This article explores how research-based principles of vocabulary instruction, embedded in the learning cycle, may be enacted through a variety of strategies across the four core curricular disciplines. Examples of the strategies are provided, drawn from English, mathematics, social studies, and science.

Discussions of culturally relevant and "boy" literature stress the importance of offering readers occasions to see themselves in texts. However, young men of color have had few opportunities within this discourse to reveal their own experiences with literature. Rather than make presumptions about how texts serve as mirrors to them, as…

Research establishes that boys underperform in literacy relative to girls. If boys are to be successful on the assessments designed to measure achievement on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and if they are to become lifelong readers, they must be motivated to embrace instruction designed both to prepare them for success and to experience…

Because authenticity in education is a subjective judgment regarding the meaningfulness of an activity, a need exists to co-investigate with students classroom factors increasing authenticity of writing. In this case study, one 8th grade student's needs for authentic writing are explored in detail. Xavier's take on authentic writing…

This paper describes an analysis of 21 adolescent literacy leaders' tweets over a total of four days. Coding of the tweets revealed that professional educators were tweeting about personal matters nearly as much as they are tweeting about educational matters. These tweeters also suggested resources, sent reports from events such as…

Research shows that many students entering postsecondary education are unprepared for college reading demands. This article highlights college reading readiness according to four essential reading skills. We illustrate these skills by featuring vignettes of high school seniors who are college-ready and not college-ready. Then we contextualize the…

In this article, we examine the use of transmediation as a means of reading comprehension across content areas in an elementary teacher education program. The use of transmediation (moving from one sign system to another), coupled with the use of social issue/critical issue texts, supports the idea of connecting with text to develop deeper…

Open learning is becoming a critical focus for K-12 technology-supported programs as the importance of digital literacy and digital freedoms for all learners grows. This article describes current open learning policy, open educational resources and potential implications for open practice and ends with suggestions for future research in open…

Given the global escalation of gaps between rich and poor, contemporary work in critical literacy needs to overtly question the politics of poverty. How and where is poverty produced, by what means, by whom and for whom and how are educational systems stratified to provide different kinds of education to the rich and the poor? Yet rather than…

Research has repeatedly proven that parental participation in the education of their children plays a major role in their academic performance and general development. Children whose parents and families in general stay engaged in their education have been shown to perform better than those who do not receive such family support. In Kenya, the…

Growing efforts in the study of digital literacies push for continued (re)shaping of policy and pedagogical interventions. In this column, we take up concerns in participatory cultures to revisit a longstanding issue pertaining to language. Evident in the literature on digital literacies is an implicit treatment of language, particularly around…

This mixed-methods study examines middle school students' academic language development in the context of a year-long professional development project titled, Developing Content Area Academic Language (DCAAL). The purpose of DCAAL was to partner middle school teachers (n = 8) with a team of university researchers to explore how to integrate…

Ubiquitous and instant access to information on the Web is challenging what constitutes 21st century literacies. This article explores the notion of Web-mediated knowledge synthesis, an approach to integrating Web-based learning that may result in generative synthesis of ideas. This article describes the skills and strategies that may support…

This paper draws upon an explanation of the proleptic, an understanding of time as being socially constructed within specific contexts, to interpret a series of dramatic sequences enacted in ethnodramatic pedagogy. The authors present two major arguments: (1) teachers can help students analyze the processes that influence and shape their…

This article presents the findings of a two-year qualitative study of electronic reading device use with high school sophomores, most of whom self-identified as reluctant or struggling readers. Electronic readers were used primarily in one weekly fifty-minute class period, during silent sustained reading, wherein students chose freely their texts.…