Great literature gives students a window to other places and times, but it often requires students to step outside their comfort zones and take on challenges they wouldn't usually attempt. Unfortunately, research shows that many schools are not assigning literature that pushes students beyond their current reading level. Jago encourages teachers…

When the teaching of strategies for understanding literature crowds out a close reading of literary works themselves, something is amiss in language arts instruction, and students lose out. This has become the case in too many elementary and even secondary classrooms today, Senechal believes. Using a strategy-based lesson proposed by Stephanie…

Noted scholar, teacher educator, and IRA past-president Linda Gambrell answers readers' questions about motivating young and struggling readers.

Discusses the apprenticeship approach to teaching reading. Finds two useful insights to be drawn from traditional apprenticeship: (1) the movement from observation, through coaching, to practice can act as a model for reading instruction; and (2) the importance of the social context in which learning takes place. (MG)

The ability to read is vital. It paves the way to success in school, which can build self-confidence. It is power, key to personal growth. Through reading, we generate learning power that helps us know ourselves better and others as well. It also helps us understand past, present and future more clearly. So it is necessary for the teachers to find…

In this article, the author offers suggestions on what teachers can do to build and protect their students' confidence in their reading abilities. These suggestions include: (1) Create accepting classroom environments; (2) Use authentic assessments; (3) Choose interesting, appropriate texts; and (4) Use supportive reading strategies.

Presents psycholinguistic views of second language reading which see reading comprehension as a result of an interaction among three factors: higher-level conceptual abilities, background knowledge, and process strategies. Discusses kinds of reading to teach and kinds of texts and materials to select for different proficiency levels and given…

Describes the usefulness of including historical fiction on reading lists in high school history courses. Lists criteria for selection and instructional use of historical fiction, and provides a list of historical fiction appropriate for use in studying certain topics in United States history. (KH)

Because of the short life expectancy of recent books for adolescents, the author recommends examining the field in terms of its history and also calls for learning more about teenage books in general and teaching criteria for judging works. (CRH)

Reviews a set of juvenile books by Franklin Watts, Inc., that blends reference, informational, and recreational reading. (FL)

Provides guidelines for the high school professor of French literature, including materials selection and teaching methods. (AM)

Considers how four relationships (between teacher and student, teacher and the curriculum, student and curriculum, and between and among students) affect readers and the reading program in a classroom. (RS)

Suggests that social scientists use the reading of literature to enhance their instruction about contemporary situations. (AEA)

Since instructional materials are important to the educational development of students, their proper selection and use is fundamental. Each student should be considered individually, and course materials should be made available on levels which provide a variety of reading experiences, encourage critical thinking, and motivate creative activity.…

Suggests ways that the classroom teacher can convey to students through learning experiences their role as readers. (RS)