This study examines teachers' beliefs about themselves as literate people and how those beliefs translate into classroom literary practice. Using a multi-method approach, it explores the private literate selves (via diary, survey, and interviews) of twelve K-12 teachers and establishes a foundational understanding of the influence of the social…

Jedediah Purdy's (2000) "For common things" laments the ironic mode of thought that characterizes our culture's mindset. He calls for a return to devotion, homage, and allegiance rather than what he sees as a jaundiced detachment that has overcome us. Purdy may be on to something, but Alexandra Day (1985) does not seem to adopt his call to a…

Describes the nature of strategy use and instruction from a sociocognitive perspective, discusses the need for purposeful strategy instruction for struggling readers and writers, discusses factors that influence strategy instruction, describes current classroom practices that are congruent with sociocognitive theory, and suggests that strategy…

Shows teachers who self-reported they were developing constructivist approaches to classroom instruction had contradictory beliefs about dealing with reading and writing errors, and about addressing errors with more- and less-able readers and writers. Shows the teachers were convinced that students' inaccurate constructions of knowledge should be…

Considers what educators can do to promote quality instruction that prevents, or at least lessens, the incidence of school failure in minority children. Discusses a brief perspective of "The School Development Program," and presents a description of three workshops. (SC)

Looks at reading as a transaction between the reader, the text, and the reading situation that leads to the construction of meaning that is particular to that reading. Describes L. Rosenblatt's ideas about reading stances, efferent and aesthetic. Discusses instructional implications of aiding children in their creation of individual meanings in…

Concludes that the Cloze Reading Inventory and its coding form can be reliably employed by a variety of teachers for a variety of grade levels and passages. (FL)

Reviews the work of James M. McCallister, who examined content area reading in school settings in the 1920s. (FL)

Describes four strategies that employ competition as a means to motivate remedial readers to practice decoding. Discusses the value of competition as well as cautions to be exercised in using it. (FL)

Reviews field dependence/independence research as it relates to reading and reading instruction and draws implications for reading instruction. (FL)

Describes a computer-based methodology that obtains simple timed responses to sets of words and word-like nonsense items, then presents pilot data depicting estimated vocabulary knowledge and relating it to word frequency and decision response time. (FL)

Supports findings from earlier research showing that older students are more aware of organizational structure, more precise in assessing information, and better able to deal with logical relationships than are younger students. (FL)

Analyzes the comments and behavior of one student during an interpretive reading discussion to show that this student proceeds in a cycle of learning. Reviews research in problem solving and reading comprehension to show that, for this student, reading comprehension is problem solving. (FL)

Suggests that critical thinking (the ideological immune system) can prevent or inactivate virus-like ideas (ideas that can invade a host, damage the host, and cause the host to replicate and transmit the ideas--infecting other hosts and propagating the ideas). Proposes that critical thinking alleviates many mental health problems. (SKC)

Contends that the addition of the microcomputer as a learning tool may enhance student learning and increase teacher effectiveness using the direct instruction approach. Discusses patterns associated with teacher effectiveness, practical application of the direct instruction model, and the incorporation of computer assisted instruction into a…