement gap. QAR can serve as a starting point for addressing four problems of practice that stand in the way of moving all students to high levels of literacy:


The need for a shared language to make visible the invisible processes underlying reading and listening comprehension


The need for a framework for organizing questioning activities and comprehension instruction within and across grades and school subjects


The need for accessible and straightforward whole-school reform for literacy instruction for higher level thinking


The need to prepare students for high-stakes testing without undermining a focus on higher level thinking with text.

QAR: Enhancing Comprehension and Test Taking Across Grades and Content Areas

The purpose of this study was to train teachers to follow a task analysis to teach a story-based literacy lesson using adapted, grade-appropriate middle school literature to students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities. A multiple-probe-across-participants design was used to examine the effects of training teachers to follow a literacy lesson plan task analysis on the number of steps completed by teachers on the literacy lesson plan template and changes made by students in response to teachers’ use of the literacy lesson plan. Results indicated a functional relationship between teacher training and the number of lesson plan steps followed, with a corresponding student increase in both overall and independent correct responses. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

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Training Teachers to Follow a Task Analysis to Engage Middle School Students With Moderate and Severe Developmental Disabilities in Grade-Appropriate Literature

Integration and Thematic Teaching: Integration to Improve Teaching and Learning.

This market-leading text sets the standard for reading instruction and provides preservice teachers with extensive coverage of strategies, examples, and study devices. The book balances new approaches to reading--such as language arts integration and emergent literacy/literacy as a continuum with the more traditional foundations of strong skills and phonics instruction. Coverage of current topics includes assessment standards, teaching diverse learners, technology and the teaching of literacy, and the role of parent-teacher communication in student success.

Teaching reading in today's elementary schools

This handbook reviews essential educational theory, fills in some gaps that are often not covered by methods courses, offers practical suggestions for handling a full range of classroom concerns, and provides a setting for critical analysis of teaching activities. The first four chapters help students get ready to teach; the next five address specific teaching challenges; and the final chapter provides information about entering the teaching profession, professional ethics, and legal issues important to all teachers. Three appendices cover assessment instruments, a sample unit and lesson plans, and a sample learning center.

Student Teaching and Field Experiences Handbook

Integrating Language Arts Through Literature and Thematic Units

Teaching Reading in Today's Elementary Schools. Seventh Edition.

CREATIVE DRAMA includes all forms of improvised drama, such as dramatic play, pantomime, puppet shows, and story dramatiza tion. It is created spontaneously by the players themselves as an expres sion of their feelings or an interpretation of the characters in a story. Only in recent years have educators recognized its value for enhancing a child's learning experiences. Creative drama can be an effective way to develop a child's reading proficiency. It is not meant to replace reading instruction, but it can be used as a supplementary tool for motivating children to read and for reinforcing reading skills in a way that makes reading fun. Creative drama can also be used as an alternate approach to reading instruction when traditional meth ods fail. All four of the major language arts-listening, speaking, reading, and writing-are involved in creative drama. It motivates children to listen and speak, and encourages them to read and write as they research background material for use in dramatizations. In order to learn to read with ease, a child needs certain skills that may be developed through creative drama. Directionality and visual percep tion can be developed. For example, the teacher can be a toymaker who has turned children into dolls that

Elinor P. Ross

Papers

Teaching reading in today's elementary schools

Student Teaching and Field Experiences Handbook

Integrating Language Arts Through Literature and Thematic Units

Teaching Reading in Today's Elementary Schools. Seventh Edition.

Creative Drama Builds Proficiency in Reading.