Describes some of the ways in which students can be organized for reading and writing instruction. Suggests that educators must first identify the key components of literacy, then clarify a view of instruction and learning. Argues that recent literacy research has analyzed processes and texts but has overlooked the larger literacy contexts. (SG)

Examines what children's own stories reveal about the attributes they assign to females. Discusses the different ways elementary school boys and girls orally completed an unfinished story about a girl wanting to play baseball. Proposes how teachers can help move their students toward a more gender-fair classroom environment by using instructional…

Brief essays discuss (1) a teacher's discovery of the difficulty of the writing process, (2) various methods of writing instruction that are still only a part of the whole, (3) the difference between children's writing at home and at school, (4) a method for teaching poetry, and (5) a fifth-grade book writing project for first-grade students. (HTH)

Describes how one elementary school teacher uses three cornerstones to build a safe community for herself and her students: getting to know parents by asking herself to dinner; working with big ideas on long-lasting projects that grab students' attention and focus their drive to belong and to communicate with their classmates; and portfolios. (SR)

Argues that, to develop a community of readers of literature, teachers must go beyond an approach to literature that merely treats it as an excuse for a comprehension skills lesson or a social studies exercise. Illustrates the argument with the children's book "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli. (SR)

Describes observations of how fourth-grade teacher Donna Carrara integrates literature into her writing program at the Montclair (New Jersey) Kimberly Academy. (HTH)

Discusses the theory and practice of literature study, an approach to using books with elementary and junior high/middle school children. Discusses how teachers learn how to turn talk into dialogue; what children learn from literature studies; and what the children want teachers to know about their experiences with literature studies. (RS)

Presents a research project examining the use of teaching-learning activities. Gives an illustrative example of a teaching-learning activity that worked. Presents selected software for computer teaching-learning activities. Suggests that the effectiveness of teaching-learning activities is contingent upon the nature of the classroom culture in…

Describes a longitudinal study of first-grade students' progress in learning punctuation. Examines the classroom as a writing environment, then presents a picture of the children's progress in learning to use apostrophes, quotation marks, and periods, drawing several implications for teaching. (HTH)

Suggests that personal writing poses both opportunities and risks in writing classrooms. Discusses the experiences of two children in a fifth/sixth-grade writing process classroom. Notes that benefits of personal writing are opportunities for authenticity, finding voice, and a therapeutic value; whereas risks include coercion of students who are…

Takes readers to a second grade classroom to see how children's meanings of a story grow as they engage in a variety of related activities. Discusses how the meaning of a story grows to become multifaceted as children use the story for different personal and social purposes in the classroom. (MG)

Offers suggestions for how to build a true community of writers in which responsibility is turned over to the students. Discusses modeling whole class books, small group publishing, steps in the writing process, tracking the process, building a community, learning leadership, and the role of the teacher. (RS)

Describes a teacher's experiences in a multigrade intermediate grade mountain schoolhouse. Notes that teaching difficulties were overcome by (1) organizing time and contracting with students; (2) learning from students about what to teach; and (3) using language that invites and includes students. Explains how these techniques aid reading and…

Sets forth a theory of style in picture books which focuses on artists' choices in expressing meaning and shows how a literary and aesthetic discourse may evolve as children respond to these choices. Suggests how teachers can create a classroom context which will promote the fullest communication between a child and a picture book.(NH)

Discusses thematic centers in which teachers select a theme and design of several classroom stations on the topic. Describes application of the technique in one Canadian class of six-, seven-, and eight-year olds, many of whom were English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students. Identifies characteristics of the technique. (SG)