If we listen to them, the words of our students can provide a road map for instructional responses that meet their diverse literacy needs. In this article, Cara Gutzmer, a middle school literacy coach, and Phil Wilder, a teacher collaborator at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, discuss how a responsive teaching framework guided their…

Argues that students are capable of discovering a great deal about a poem simply by exploring their thoughts, ideas, and feelings instead of worrying about whether their analysis matches that of the teacher. Presents a "lively and insightful" discussion with a group of sixth graders on Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." (SR)

Discusses one Sudanese student's frustration with learning English his second year in the United States. Describes writing assignments used in the seventh grade class. Notes that Simon, the Sudanese student, found poetry to be an easier way to express himself using the English language. (SG)

Suggests that kids need to see the concrete, work-a-day manner in which poetry is and can be woven into their existence. Presents a summary of the steps that are used by the teacher and student when learning something new through the expert-apprentice relationship. Outlines how to move students through the steps. (SG)

Examines ideas about the literate and the illiterate, the tutored and the untutored in the poem "Answer," by Mary Oliver. Suggests that if educators want students to read carefully and analyze conscientiously, then the works they study have to matter to them. Discusses universal literacies, literacy in school and out, classroom discourse and real…