Presents brief descriptions of 38 children's books that are "inspiring." Organizes books in six sections: inspiring lives; inspirational characters; inspirational family times; inspirational celebrations; inspiration rising from adversity; and "too good to miss." (SR)

Argues that teachers must shine the brightest light they can onto ignorance. Discusses reasons why gay and lesbian issues need to be addressed in the curriculum. Describes helpful resources (including Web sites, a video, and nonfiction and fiction books) for raising teachers' own awareness, and for use in both preservice and regular classrooms.…

Reports on the wide array of instructional resources created by teachers and students on the Internet as they envision new possibilities for literacy and learning, transform existing technologies to construct this vision, and share it with others. Describes central sites for Internet project descriptions, stories of teachers' journeys, exceptional…

Describes letterbox lessons in which children learn the alphabetic code, spelling words by placing letters in boxes that show the number of phonemes in words, and later reading what they have spelled. Discusses materials, how to teach a letterbox lesson, and effectiveness of these lessons. (SR)

Describes how a second-grade inner-city class in California, 80% Spanish-speaking and suffering from a severe lack of books and textbooks, became a class of authors, making books themselves. Relates how their classroom library grew to over 400 books in six weeks, with children becoming avid, passionate readers and writers in the process. (SR)

Discusses numerous valuable resources on the Internet that are useful for teaching reading, including sites with: information on science and history; all of Grimm's fairy tales; and "Alice in Wonderland." Notes good search engines and several exciting literacy-related sites. (SR)

Describes what reading coaches do (provide literacy enrichment without emphasizing the diagnostic and intervention aspects of reading), how this differs from reading tutors, and how reading coaches can help with literacy development in schools. Discusses activities for reading coaches, and benefits of a reading coach program. (SR)

Shows that, despite the pendulum swings from the 1930s to the present, reading-achievement levels have remained constant, and one-third of children do not learn to read well. Argues that reading is a multidimensional activity, and that a massive effort is needed to implement multidimensional curricula that empower all children by providing them…

Presents an approach for teaching children strategies for reading comprehension called the "comprehension strategy framework." Offers a description for the rationale of elements of the framework (including an example of a second-grade lesson); shows how the framework fits into current literacy trend in strategy teaching; and describes how to use…

Describes a parent/teacher partnership that stretched over one school year: a home response journal/literacy conference effort involving parent/teacher conferences, discussion of the reading-development continuum, weekly newsletters, and response journals in which parents wrote about their children's interactions with language. Shows how parents…

Investigates the nature of e-mail correspondence (as a kind of literature-response journal) between nine- and ten-year olds and preservice teachers. Finds children's e-mail almost equally divided between socialization and book talk, with reading levels not affecting these percentages. Concludes that children thought critically about themselves and…

Describes introducing and constructing portfolios in a second-grade classroom. Discusses preparation, diagnosis, the collection and sorting process, goal setting, reflection, and student sharing. Shows how diagnostic reflective-learning portfolios help children become aware of their own learning strategies, construct and reflect on goals, and…

Describes a supplemental pull-out program that helped struggling first graders become independent readers who could participate more successfully in their classrooms. Describes in detail how small groups of children were taught using a 30-minute "literacy group" format offering a fast-paced, tightly structured, and well-balanced instructional…

Explores the considerable benefits of reading poetry, why poetry is often neglected, and some of the ways the author brings poetry and children together, making poetry an integral part of the curriculum. Offers a list of recommended poetry volumes, as well as a list of recommended professional reading/supporting poetry-instruction in the…

Offers an interview with teacher and author Sharon Draper (winner of the 1998 Coretta Scott King Award), describing her life as a high school educator and as an author of novels, chapter books, and poetry for a wide range of readers. (SR)