Draws from a research project on young grocery and fast-food workers in the United States and Canada to discuss some of the ways in which workplace text and literacy have an impact on the lives of working youth. Concludes that educators should reject the idea that there is little to be said about the literacy practices of low-end service sector…

Considers how picture books can be used in content classes to motivate secondary-level students. Present a bibliography of approximately 90 picture books (published in the 1990s) and a rationale for their use with middle school and high school students. (SG)

Explores a virtual junior high school, which was created for an online course to help mater's program students learn more about teaching adolescents using new technologies. Considers how to evaluate the use of new media and how people learn. Concludes that information technologies bring in a set of special issues for evaluation including…

Looks at literature that deals with the experiences of adolescents who are seen by their peers to be living on the fringe of dominant adolescent culture. Presents reviews written by a group of university students enrolled in a children's literature course at American University's School of Education in Washington. (SG)

Explores an eight-week inquiry into the use of Retrospective Miscue Analysis (RMA) between the authors and a struggling reader in a juvenile corrections center. Outlines preparation for the RMA sessions. Finds powerful potential for empowering at-risk and troubled readers by exploring their existing strengths and from them developing greater…

Discusses why the Japanese term "otaku" (an obsession with the information exchanged via computers) is preferable to the American term "geek." Discusses a set of pedagogical beliefs and practices that geeks and otaku have in common, which are the antithesis of those of the typical U.S. high school. (SR)

Investigates the possibilities that a reader response approach offered strong female characters to four middle school girls reading and talking about two young adult novels. Examines issues involved in negotiating meaning in such literature discussions, including real talk, "inappropriate" talk, preferences in group talk, and privileged talk.…

Describes the author's teaching practice of sending her preservice reading teachers (and herself) on a reading odyssey that results in the creation of a personal anthology. Includes guidelines for the odyssey and the anthology. Discusses five books the author read on her reading odyssey and discusses the ways in which reading was ubiquitous in…

Describes the implementation and evaluation of a cross-age tutoring program in which 21 struggling seventh-grade readers tutored third-graders, based on strategies and preparation they learned in their own Strategic Reading class. Notes that reading skills and enjoyment of these seventh-grade students were significantly expanded. Discusses factors…

Discusses three pedagogical frameworks in which students have used hypermedia authoring tools to generate a practice of critical literacy, including critical inquiry into social worlds, critical response to literature, and knowledge construction in the classroom through hypermedia. Discusses how, in hypermedia authoring for critical literacy,…

Describes how three middle-school teachers incorporated popular culture media into their content area classes (eighth-grade physical science, seventh-grade language arts, and seventh-grade social studies). Discusses how studying popular culture encourages adolescents to think critically. Discusses issues of planning, fitting into existing…

Describes the experiences and the effective instructional practices of one college student who over a three-year period was a literacy tutor in a university America Reads program. Describes his two distinctive tutoring roles. Examines social interactions, activities he used to scaffold instruction for at-risk emergent readers, and the impact of…

Outlines optimistic and pessimistic views regarding the future nature of paid work. Discusses how trust (or social capital) is the missing link that forges connections between the economy, community, and economic markets. Discusses human and social capital as they relate to literacy and to employment. Offers reflections on these topics from people…

Outlines the rise of "young adult" books, and discusses issues related to the appropriateness of books for adolescents. Discusses and reviews 10 books for adolescents and young adults. Notes briefly three books for teachers with ideas for improving the reading and writing skills of students in various content areas. (SR)

Presents a workshop format and strategy instruction that helped struggling middle school readers connect with books, the teacher, and one another. Recognizes that the author needs to get adolescents who frequently avoid reading to see themselves as readers and help them improve. (SG)