Reflecting an integrated, constructivist approach to teaching, this book presents the content of the language arts curriculum and effective teaching strategies for teaching this content so that elementary and middle-school teachers can help students develop communicative competence. This third edition emphasizes the multicultural classroom, reading and writing connections, and authentic assessment. Each chapter begins with a question to direct readers' thinking, lists of topics for minilessons, lists of ways to modify instruction to students' individual needs, lists of trade books and steps in teaching strategies, chapter summaries, and extension activities. Chapters in the book are: (1) Learning and the Language Arts; (2) Teaching Language Arts; (3) Listening to Learn; (4) Sustaining Talk in the Classroom; (5) Writing in Journals; (6) The Reading and Writing Processes; (7) Emergent Literacy; (8) Looking Closely at Words; (9) Reading and Writing Stories; (10) Reading and Writing Information; (11) Reading and Writing Poetry; (12) Language Tools: Spelling, Handwriting, and Grammar; (13) Expecting Diversity: The Multicultural Classroom; and (14) Extending Language Arts across the Curriculum. Lists of Caldecott and Newbery Award winning books (since 1960), a list of approximately 300 resources about authors and illustrators, a Joint Statement on Literacy Development and Pre-First Grade, and a list of common spelling options for phonemes are attached. (RS)