Wilhelm asks, "But are new literacies just fun?" Then he immediately answers, "Absolutely not--if we as teachers provide the right context and conditions of their use." Offering research-based advice on incorporating technology to increase motivation and deepen learning, Wilhelm boils it down to this bottom line: it's engaged, substantive,…

In this article, the authors present reasons why it is easy to get lost when it comes to teaching literacy. Instead of a "best practices" approach in which educators are advised to implement programs because they worked for others, the authors advocate a teacher-researcher paradigm that provides a set of social practices for outgrowing our current…

Some journeys that the author and his colleagues take are by choice and others are forced upon them. Some they take because their hearts, minds, and spirits are drawn to the "rightness" of what lies ahead. Others are done out of obligation and still others rest in their compliance to the demands of others. This article is actually about…

Alvermann introduces us to a new metaphor for thinking about the ways in which teachers might intervene in their students' reading lives: re/mediation. Ultimately, it involves fixing the conditions in which students learn rather than attempting to fix the students per se (remediation).

Suggests that instead of thinking about literacy as an entity, thinking about literacy as social practice can be revolutionary. Argues that rather than think in terms of phonics, spelling, and grammar, it is helpful to think about what kinds of literacy one needs in order to read things critically. Discusses multiple literacies, literacy as a…

Notes that the author's concern is in identifying an old focus of literacy instruction and giving teachers license to leave it behind to make room for new recommended practices. Suggests that this article is a license to discard time-consuming practices to make room for more meaningful literacy activities. (SG)

Describes what a rich literacy classroom encompasses. Notes that the foundation of any lasting change or improvement in education in the United States is the individual teacher in the individual classroom, working in service of students' learning. (SG)

Records the musings of a teacher preparing to teach a course on reading and writing in the content area to preservice secondary teachers. Notes that the teacher will trust her students to come with stories, questions, passion, and curiosity, and trust them to discover the power of literacy and to find its role in their future classrooms over time.…

Describes the shifts in the author's literacy in the three years she has been a mother. Discusses the two books she has had time to read for pleasure, as well as the books she has written and edited (in her role as a teacher educator). Shares how this reflects the fragmented, challenging, exhilarating existence of motherhood. (SR)

Relates how, throughout the author's life from early childhood well into adulthood, literacy has been a powerful adventure helping her to survive and thrive. Notes that she teaches reading and writing to her students to share these gifts of language with them. (SR)

Argues that, for new immigrant children, literacy education that challenges students to speak and engage in meaningful work (not worksheets and handwriting practice) is the key to initiating them into American culture, to helping them feel this country is their home, and to unlocking their lonely hearts. Focuses on the special problems of Chinese…

Explains why being able to use the latest electronic technologies has everything to do with being literate. Argues that hypermedia design has particular strengths that help to support student literacy development. Shows how hypermedia design is easily adaptable into current school structures and constraints. Describes how students in a design…

Describes some uses skillful teachers have developed for the unassuming post-it note in assessment, reading, and classroom-based inquiry. Discusses how these uses represent some of the most significant positive trends in literacy instruction for early adolescents, and show increased concern for personalization in an educational system that has of…

Presents conversations between the authors (public school teachers and participants in a graduate level teacher action research course) and six people in language education who have greatly affected the teachers' work (Dixie Goswami, Tom Newkirk, Donald Graves, Nancie Atwell, Linda Rief, and Tom Romano) regarding issues these leading educators…