In this article, the authors demonstrate how the reading of a novel along with culturally sustaining and responsive instruction can enhance students' sense of agency and advocacy along with their literacy development. The characters in the young adult (YA) novel "All American Boys" grapple with police brutality, as the novel's authors…

Athletes in all sports and at all levels of performance keep training logs, journals, or team notebooks as one more way to learn extensively about their sport. Such organizing, planning, and reflection can play a pivotal role in an athlete's life. What's more, as communication tools, athletes' writing has the potential to be especially helpful for…

The nation's focus on the literacy skills of students--especially boys--has produced many notions of reform. School districts reorganized and changed curricula to meet the needs of struggling readers and writers. In New York City, where this author was teaching, "Balanced Literacy" (a reading and writing workshop) had been implemented in…

This issue of "Stepping into the Classroom" reaches the broad ends of the spectrum of experience to showcase two authors who have worked hard to learn from personal experience and translate ideas into practice. Greg Van Nest, a veteran teacher of six years, had gone to many national conferences, but in Nashville in 2006, he came away knowing he…

Offers 10 suggestions for more varied and creative use of learning logs. (ARH)

Argues that thematic units may be the best way to avoid the lack of compelling journal writing topics. Argues that themes introduced in a journal writing assignment prior to the study of the text are good preparation for reading. Presents some examples of themes, topics, and accompanying literary works. (RS)

Describes one family's use of a journal to record family history and daily observations. Points out that family journals increase family unity and help teach children the value of writing. (ARH)

Describes how one teacher learned to eliminate ethical and pedagogical problems inherent in student journal writing by placing restrictions on assignments. (ARH)

Explores the journal writing of Henry David Thoreau. Asserts that his journals are an excellent example of writing to learn. Notes that students can benefit from emulating Thoreau's approach to journal writing. (MM)

Offers seven approaches to integrating foreign students and recent immigrants into the culture of the school and classroom. Discusses the meeting of the minds, growth through participation, mingling languages and literatures, a cultural-heritage project, sharing food and stories, new friendships through journals, and ideas for involving parents.…

Explains how a teacher uses a mystery novel and an aesthetic approach to literature appreciation, as opposed to one concerned with facts in the text, to engage students and prep them for writing their own mystery stories. Shows how one student in particular overcame her sense of exclusion and felt a part of the "literacy club." (TB)

Demonstrates how sixth graders became engaged with the daily journal of an eleventh grader and how this motivated them to write journals themselves. Discusses the varying topics they read and wrote about and how they learned from this experience. (PRA)

Rejects grading student journals. Describes various approaches to journal writing evaluation the author used with her students and approaches used by her professors when she returned to school. Questions the educational process of grading student journals. Discusses how to create real dialog. (RS)

Points out that keeping a journal provides teachers with an opportunity to critique assignments, discover student writing trends, compile statistics, and collect examples of humorous misstatements and faux pas. (ARH)

Describes how the author puts people in place to deal with the technology in order to allow teachers to focus on the content and the instruction. Notes how Weblogs allow anyone to publish on the Internet. Describes a variety of uses for Weblogs in the classroom. (SG)