Describes how one elementary school developed and carried out the Million Minute Reading Incentive Program over the course of the 1996-97 school year to improve reading fluency in class and encourage students to read more at home. (SR)

Reflects on issues presented in C. Dudley-Marling and S. Murphy's critique of Reading Recovery, published in this journal's March 1997 issue. Argues that their critique is paralyzing because it could be used against any successful social or educational program. Argues that educators cannot afford to become paralyzed but must continue to make a…

Addresses the role of affect in writing by describing the psychological construct of writer self-efficacy. Presents the Writer Self-Perception Scale that teachers may use to assess classroom writing climates and children's perceptions of themselves as writers. Describes the instrument, its administration and scoring, assessment and instructional…

Describes how one kindergarten teacher developed self-monitoring and searching behaviors in her class of beginning readers. Describes an array of reading and writing activities that advanced students' phonemic awareness, letter-sound knowledge, and facility with reading and writing--learning that was proudly constructed with ownership shared…

Presents brief annotations of 25 outstanding books for children and young adults (published in 1996), chosen as quality literature that is culturally authentic and rich in cultural details and that celebrates both diversity and the common bonds of humanity. (SR)

Shares the reflections of a classroom teacher as she thinks about her own experience as a schoolchild and reflects on her history as a teacher of literacy. Talks about changes in her teaching practice that provoke inquiry and self-examination both in herself and in her students. (SR)

Presents brief annotations of 46 children's books that explore memories of childhood, memories of love, keepsakes that capture those memories, memorable tales from long ago, memorable journeys, times that are painful to remember, and heroes and heroines who have provided hope and change in a troubled world. (SR)

Offers responses from four readers of this journal, all reading and/or classroom teachers, to a question posed by another teacher: whether children who have had limited literacy experiences should start reading in whole-language readers and/or trade books or whether they should start in controlled-vocabulary preprimers. (SR)

Describes two hours in the life of an eight-year-old to demonstrate that children acquire information and develop language skills from multiple sources. Argues that the conceptualization of literacy must be broadened from reading and writing skills to a definition that recognizes the layering of information and that includes all forms of the…

Uses a brief instructional history and quotes actual classroom dialog to focus on a teacher's instructional decisions and practices that helped a 10-year-old boy, reading below a preprimer reading level, move toward reading independence. (SR)

Discusses three books that can be helpful to teachers in demonstrating the connections between thinking and writing with journals, thus offering good models for "thinking journals." Notes that these books cover a wide range: beginning journal writers, professional journal writers, and the journal writer in all people. (SR)

Uses an acrostic of the word "vocabulary" to present enjoyable and effective strategies and activities for vocabulary instruction with elementary students. (SR)

Describes the Batchelder Award (presented since 1968 to the U.S. publisher of the most outstanding children's book originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country and subsequently published in English in the United States), and lists all of these award-winning books. (SR)

Explores literature on educational change and examines two literacy innovations gone "bad": process writing and literature-based reading. Argues that growth occurs from the interaction of "bad" things with good ideas (which are never perfect ideas), thereby reshaping, reforming, and strengthening them. Examines how this affects educational policy,…

Argues that, since there is no single answer to literacy education for all children, balanced literacy programs are necessary. Discusses the importance of and describes the characteristics of a balanced literacy program. Uses those characteristics to show how literature-response groups can be part but not all of a balanced literacy program. (SR)