This paper describes the Reading Language Arts Technology Institute at California Lutheran University (CLU), a two-unit continuing education course to develop teacher content area knowledge in ways that effectively utilize technology in K-12 reading instruction. Goals included: to enhance the teaching of reading and language arts; to better…

Reading well is at the heart of all learning. Without the ability to read, children can not succeed in school. Research has shown that most of the reading problems faced by adolescents and adults today could have been prevented if they'd gotten the proper help during early childhood. This brochure provides information about how parents can help…

Delaware's secretary of education and the president of the State Board of Education asked Achieve to provide an analysis of the quality of Delaware's high school content standards and its course-taking requirements. In assisting Delaware in its commitment to raising the quality of its expectations for high school graduates, Achieve examined the…

This guide is a proposed unit of instruction for a class composed of adults needing to improve their reading skills. The components include five key concepts with related content goals and adult basic education (ABE) student objectives. The key concepts are as follows: (1) there are many types of homes in the world; (2) people build different…

Intended for teachers of grades 4-8, this book presents a method of developing critical thinking skills through fairy tales. The book shows educators how to use popular fairy tales and fairy tale characters to help students develop problem solving abilities, critical thinking skills, and writing proficiency. It gives a multitude of activities,…

This book gives English teachers more than 75 reproducible literature selections with ready-to-use lessons based on a variety of multicultural fiction and non-fiction by authors of African, Asian, Latino, Native American, and European descent. The book is designed to expand the choice of multicultural literature beyond that found in the department…

Papers in this collection focus on diverse issues in literacy ranging from motivation to wordless books to professional development schools. Papers in the collection, and their authors, are as follows: "The New Literacy and Reading Workshop: How Comfortable Is Too Comfortable?" (Jeanne Henry); "Fostering Reading Motivation: Insights…

The Chapter 1 reading, writing, and mathematics instruction programs of the Des Moines (Iowa) public schools were evaluated for the 1993-94 school year. These programs provided supplemental instruction for about 2,968 students in 1993-94 through six components: (1) schoolwide projects; (2) the Reading Recovery Program; (3) the Reading/Writing Lab…

Noting that thousands of young children with the capacity to experience school success do not because they are unprepared for school learning activities, have experienced physical or emotional setbacks that cause them to be at risk for early learning failure, have never experienced limits on their behavior, or have mild sensory or motor deficits,…

This paper discusses a case study that explored how six preservice teachers perceived their experiences in using an oral and written retelling strategy in teaching reading to students with learning disabilities. A qualitative research design was used in the form of a descriptive case study approach. The 6 subjects were undergraduate female…

This brief document provides information about the nationwide reading initiative, Reading First, in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Reading First is a focused effort to improve reading skills of students in kindergarten through third grade. First, information is provided on unique characteristics of the Reading First program and requirements…

This 17th annual report presents information on current trends and issues informally discussed by the directors of six National Council of Teachers of English commissions. Commission on Composition (Richard Gebhardt, director) discussed the role of writing in literacy; interactions of race, class, language, and learning; teaching grammar;…

This study describes the use of word recognition strategies by Spanish-English bilingual first graders in their non-instructed language. The behaviors of 35 first graders are described when they were asked to read in the language in which they had not received systematic reading instruction. Seven word recognition strategies used by children when…

A study investigated the degree to which the pronunciation of English words in the child's home environment affected the acquisition or discrimination of phonological and orthographic correspondences of standard written English. Subjects were low-socioeconomic-status, inner-city African American kindergarten, first-, and second-grade students, who…

This collection of papers focuses on teachers' personal and professional development, showing what teachers' learning, hopes, desires, struggles, and instruction look and feel like from inside the lives of effective teachers and in their classrooms. Topics include the types of resources and experiences effective teachers use, how these resources…