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Ways in which elementary school teachers can encourage children's maintenance and generalization of memory strategies were investigated. Questions guiding the research were: Does the teacher (1) Repeat strategy suggestions frequently? (2) Give a rationale for strategy use or feedback concerning the effectiveness of the strategy? and (3) Attempt to promote strategy generalization? Attention was also given to describing differences over grade level in the use of repetition, rationale-giving, and generalization instruction by teachers. A group of 69 teachers from public school classrooms of grades kindergarten through 6 were observed according to a time-sampling scheme for 30 minutes per day on five days as they taught language arts and mathematics. A total of 292 strategy suggestions were recorded in a written narrative and were classified into 12 categories having to do with rote learning, elaboration, attention, specific attentional aids, transformation, deduction, exclusion, imagery, specific aids for problem solving and memorizing, general aids, self-checking, and metamemory. Findings indicated that repetition of strategy suggestions did occur among teachers of all grade levels, rationales for strategy use are given more frequently at higher grades, and instructions that promote strategy generalization, which should be particularly effective in the classroom, were rarely seen. Implications for teacher education are pointed out. (RH)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert