Suggests ways to use ethnic, historical, and sociopolitical slogans printed on tee shirts for literacy instruction. (SR)

Describes the reading program a Taylors Elementary School (in Taylors, South Carolina), which is one of several reading programs selected as exemplary at the 1993 International Reading Association convention. (SR)

Describes the reading program at Butcher Children's School (an elementary laboratory school for Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas), one of several school reading programs selected as exemplary at the 1993 International Reading Association convention. (SR)

Offers a procedure for keeping a record of the quality and quantity of student responses (both group and individual) to K-W-L informal assessment. (SR)

Explains the "Questioning the Author" approach to reading comprehension, which is designed to get students to build understanding of text ideas by becoming actively involved as they read. Suggestions are given for constructing meaning by going back and forth between the text and discussing the ideas. Some examples illustrate the process.…

Presents an approach for teaching children strategies for reading comprehension called the "comprehension strategy framework." Offers a description for the rationale of elements of the framework (including an example of a second-grade lesson); shows how the framework fits into current literacy trend in strategy teaching; and describes…

Discusses how students become automatic at reading sub-skills, the indicators that can be used to determine whether a student is automatic, and the psychological mechanisms that allow students to perform complex skills automatically. Discusses implications of automaticity research for teaching reading. (RS)

Reviews recent literature on automaticity, defining the criteria that distinguish automatic processing from non-automatic processing, and describing modern theories of the underlying mechanisms. Focuses on evidence from studies of reading and draws implications from theory and data for practical issues in teaching reading. Suggests that…

Describes phonemic awareness within the context of the multifactorial process of learning to read, presenting classroom activities that draw attention to form without losing sight of content. Activities focus on the following concepts: print carries a message; the concept of word; alphabet knowledge teaches that words are composed of letters;…

Explores issues of reading instruction with 11 experts representing a range of views toward reading education. Finds unanimous agreement on 3 of a list of 12 easy ways to make learning to read difficult: teach letters and words one at a time; make word-perfect reading the prime objective; and detect and correct inappropriate eye movements. (SR)

Looks briefly at reading instruction throughout the 20th century, noting how it has moved from the alphabetic method, to the sight method of Dick and Jane, back to decoding, then to the extensive use of literature in whole-language programs, swinging back toward more skills instruction. Hopes that the millennium will allow the development of…

Examines key principles of critical language awareness with reference to a class on critical reading that was taught to advanced foreign language learners. Argues that critical language awareness needs to be located within critical pedagogy, and that critical pedagogy is conceptualized around three major principles: teaching as emancipatory,…

Describes the Said Web, an instructional strategy that encourages students to examine clusters of words and the words' linkages to one another so that vocabulary study does not occur as lists of isolated words, but rather as meaningful groups. Outlines eight instructional steps for the Said Web, which can be used with young children and modified…

Describes "new literacy," and offers a rationale for creating a new literacy classroom. Discusses five characteristics of a pedagogy for a new literacy, offering a brief overview of each characteristic with examples of how each may be demonstrated in a new literacy classroom. (SR)

Many areas in education need better balance. These include balancing phonics and whole language approaches in teaching reading, balancing approaches in teaching spelling, and balancing curriculum content so that art, music, and drama are included. (SLD)