Describes sentence collecting, an activity in which students do outside reading that may include content area textbooks, and bring to class interesting sentences found in their reading. Maintains that sentence collecting helps to model reading as a dynamic cognitive and social process in which readers participate actively. (SR)

Explores the interrelationship of learning, language and literature. Suggests assignments that allow students to respond like readers rather than like apprentice critics. Asserts that writing is not merely recording, and reading is not merely decoding. States that confusions about meaning and syntax disappear when writers read their own work…

Describes using a loose framework of response journal writing and small and large group sharing with two classes of ninth-grade English students. Describes students' deep involvement as they constructed important meanings from a story that went beyond their own experiences. (SR)

Puts forth Louise Rosenblatt's 1938 Reader-Response Theory as a dominant teaching approach in English education, with Rosenblatt's influence readily apparent in contemporary research. Asserts that English professors today can work the magic of the literary experience through the use of the Reader-Response Theory in the teaching of literature.…

Discusses the evaluation of children's literature and children's responses to literature, examining ideas posed by various writers and scholars, offering an example of a critical reading of one text, and noting several themes that are apparent in the text (e.g., gaining access to cultural institutions, refuting stereotypic images, and creating…

Two studies examined individual differences in 7- to 10-year-olds' contextual facilitation. Findings indicated that poor readers showed more contextual facilitation than good readers but the relative context benefit was greater for good readers. Comprehension was a better predictor of contextual facilitation that decoding. Dyslexics showed greater…

Shares the author's experiences as a third-grade teacher facing the dilemma of not having multiple copies of good literature available. Tells the story of how she developed effective instructional strategies for using the limited resources she was able to find. Describes how, despite less than ideal resources, children engaged in rich, thoughtful…

Describes how the author has her students create "found poems" and use them in conjunction with the students' own Readers/Writers Logs to help students make more of a text, own it, and discover the power of effective language. Includes instructions, student samples of found poems, and samples of the entire process. (SR)

Examined the knowledge level of 20 preliterate kindergartners about information books at kindergarten entry and after three months during which time information books were read aloud almost daily. Found that pretend readings of unfamiliar wordless information books in September contained key features of information book language; December readings…

Discusses three pedagogical frameworks in which students have used hypermedia authoring tools to generate a practice of critical literacy, including critical inquiry into social worlds, critical response to literature, and knowledge construction in the classroom through hypermedia. Discusses how, in hypermedia authoring for critical literacy,…

Investigated the effect of causal structure revisions to school texts on the comprehension of more- and less- skilled undergraduates. Found that readers at both skill levels benefited from the revisions but only for the difficult text. (JPB)

Argues that traditional textbook approaches to teaching literature alienate students from literature. Describes effective alternatives in which students learn interpretive strategies as they analyze and discuss their own important values in life, and then those of characters in a story; and learn to deal with irony. Outlines writing activities…

Argues that picture books are a significant resource in learning about literary elements. Discusses using picture books with middle schoolers in "text sets" (5 to 15 texts that relate conceptually in some way). Describes a two-week period during which eighth-grade students read and responded to text sets on themes (prejudice,…

Notes that teaching literature in a Technical and Further Education setting presents its own special set of problems and paradoxes not usually encountered by teachers in more conventional classrooms. Discusses students and their literature experiences; impact of the canon on teaching; and influence of modern literary theory on the reader-text…

Explores what students are learning by writing literature responses. Accentuates the influential role of teachers in literature. Discusses the need for educators to engage in ongoing reflection about their theoretical beliefs and pedagogical practices regarding literature- and response-based programs. (RS)