Analyzes two student group Hypertext projects and a MOO (multiuser domain, object-oriented) project. Finds the play element can enrich readerly experience through the creation of a dramatic experience of information. Suggests that composition instructors need to recognize the play element in computer-based composition and encourage the development…

Encourages students to slow down and to reflect upon what they had read. Focuses on the visual arts, particularly for their capacity to help move students from the concrete to the abstract. Notes that Lowry's (1993) novel "The Giver" particularly lent itself to this approach because its powerful visual imagery encourages readers to return to and…

Argues that the most common use of reader-response theory in the classroom is misguided in its emphasis on personal response and identification. Discusses the social and political nature of readers, texts, and contexts. Suggests that when a text is about characters whose life and culture are very different from the reader's, it can heighten the…

Applies the reader response theory of literary critic Wolfgang Iser to the reading of Chris Crutcher's novel "Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes." Examines both the reader's engagement with the novel and Eric Calhoune's engagement with the world of Sarah Byrnes. (RS)

Describes the positive results when a high school English teacher decided to have her students choose poems to be presented to and discussed by the class. Notes that Alice Walker's poems were chosen often by the students. Suggests students began to have a genuine interaction with these poems they chose themselves. (RS)

Discusses the role of talk as a way of developing children's meaningful interactions with literary texts. Argues that where children are engaged in small group unstructured expressive talk, they are able to articulate affective responses to their reading which would otherwise remain dormant. Stresses the way that guided reading can encourage…

The authors examined the impact of elaborative interrogation on knowledge construction during expository text reading, specifically, the interactions among elaborative interrogation, knowledge, and interest. Three measures of learning were taken: recall, inference, and coherence. Elaborative interrogation affected all aspects of learning measured,…

The author of "Candy" talks about the reality that a book is only paper until someone has read it and responded to it emotionally. "When I write a book it's alive in my head, but it only really comes alive when it finds a life in someone else's head." His essay is followed by a chapter from "Candy."

Just watch your characters and tell the story of what they're thinking and doing. It sounds easy, but Adoff confides that he becomes attached to his characters in the process of living in their heads, and sometimes awakens wondering if they're okay. It's that level of intimate storytelling that he hopes will connect with readers, allowing them to…

"[Teen literature] is the only genre of writing that is connected not by theme or style, but by an emotional stage of the reader and characters that populate the stories." Brian James embraces the complexity and unpredictability of his teen characters in hopes that readers will discover something about themselves in a confusing time of life. We…

No one seems to think it necessary to explain what is meant by "literature," or the "aesthetic." If one analyzes the use of these terms in their contexts, a variety of tacit assumptions seems to operate. Sometimes, all that is required is that a text already has been designated as "literature." Sometimes, the presence of story, of a narrative, is…

Visual images within social studies textbooks need to be actively "read" by students. Drawing on literature from cultural studies, this article suggests three instructional conditions for teaching students to read visual texts. Agency implies that readers have the (1) authority, (2) opportunity and capacity, and (3) community for engaging in the…

Recently, transactional reader response theory has been criticized for providing an inadequate theoretical guide for the study of multicultural literature. Some scholars argue that Rosenblatt assumes the reader and her response to literature are ideologically innocent and the continuum of aesthetic and efferent stance does not encompass critical…

Over the past decade in the United States, levelled texts, or "little books" with finely graduated levelling of text difficulty, have regained their status as a literacy staple for beginning readers. Despite their resurgence, questions remain regarding the reliability and quality of these books. In this study, we conducted a detailed…

Recognizing the challenge of individualizing instruction, Wilhelm reminds us of some specific areas teachers must focus on: developing apprenticeship and inquiry settings in which student difference is a resource; connecting students to their reading and writing; honoring and using students' first languages; situating instruction in real or…