Notes that teachers are now spending a great deal of time teaching reading skills and ignoring activities that encourage students to engage in the total reading process. Recommends techniques and activities designed to encourage reading for enjoyment and comprehension. (FL)

This feature tells how one teacher would arrange a sensible reading program that not only teaches children how to read but how to use reading as a skill. It also reports on how five schools encourage the reading habit. (Editor/SJL)

Combining award-winning literature with effective instructional approaches, this book discusses how to select and use nearly 100 Newbery titles (representing almost one-third of the entire Newbery collection) to spark student interest and enthusiasm for reading. Chapters in the book discuss instructional approaches which include literature…

This paper argues that there must be opportunities for students to pursue recreational reading in a developmental reading program. Some of the considerations suggested for teachers of reading who want to encourage their students to read for recreation include relieving some of the pressures under which many students are forced to operate, knowing…

A means of adding another dimension to the learning experience, reading for enjoyment, is presented. The author, a reading teacher, found that the most successful approach for her in reaching reluctant readers was to expose students to selected short stories while simultaneously teaching reading skills and writing methods. The reasons for using…

Argues that one way to reduce academic stress on children is to assign leisure reading as homework. Describes teacher-parent and teacher-student procedures for oral reading at home, with confirmation by parents, and homework assignments which are cooperatively set by teachers and students. (RS)

Describes an attempt to introduce SSR in an English language school near Bombay, India. Shows that the fourth grade students involved in the program improved both their attitude and their reading achievement. (FL)

Reviews reasons why many teachers are moving away from the basal approach to teaching reading. Describes literature-based instruction, and suggests the adjustments that teachers and students will need to make. Describes two plans for literature + basal partnerships as an intermediate step between the basal and a totally literature-based approach.…

Curriculum planning and course organization of the Edison High School (California) reading program are described. Curriculum planning begins with identification of the reading needs of all incoming students. Group testing of all eighth grade students in local feeder schools in the spring is followed by diagnostic testing of individual strengths…

The eight chapters in this book are designed to present a rationale for a developmental reading program in the middle school and to provide middle school teachers with concrete suggestions for teaching reading. The first two chapters present an overview of middle school philosophy and the rationale for providing reading instruction at that level.…

The papers contained in this volume offer the opinions and evidence of sixteen specialists on matters pertaining to literature for children and adolescents--the writing of literature, the selection of literature, and the role of literature in reading instruction. Taken together, they cover a wide range of grade levels and represent many points of…

A study examined the practitioner's perspective of literature and how literature is being used in the classroom. Teachers, librarians, and administrators at a suburban school serving over 700 children from kindergarten through fifth grade were interviewed, and professional journals directed toward practitioners, published curriculum guides, and…

Intended for teachers, librarians, and reading specialisits, the articles in this collection of essays address the problem of how to determine, capture, and then maintain children's interest in the reading process. Preceded by biographical information on the contributors and a brief introduction, the essays have been placed into one of four major…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with the following topics: the effects of reading preference, diagnostic-prescriptive teaching, prior knowledge, training in visual imagery, and electromyograph biofeedback training on reading comprehension;…

Noting that some elementary school children may have difficulty learning to read using basal readers, this paper describes the successful implementation of the Big Books for Beginning Readers reading program in a California elementary school. The first section of the paper discusses the problems students were having with reading, including a lack…