Transaction circles weave together elements of guided reading and literature circles in an open conversational structure that supports students as agentive learners. Discourse within these circles utilizing digital informational texts assist in the development of democratic practices even in a time when federal mandates limit curricula and…

Two measures of syntactic complexity, clauses per T-unit and words per clause, were used to examine differences among four genres of text--narrative, descriptive, compare/contrast, and persuasive--written by the same two cohorts (83 students in grades three and five and 96 students in grades five and seven) on two occasions 2 years apart as part…

Authentic learning experiences are those in which students engage with texts as well as the behaviors of reading and writing within contexts of real-world use beyond traditional academic use. This study provides quantitative analysis of how students (n = 200) engaged with an adult pen pal in a shared literacy experience. Findings indicate that…

This article presents pupils' awareness of writing as elicited through a metawriting task, in other words a task in which pupils from the third, fourth and sixth forms (grades) were required to write about writing. The analysis of the texts revealed the pupils' increasing ability to write texts focusing on writing and on the subject's relationship…

Summarizing text is one of the most effective comprehension strategies (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000) and an effective way to learn from information text (Dole, Duffy, Roehler, & Pearson, 1991; Pressley & Woloshyn, 1995). In addition, much research supports the explicit instruction of such strategies as…

This article shares findings from a collaborative, qualitative research project investigating what happens to first and third graders' comprehension of picturebooks if we intentionally teach them the language of art--Elements of Art and Principles of Design. Work with the art teacher and two classroom teachers transformed the traditional picture…

In a time of increasing plurality in today's public schools, it is essential that students become critically competent citizens by examining current and historical social justice issues. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide the research, theory, and practice for teachers to help students take a critical stance as they read and respond to…

Teachers frequently read aloud as a part of writing instruction so that children's book authors can serve as mentors for students' writing. Despite extensive anecdotal reporting of the significance of reading aloud children's literature within writing workshop, the intertextual connections students construct between interactive read alouds and…

The purpose of this study was to describe how bilingual, Mexican American third graders engaged with culturally relevant picture books during whole-group book discussions and then to further examine how culture (specifically) was reflected in efferent and aesthetic responses. Engagement was defined as the nature in which the readers interpreted…

A study was conducted to explore the ways in which instructional method and text quality influence the young reader's interpretation of inside view and character plans in fiction. Thirty-six third graders from a northeastern, suburban, public elementary school served as subjects. Twelve children were selected randomly from students rated as…

Seeking to foster in children a love of books and reading, this 3-week curriculum module is designed to encourage third graders to read independently and to develop an awareness of the intrinsic value of reading by helping students acquire those library skills necessary to access literature, setting up strategies for students to use to assess…

Reports on participant-observation in a third- and fourth-grade classroom in which students learned to read science texts with both "efferent" and "aesthetic" reading processes. (HTH)

The purpose of this action research project was to study the global and multicultural and multiethnic attitudes and awareness (knowledge) of 23 third graders before and after they had been taught primarily through reading and interacting with children's literature. The data were collected by pre- and post-attitude and knowledge tests and surveys,…