Presents and explains resources and strategies for creating a curriculum that reflects and affirms the experiences of migrant children. Includes a 27-item annotated bibliography of fiction and nonfiction on migrant farm workers. (SR)

Presents brief annotations of 44 children's books, organized in five groupings: Creatures and Characters, Time Periods, Curricular Connections, Cultures, and Nonsense and Such. (SR)

Studies attitudes of 12 middle school teachers and students concerning what makes a teacher good at conducting conferences. Identifies two key themes: the role of text-oriented instructor and of student-oriented nurturer. Notes that teachers considered the role of nurturer as being most important. Discusses aspects of the nurturing role. (SR)

Finds that many immigrant parents (from China, Iran, and India) and their children oppose diametrically many aspects of emergent literacy. Discusses major differences in beliefs about teaching and learning related to accuracy/precision, focus of control, assessment/accountability, expectations, and rote memorization. Suggests a range of possible…

Surveys and observes highly effective primary-level teachers. Describes their classroom characteristics and instructional practices, particularly the deliberate and well-planned integration of explicit skills instruction and authentic reading and writing experiences. (SR)

Describes collaborating with preschool children in the development of themed reading and writing activities in a travel agency play center in the classroom. Discuss collaboration rather than prescription, literacy in the travel agency, making plans with literacy-related materials, and developing a successful collaboration. (SR)

Describes ways to enable fifth-grade students to lead discussions about provocative books without an adult and to enjoy discussions as much as they enjoy simple retellings. Describes preparing for, setting up, and ending the discussion. (SR)

Argues that literacy professionals, in schools as well as colleges and universities, need to write for the general public, and that if they do not, they are contributing to an educational crisis of unprecedented proportions. Provides suggestions on and examples of how to write for the general public. (SR)

Reviews research and raises questions about instruction that integrates reading and writing or that focuses on thematic units. Concludes with guidelines for integrated instruction. (SR)

Describes "Sort, Search, and Discover," a spelling instruction strategy that assesses students' current knowledge and individualizes the study of words with common spelling patterns or rules. Discusses how it was developed, the five-day instructional plan, and how to adjust for an inclusion classroom. (SR)

Describes a service learning program with a focus on literacy called the Student Literacy Corps. Describes how urban elementary school children, college students, professors, administrators, and community members worked, shared, and learned together. Includes a sample lesson. (SR)

Discusses how teachers can foster the development of self-monitoring and searching behaviors in beginning readers. Describes reading strategies and cues that tend to be used rather automatically. Discusses two types of processing strategies (monitoring and searching) and observing cues used for self-monitoring. Describes how to foster…

Presents brief annotations of 40 children's books that explore imagination through play; the arts; other people's experiences; life in the past; real people, places, and events; imaginary journeys; and the power of imagination. (SR)

Argues that, as the meaning of literacy changes, the role of literacy educator is also being fundamentally altered. Argues that the Internet is redefining literacy, learning, and teaching. Discusses changes in why people need to be literate, what it means to be literate, and how people become literate. Lists new opportunities on the Internet. (SR)

Voices concerns with isolated exercises in grammar. Offers an alternative, in which teachers collect sentences (mostly from literature) and use them to point out or teach skills for writers. Offers numerous examples. (SR)