Teachers' instructional practice is pedagogically vulnerable when not anchored within detailed and comprehensive observation and understanding of students' immediate responses during instruction. Professional noticing ability, then, is central to, and integrated within, teachers' ability to provide instruction appropriately adapted to students'…

This study examined the extent to which first grade teachers adapt their reading instruction to the literacy skills of particular children in their classroom, and investigated whether teacher and classroom characteristics influence such adaptation. Three hundred seven Finnish children were tested with regard to their literacy skills at the end of…

The authors present adaptability as an important component of reading teacher effectiveness. They demonstrate recent conceptions of teacher effectiveness that value the complexity and unpredictability of classroom instruction. Using an example from a middle grades classroom, they illustrate how effective teachers adapt their instruction to enhance…

This article examines how three culturally relevant teachers in New York City public schools challenged the concepts of race and racism which low-income adolescents of color brought to the study of history and contemporary society. Framed by concepts of culturally relevant teaching and racial literacy, the study illustrated how the teachers used…

This research investigated how teacher dispositions along with content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge work together in the action of second grade classrooms through two descriptive case studies. Focus of the observations was on the interactions between two expert second grade teachers and their students during times of reading and writing. A…

Examines the notion that much of what is taught in English classes is irrelevant to the challenges faced by today's students. Questions whether literary study serves students needing literacies outside the school. Considers the social context of literacy. Reconceives English instruction to provide relevant literacy skills. (HB)

Observes literacy instruction in five first-grade classrooms. Finds classrooms headed by most-effective-for-locale teachers were characterized by excellent classroom management based on positive reinforcement and cooperation; balanced teaching of skills, literature, and writing; scaffolding and matching of task demands to student competence;…

This article examines a key factor of the National Literacy Strategy, interactive teaching, and looks in particular at how it may be affecting teacher autonomy. It traces the development of this approach in the Literacy Hour and describes a research project which showed that many teachers have their own sophisticated ideas about interactive…

This book focuses on a key component of literacy instruction: helping children become thoughtful, independent readers who are able to use a flexible repertoire of reading strategies for comprehension and word recognition. The book presents research-based explanations and guidelines that culminate in a comprehensive strategy instruction model. It…

The purpose of this guide is to provide a middle school literacy model, to describe practices and strategies of literacy education, and to assist school communities as they implement a balanced Turning Points literacy program that is responsive to the particular needs of middle school students. This guide includes: (1) the rationale for a Turning…

Cultures determine identity in that they prescribe the "food, festivals, and fashion" of their members; for example, rap music, baggy pants and gestured dancing identify the hip hop culture (recognizable to both "members" and "non-members"). Cultural identities are created and maintained by "literacy"--the…

Children who are "at risk" are differentiated by their difficulty meeting standards for school success. This paper describes a model for a field-based component of an elementary education children's literature course involving in-school tutoring of at risk children. The program provided preservice teachers the opportunity to: (1) develop…