This article describes how one elementary school's professional development model helped both new and veteran teachers grow in their knowledge and practice of balanced literacy. Created in partnership between university faculty, school administration, and elementary teachers, this multifaceted whole-school PD effort enabled teachers to learn…

Each year 12,500 school children from different regions of the United States read and vote on the newly published children's and young adults' trade books that they like best. The Children's Choices for 2008 list is the 34th in a series that first appeared as "Classroom Choices" in the November 1975 issue of "The Reading Teacher" (RT), a…

In these times of legislative mandates for accountability and high-stakes testing, meeting the needs of diverse learners has never been more urgent. If change is to occur in classrooms across the United States, the change forces will be the administrators and teachers in each school. Educators must now choose a plan of action to address student…

In modern classrooms, worksheets, still require considerable time and continue to be used mostly as seatwork. This practice prevails despite researchers having challenged the efficacy of seatwork that it does not provide on-the-spot teacher intervention. This article suggests that the following questions may help teachers decide whether and how to…

This article tells the story of young second-grade teacher and her quest to help students reach the New York state standards in reading. It is the yearlong story of significant professional growth highlighted by the conversations surrounding student learning. The collaborative conversations between the teacher, her colleague, and her staff…