This essay explores what it might mean to read children's literature in elementary school classrooms through a queer lens. The authors argue that because queer theory has a history as a literary theory that destabilizes normative associations among gender, sexuality, bodies, and desire, it provides a set of analytical tools classroom communities…

This mixed-methods study explored (a) the purposes for which teachers selected video clips of their own literacy teaching and assessment practices to share and discuss with peers, (b) how these purposes were related to the content of the discussions, and (c) what variables were related to teachers' generation of new ideas and future actions that…

The field of literacy education has long been concerned with the question of how to help classroom teachers improve their practices so that students will improve as readers. Although there is consensus on what characterizes effective professional development, the reading research on which this consensus is based most often is small scale and…

Research on traditional classrooms paints a picture of teachers controlling talk patterns and of students producing minimal amounts of mainly procedural talk, recitation-type talk, or both. Often this bleak state of affairs is attributed to teachers' overreliance on inauthentic display questions--questions that impose tight thematic control and…

This study is a summary and simplification of a very large phoneme-grapheme frequency count done by Hanna et al. phoneme-grapheme frequency count done by Hanna et al. T(1966). Although the results and data from the original study have implications for teaching phonics and spelling, they were presented in a complicated and unwieldy manner.…

In this report, the development, field testing, and validation of the Classroom Literacy Environment Profile (CLEP) are described. In the first phase, characteristics of print-rich classroom environments were identified, defined, and organized into categories through a review of the literature, classroom observations, and teacher focus groups. In…

Explains that as young readers respond to narrative texts in a variety of media, they repeatedly step in and out of the fictional universe of their different stories. Outlines contemporary texts that foster various forms of such border crossing, in and out of diegesis, the framework of events as narrated in the text. Explores how an awareness of…

Argues that the National Reading Panel is too narrow in its presentation of scientifically valid reading research. Presents a sample of practices that enjoy support but were ignored by the panel and qualitative research that was out of bounds because of the methodological guidelines of the panel. Concludes that most of the cutting edge of the…

Presents an interpretive text which functions as a report of the author's personal engagements with literary fiction and with philosophical, theoretical, and historical writings. Provides a theoretical and historical overview of literary anthropology as a research method. Concludes with a discussion of what literacy anthropological methods might…

Uses "dialogic responsiveness" to provide a holistic framework for synthesizing, researching, and describing the complexities of responsive dialogue in literacy classroom contexts. Reveals how teachers were able to be responsive to the cultural, cognitive, emotional, motivational, and physical needs of young literacy learners. Discusses…

Examines effectiveness of a teachers-as-readers discussion group in (1) suggesting how teachers can use multicultural literature to foster an ethical respect for others and (2) engaging teachers in conversations about multicultural literature that challenge prevailing patterns of school literature discussions. Suggests success of the second aim…

Explores a writing-project teacher's premises about writing and illustrates how those underlying principles drove her instruction, influenced children's work, and created a particular theory of writing in her classroom culture. Finds that writing conferences are important instructional conversations for teaching writing; learning to write involves…

Explores the authors' complicity as white liberal literacy researchers in the social and political dynamics that support continued inequities in school-based literacy success. Reviews what noted scholars say about race, racism, and white liberalism. Describes four deleterious patterns within the tradition of white liberalism. Critiques the…

Examines the "living dialogues," or the complex interplay between discourses, among three children, their families, and teachers to recontextualize the often polarized debates about literacy instruction. Argues the creation of more inclusive school literacy practices requires a consideration of how discourses function within and across homes,…

Argues that the most common use of reader-response theory in the classroom is misguided in its emphasis on personal response and identification. Discusses the social and political nature of readers, texts, and contexts. Suggests that when a text is about characters whose life and culture are very different from the reader's, it can heighten the…