This article reports on the findings of a photography and literacy project ("Through Students' Eyes") the authors conducted with middle level English language learners and alternative high school youth from a mid-Atlantic (US) ex-urban area. In order to bridge middle and high school settings, the authors used multimodal and photo…

When asked to discuss their middle school language arts classes, talented eighth graders identified concerns and made suggestions for their teachers. Students voiced desire for choices in selecting reading materials, writing topics and genre. They preferred having extended periods of time to engage in reading and writing activities, rather than…

This is an introduction to a high school student's perspective on what the ideal language arts classroom should look like. It is based on a middle school language arts classroom structured around a Nancie Atwell style workshop model. The workshop model in the classroom was grounded in real life literacy experiences, allowed for choice in writing…

Pursuing student voice in your design of curriculum helps students take more ownership of their learning. Gaynor and Shanklin developed an open-ended survey to gather information about students' growing understandings of the purposes for reading and writing and to solicit feedback about the year's activities. The survey is presented here, along…

Research supports what many teachers have long known: talk is a valuable tool for learning. But how can we incorporate talk and still keep students on task, thinking collectively and deeply? Gillis offers a solid theoretical foundation for incorporating talk throughout the curriculum, and then provides practical help for implementing it, with…

There is a need to integrate into classroom learning the out-of-school technologies that students interact with every day. We know that reader response approaches to the study of literature engage learners, and we also know that both students and teachers have mixed attitudes about the study of poetry. In this article, a response activity with…

This study focuses on ways that sixth graders reacted to the question of book awards and awards in general, positioning themselves as reflective inquirers as they engaged in the regular sixth-grade beginning-of-the-year curriculum--reading books that have been nominated for the state book award. The authors focus on four dispositions of critical…

The authors unpack a unit in which students were asked to consider the question, "Who and what is an American?" The activity originated with a discussion of 6 fictional profiles; students were asked to place these people along a continuum from "least American" to "most American." The resulting discussions broadened…

Educators are seeing a ray of hope as policymakers across political lines acknowledge that prescriptive education is not working and as educators find success in involving students actively in real work and meaningful goals within their communities. Glickman and Thompson define service-learning, offer successful examples from real classrooms, and…

Motivation is an essential component in developing a love of reading in middle level struggling students. For these readers, novels in verse bridge the gap to more challenging pieces of literature. In this article, Title One students explored Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson and learned that they, too, are poets. (Contains 9 figures.)

Online classes are a viable option in today's educational landscape, but are they right for your school and students? This article reviews the status of online education, 21st century skills, best practices in online education, and online classes as experienced by a middle school student and parent. (Contains 2 figures.)

Understanding the reality of students who aren't engaged in literacy, Kittle proposes nothing less than revolution. She asks you to evaluate whether your students read enough, write enough, and rewrite enough, then challenges: If not, what would you have to change to make that happen? She shares examples from her classroom, and leaves us with a…

Understanding that learning must be relevant and purposeful to be effective and engaging, Wilhelm emphasizes the value of teaching students "how to participate in meaningful activity in ways that make them increasingly expert in creating culture and . . . cultural meanings." He offers bullet points that suggest starting with students' experiences,…

Packaged programs for direct instructional reading are becoming the norm, even as research supports SSR as a successful way to enhance student reading achievement "and student attitudes" toward reading. DeBenedictis shows us how she has achieved goals set by NCLB while using SSR in her classroom, adaptations of SSR and the research that…

When the authors realized that successful book selection is not a natural skill for all learners, they developed a tool to support self-selection of independent reading material without book leveling. This tool is called BOOKMATCH, and it supports readers for whom book selection is "complicated." BOOKMATCH is an acronym in which each letter…