Observations of instructional practices, teacher interviews, and classroom artifacts were collected in 9 sixth-grade classrooms in 2 middle schools to determine teaching practices associated with student engagement (i.e., being on task, doing thoughtful assignments). The teachers used a variety of instructional practices, with some teachers…

We observed 6 primary-grades teachers in public and private schools in this study. Based on mid-year observations, 2 of these teachers were much more effective compared to the other 4 in producing greater student engagement and literacy progress, as determined by video and observation data of multiple content areas and as rated by the Classroom…

This ethnographic study compared the classroom practices of low, moderately, and highly engaging third-grade teachers in eight Catholic schools. Findings indicated that in low engaging classrooms, teachers used many practices that undermined motivation. Moderately engaging teachers used many potentially motivating practices but assigned tasks that…

Used classroom observations and in-depth interviews to study first-grade teachers nominated as outstanding or typical in ability to help students develop literacy skills. Characteristics of teachers whose students demonstrated highest achievement included (1) coherent and thorough integration of skills with high-quality reading/writing…

Teachers in kindergarten through grade three, nominated as effective literacy teachers, were surveyed twice about their practices. Responses indicated teacher commitment to: similar instruction for all abilities, with additional support for weaker readers; literate classroom environments; modeling and teaching of both lower- and higher-order…

Proposes a theoretical psychological model for strategy instruction. Describes the complexity of the profile of a competent strategy user. Comments on important strategy instruction. (DE)

Describes transactional strategies instruction, an approach to teaching reading comprehension in elementary classes that focuses on student and teacher transactions with text. Contends that the approach differs from traditional strategy instruction. Provides examples of transactional strategies instruction, including dialogs between teachers and…

Introduces the topic of strategies education, summarizing the contributions to this special issue on strategies education. Emphasizes the importance of collaborations between researchers and practitioners to ensure that strategies education programs are practical and implementable. (MDM)

Used a nontraditional approach to assess teacher acceptance of (1) seven reading comprehension strategies; (2) six sets of published materials that promoted comprehension strategies; and (3) reciprocal instruction. Favored strategies were prior knowledge activation, representational imagery, and question generation. (DG)

Discusses strategies designed to improve elementary school children's memory and comprehension of text. The strategies include summarization, representation, mnemonic imagery, story grammar, question generation, question answering, and prior knowledge activation. (RJC)