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Graduate programs which typically produce college instructors rarely teach "how to teach." There is an instructional tool, however, which is invaluable for developing instructional communication skills: the case method. It can also be an effective means of helping pre-service teachers develop teaching skills. The case method is an innovative instructional strategy that presents participants with a narrative about some topical event or situation that has happened or is likely to happen in a particular environment. Typically, cases depict real world situations and are written with an open ending, which stimulates individual as well as group skill in critical thinking, problem solving, discussion, and decision making. Case studies appropriate for analysis in the instructional communication classroom address a wide range of topics, including diversity, motivation, classroom climate, teacher-student relationships, communication apprehension, student needs, instructional strategies, evaluation, and humor. This instructional strategy compounds the advantages of small group discussion because the topic analyzed is a scenario in which students may find themselves once they leave the protective environment of the classroom. This "safe environment" enables students to process feasible, plausible, and ideal courses of action and their associated ramifications. There are numerous ways for students to prepare for a case discussion. They can read the case in advance while answering study questions; or they can skim in it class. In-class analysis generally begins with students' sharing their responses in a small group. (Contains 33 references.) (TB)

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