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…

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)

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…

Describes how two different middle school teachers transformed the study of vocabulary in their classrooms by engaging students' interest in words, moving the study of vocabulary into students' worlds through theatre and through word tickets and a student-created museum. (SR)

Presents annotations of 12 novels for young adults. Encourages teachers to give their students books to read because it often makes a difference. (SG)