Suggests that public doublespeak is an abuse of language, power, and people and that it is an excellent site for investigating and understanding the power of discourse. Discusses motivation for doublespeak, skillful use of language, and deconstructing doublespeak. (RS)

Suggests that juvenile offenders with poor literacy skills and a child to support need all the help they can get. Describes and examines a classroom at a juvenile residential facility. Finds that these juveniles must see themselves as readers, writers, and storytellers before they can carry literacy home to their own children. (RS)

Describes two class activities for moving new words into students' productive vocabulary. (RS)

Suggests that classroom instruction can be aided by training students in question generation. Encourages secondary and postsecondary content area teachers to encourage student questioning instruction as a basis for higher level thinking about subject matter. (RS)

Considers the role that new information and communication technologies may play. Calls for a reexamination of foundational ideas in education. Discusses technology and John Dewey's conception of learning. Lists some centers based in the United States concerned with technologies for learning resources. (RS)

Presents annotations of 30 works of adolescent literature published in 1996 and chosen by teenagers. Includes bibliographic data and grade level suggestions. (RS)

Argues that adolescent literacy has been pushed to the edges of public debate and policy at a time when the literacy development of early adolescents and teenagers is more critical than ever. Discusses why adolescent literacy is critical, how and why the author became an adolescent-literacy educator, and prospects for the future of adolescent…

Uses the think-aloud method to create profiles of three bilingual, English-dominant, Spanish-speaking underprepared first-year college students and to distinguish the characteristics of the more and less successful readers among them. Notes similarities as well as considerable variations in the reading behaviors of the three. Discusses ways…

Provides a rationale for using sustained content study (studying one area over time) to improve the reading and writing skills of college-bound ESL students. Describes a course (and course materials) on "Film & Society." Offers excerpts from student discussion and writing. Examines students' progress as shown in their portfolio writing. Notes…

Voices concern over the poor representation of Hispanics in children's and young adult literature. Discusses the negative effects of this poor representation on students; possible reasons why Hispanics are not well represented in this literature; and possible solutions to this problem. Suggests numerous books which may be helpful resources in…

Describes the PMOSE/IKIRSCH document readability formula, which provides a measure of document complexity (looking at structure and density) of a wide array of different document types (including lists, schedules, tables, graphs, charts, indexes, time lines, maps, calendars, and forms). Discusses implications of the formula in terms of document…

Describes one approach (group presentations) that has been particularly successful in developing both the skills and the disposition toward critical reading. Describes creating the classroom environment, as well as three presentations (one small-group and two large-group) in which students participate over the course of the semester that are…

Describes how writing workshops, and in particular how peer response to writing, were incorporated into a graduate level reading/language-arts-methods course with a research paper requirement. Discusses how writing-workshop sessions and peer response to writing were implemented in the course. Notes student response, and discusses positive results.…

Offers advice for middle school teachers regarding preparation for next year: collect paper clips, plan ahead, and pamper yourself. (SR)

Offers insight into electronic text. Discusses seven characteristics of electronic text that have an impact on the notion of literacy and literacy instruction. Discusses repositories of electronic text, and describes a small sampling of sources for free electronic texts on the Internet that are easily accessible to teachers and useful for literacy…