Presents brief annotations of 46 childrens books that explore the purposes, playfulness, and poetic beauty of words used to communicate in both oral and written forms. (SR)

Offers examples from Arizona and Oregon to show how rapidly changing demographics in some regions are accelerating the momentum of restructuring curriculum and assessment to accommodate multicultural students. Argues that organizations structured around the principles of collaboration and process tend to be more caring, to affirm diversity, and to…

Describes Image-making Within the Writing Process, an innovative art-based literacy program designed to entice even the most discouraged of learners with a series of process-oriented art explorations and concrete tools for thinking through and designing stories. (SR)

Describes how a class of first and second graders decided to make cautionary signs to protect their newly constructed projects. Notes that most signs could be classified as persuasive or regulatory, and how some were in the mode of engagement and surprise. (SR)

Presents a classic article published in this journal in March 1973, which warns against systems of instruction that require servility and obedience on the part of the teacher and the child alike. Advocates constructive change, in the belief that teaching and instructional programs need to stem from learners' own experiences and their actions and…

Discusses technology and literacy, in particular the characteristics and qualities of hypertext. Seeks to communicate some of the experience of reading hypertext. Argues that the computer is much more than a new device for displaying textual information or for teaching children how to read and write. (SR)

Finds that the high percentage of spontaneous, contextual activities used to teach phonic relationships in preschool classrooms dropped off dramatically when children entered kindergarten and the primary grades, where instructional experiences were mostly explicit. Shows that a combined approach to teaching phonics was observed only infrequently.…

Demonstrates that literacy practices may be more usefully viewed when situated in the larger contexts within which they exist. Examines the impact of social, cultural, and linguistic factors on oral reading in China's elementary schools. (SR)

Discusses Character Perspective Charting, an instructional technique useful in elementary reading classes that fosters story understanding. Discusses how it was developed, how the authors have used it, how other teachers have used it, and what children learn from it. (SR)

Presents brief annotations of 41 children's books that invite readers to engage in explorations: explorations into the past, of new paths, of the mind, of nature, across the miles, and of the unknown. (SR)

Explores what happens when teacher beliefs about learning are challenged by children who do not fit the teacher's schema. Uses the example of a child with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder to illustrate this issue, and suggests that teachers pay close attention to children who may not thrive in a classroom environment strongly rooted in a…

Describes a reading lesson for first graders in which phonics is taught both explicitly and contextually. Discusses three prerequisite understandings about print that make learning to read much easier for children. Advocates a balanced approach toward literacy instruction that helps children integrate what they already know with new strategies,…

Presents three brief articles containing suggestions from teachers on teaching reading: a summer reading program that successfully kept beginning readers reading over the summer; an inquiry project in which third graders saw the power of being literate and the profusion of literacy activities in the nonschool world; and engaging students in active…

Presents, in the form of a fictitious letter to a new teacher taking a graduate-level course, an essay that explores questions often raised by young teachers. Provides a set of principles for becoming a holistic, constructivist teacher. (SR)

Provides a broadened historical perspective on literacy instruction in Russia by focusing on the development of the Russian "bukvar," the first text typically placed in the hands of Russian children as they begin schooling. Discusses origins of the bukvar; religious, social, and cultural influences; pedagogical and scientific influences; and the…