When I was asked to teach the entire literacy curriculum to my grade six students in only five months, I implemented reading conferences as an instructional practice to deepen students' reading comprehension. Classroom events related to reading conferences, student decision-making, and instructional planning were recorded in a journal. This…

This article shares the experience of a teacher investigating the tension between a mandated literacy program and his desire to teach in response to his perceptions of students' needs. Qualitative teacher research methodology is used to study the impact of mandated literacy practices on teaching and learning; and to answer the question: how is my…