Close reading, as Paula Moya (2016) writes, may remain the "most powerful discipline-specific tool we have at our disposal" (p. 9). At a time when the work of English teachers is threatened by many factors, including political polarization and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), close reading may be the soundest way of unifying and…

Research demonstrates that intrinsic motivation "drives students' amount of reading" and that students who read for pleasure, to explore topics they care about, and for interest "read a lot and achieve greatly" (Guthrie 2). As teachers incline their pedagogy to student interests, ownership, self- efficacy, social interaction,…

Working with English language learners in mainstream ELA classrooms can provide rich rewards in terms of developing multiple perspectives, sharing diverse experiences, and developing understanding of different cultural practices. However, these students can also challenge mainstream teachers. Supporting ELLs throughout the reading process can…

Historically, comics have been viewed as a "debased or simplified word-based literacy," explains Dale Jacobs, who considers comics to be complex, multimodal texts. Examining Ted Naifeh's "Polly and the Pirates," Jacobs shows how comics can engage students in multiple literacies, furthering meaning-making practices in the classroom and beyond.

Offers a plan for changing the perception among teenagers that reading for pleasure is an activity of their childhood past. Suggests an elective Reading Workshop that allows students to share favorite books and authors, to read aloud and listen to others read aloud, and to discuss their reading processes and decisions. (PRA)

A reading program will succeed if it is based on the following positive aspects: children's oral language competence, understanding of the reading process, a lot of time spent in reading, and positive teacher attitudes. (JH)

Offers practical suggestions for encouraging reluctant (and all) high school readers and writers. Advocates looking at student reluctance and motivation; understanding the process of reading; understanding that everyone learns differently; and that reading is a social act. Offers the response from a high school English teacher with a sampling with…

Describes schema theory and Louise Rosenblatt's transactional theory. Notes the similarities between these two theories of the reading process and suggests directions for research based on their combined use. (RL)

Describes how English teachers of grades 6-12 in one high school have given more direct instruction in the explicit strategies students should use when reading. These strategies, combined with frequent opportunities for students to reflect on their effectiveness on integrating these strategies into their reading processes, resulted in more…

Presents the first part of a six-part series reporting on a research project to investigate how students make sense of a text, what disempowers meaning making, what empowers meaning making, how readings might be meaningfully assessed, and how readers might be empowered in classrooms. Invites readers to join in the investigation. (SR)

Three suggestions are offered to the teacher of reading: permit the students to read, encourage students to guess or predict, and focus the students' attention on meaning. (JH)

Offers three explanations drawn from language and literature theories about what happens when people read: (1) receiving sense, (2) finding sense, and (3) making sense. (EL)

Demonstrates how reading differs in code and channel from other modes of learning, and how learning from print differs from learning from other media. (DD)

An alternative approach to reading can be based on a Piagetian process called decentering''--getting outside one's own frame of reference, the immediate circumstances of here and now, and one's immediate visceral reaction. (MM)

Presents the third part of a six-part series in which the authors respond to a ninth grader's first impressions of "Reel One," a poem by Adrien Stoutenburg. Urges readers to participate by reading the student's impressions and reflecting on the student's interpretations. (MM)