And so a middle school language arts teacher begins her Saturday. Before coffee, Facebook. In this themed issue on professional development in an era of nick.com, the authors propose that teachers' new literacy learning is as close as their own screens. Teachers, too, live literate lives online in this new age of composition, with impulses to…

Standards can aid educators as they work to produce strong student writers who can create meaningful and skillfully crafted authentic pieces of writing. This once-a-month, yearlong professional development program, conducted during the school day, shifted a district's kindergarten writing program to a writing workshop model that enabled the…

This article is a tribute to JoBeth Allen, recipient of the Elementary Section's 2012 award for Outstanding Educator in the English Language Arts. Each year, this award recognizes a distinguished educator who has made major contributions to the field of language arts in elementary education. This article was written by second-grade teacher and…

This article describes a project that studied 15 preservice teachers' perceptions of and reactions to responding to children's and young adult literature using a Ning blog. These perceptions and reactions provided insight into various practical aspects of using a social networking blog to facilitate literature response in a teacher education…

Language arts educators who teach Latino English language learners know that part of their job is to help students learn to distinguish between the vernacular varieties of Spanish (or Mandarin, or Portuguese, or Swahili), English they use at home, and the school varieties of language expected in the classroom and in other professional and…

Presents an in-depth interview with Ken and Yetta Goodman, awarded the second National Council of Teachers of English award for outstanding educator in the language arts. (SR)

The Teaching/Learning Centers (TLC) model is based on the assumption that the best foundation for meaningful, sustained, and transformative professional development is laid when teachers assess the particular needs for their school site, plan and implement professional development background. It is concluded that the TLC model of professional…

Reviews 13 professional materials that explore the uses of expository texts and informational materials designed to be used with elementary and middle school students in the classroom. Discusses a book that provides a whole-language perspective on language learning and teaching. (MG)

Offers a peek inside the journals kept by a well-known language-arts educator, which he uses as a repository for his thoughts, drawings, articles of interest, notes from conversations with others on his own work, the work of others, and education in general. Shows how the journal is an "audit trail" of its owner's learning. (SR)

Reviews four professional references and two books for instructional materials to help teachers use stories more effectively in the classroom. (MG)

Explores a number of innovative professional development strategies for teachers. Examines the development and role of a teacher support group in Canada and its efforts to develop a language-process oriented classroom. (HTH)

Interviews Ralph Peterson of Arizona State University about S.M.I.L.E., a group of teachers taking control of their own learning. The group was formed to Support, Maintain, and Implement Language Experience in teaching. (HTH)

Interviews Gordon Wells of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto, Canada. Wells extends the concept of children negotiating with people in their environment to create meaning to teachers taking control of their own learning and in so doing facilitating children's taking control of their own learning. (HTH)

Interviews two teacher researchers who offer their reflections on the college teacher educator's role in helping classroom teachers take control of their own learning. The two suggest that teacher educators must help classroom teachers clarify their beliefs about language learning so they can become better observers of children's language…

Describes two teacher educators' experiences while exchanging a journal of dialog on their teaching. Discusses the language functions and themes that emerged in the journals, as well as the journals' future directions. (HTH)