Because learning to meditate shares important qualities with learning to be a better reader and writer--for example, dispassionate noticing, becoming more aware of inner processes, a faith in inner wisdom, effort made with a light touch, the cultivation of a practice through simple, regular doing--practice in mindfulness meditation was used to…

In 2006, a secondary English and feminist studies teacher created a course and designed a study around a reading exchange for eighth-grade girls from two vastly different communities. Girls from a school in a northeastern state read young adult novels and wrote about their reading and related topics with girls from Washington, DC on a wikispace…

Discusses how connecting students to reading requires more than just an energetic approach. Presents a framework for reading experiences: engagement, exploration, collaboration, and individual celebration. Describes a program that gives students varied opportunities to become engaged in literature, choice in what they read, time to actually read,…

Describes a critical reading unit in which one seventh-grade class read L. Sacher's "Holes" and three other classes read texts of their choosing along with a partner. Notes that the goal was to set up a context for the students, as readers, to experience the main character's growth--for them to become active, independent, passionate readers. (SC)

Many adults search for spiritual guidance and direction and persist in seeking answers to life in today's fast-paced world. With burgeoning economic challenges, political corruption, war in Iraq, poverty, health care concerns, environmental concerns, rising fuel costs, violence, racism, and oppression, many adults seek solace and greater…

An experimental colloquium course at the University of Delaware focuses on ways students read and respond to texts. Using nontraditional activities including image making and symbolic expression, the course discourages passive learning as it explores literature and its effect on the reader's inner world. (JB)