Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

A practicum was designed to intervene and assist borderline elementary school RSP (Resource Specialist Program) students in special education classes and/or through extra assistance within the regular classroom. Borderline RSP students who had been referred to the Student Study Team (SST) for below-grade-level scores and classroom functioning in reading and related subject areas were placed in the RSP pull-out program. The 11 students worked in an elementary school RSP classroom 3 days a week for 3 months to improve their phonetic skills and other areas of language arts. One day for a week for 3 months, the resource specialist and her aide presented enrichment lessons coupled with cooperative learning activities to school-based RSP students and regular classroom students. Practicum results were positive. Students' attitudes about reading, school, and related subjects after the intervention were generally positive. Most of these students were able to receive a passing score by decoding words. The combination of RSP services to remediate decoding skills and other weak areas in language arts, as well as the cooperative learning experiences in the regular classroom, helped to improve the school-based borderline RSP students' attitudes about school and reading. Findings provide support for the use of school-based provision for borderline RSP students' early enrollment in the program. Seven tables and one figure are included; special education terms and abbreviations, forms related to the program, a decoding word list work sample, and a questionnaire are attached. Contains 41 references. (Author/RS)

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