This study is concerned with the significance of the affordances of multimodality in contemporary conceptualizations of ESL/literacy pedagogies. Using a cellular phone advertisement, 18 students composed visual representations of their understandings of the text. Drawing on the social semiotic framework of Kress and van Leeuwen, the annotated…

Describes a promising approach to literacy instruction for Latina/o middle school students struggling with literacy that emphasizes culturally relevant quality literature and that focuses heavily on comprehension-enhancing strategies. (SR)

Presents a teacher's method of staying in touch with his students' cognitive development. Offers his outline of four cognitive levels, with definitions, and types of student responses (from sixth- and eighth-grade students). (SR)

Discusses using the story frame as a cloze procedure with middle school students to develop reading comprehension. (SR)

Describes one teacher's experiences using "kid-watching" with four challenging middle school students, noting how such observation provides valuable insights into how some individuals learn. (SR)

Describes how a reading resource specialist in a middle school borrows advertising techniques to market books to students (a tough audience). Describes conducting a marketing analysis and making a marketing plan. Gives one example of giving a book talk that proved to be quite successful with a targeted group of students. (SR)

Reviews mail sent in response to a year's worth of "Middle School" columns in this journal. Notes that the column on a middle scholar's inquiry excursion went completely unnoticed and that the column on portfolio assessment received the most attention. (SR)

Offers advice for middle school teachers regarding preparation for next year: collect paper clips, plan ahead, and pamper yourself. (SR)

Describes one middle school's two-week end-of-school-year unit called Community Studies, in which students select several activities (from more than 40, many of them outdoors), which are assessed through portfolios. (SR)

Presents several examples (in the form of a fictional story) of various ways that graphic organizers can help students find a visual framework to analyze key informational relationships. Describes how graphic organizers helped facilitate interdisciplinary instruction, and helped students make connections and organize data in a new way. (SR)

Shares an effective teaching strategy (developed by a university student in a content reading practicum) that enthusiastically engaged two reluctant, even confrontational, male seventh graders in a study of "Our Northern Neighbor, Canada." (SR)

Explores a virtual junior high school, which was created for an online course to help mater's program students learn more about teaching adolescents using new technologies. Considers how to evaluate the use of new media and how people learn. Concludes that information technologies bring in a set of special issues for evaluation including…

Describes an inquiry project that middle school students complete during the first quarter of the year, and that serves as a foundation for future inquiry undertakings, research papers, and writing workshops. (SR)

Presents arguments for using picture books in middle-level classrooms, noting they can build connections to learning experiences for early adolescents in all the content areas. Offers some specific examples of books (listed by genre) that can be used in various curricular and interdisciplinary areas. (SR)

Describes using information charts with eighth-grade language arts students. Discusses using this strategy to help students organize their research, develop critical-thinking skills, use their prior knowledge, and increase metacognitive awareness. (SR)