The author reflects on the development of her own reading life and how that rich reading life failed to influence how she taught reading early in her career. During graduate studies, while researching in classrooms where reading workshop was the instructional model and through talking to those exemplary teachers, the author came to understand both…

Technology has become a catalyst influencing not only the medium, but also the variety of texts that adolescents encounter. It blurs the standard distinction between in-school and out-of-school literacies and fosters an interplay of reading for recreational and academic purposes. How students feel about reading remains an important question, to be…

In order to successfully complete any college-level courses, English Language Learner (ELL) students must be able to read and comprehend a large volume of academic information. However, many instructors are completely overwhelmed in teaching their respective subject areas and are academically unprepared to teach ELL students appropriate reading…

This article investigates the relationship between teachers' personal reading habits and their instructional practices. Teachers responded to a questionnaire that revealed their attitudes toward reading, the amount of time they spent reading per day and the kind of literacy practices that they used in their classrooms. Results indicate: (1) while…

The authors provide teachers with a rationale for engaging students in independent reading using a differentiated approach. By profiling types of readers, sharing observational tools, and offering teaching suggestions for each type of reader the authors give practical suggestions to facilitate reading engagement and make independent reading more…

Provides a list of 118 reasons why the author's students claim they study American literature, including: (1) to broaden their vocabulary, (2) to learn from other people's experiences, and (3) to develop an open mind about different kinds of literature. (JD)

Sharing poems that celebrate books and reading throughout the school year can foster enjoyment of poetry as well as appreciation for reading. A variety of easy to read poems exist that vary from old and new, long and short, free-flowing verse and rhymed verse, and for young children as well as older children. Such poems can be read at odd moments…

This article reports on investigations into whether students starting secondary school should, among other adjustments, adapt their concepts of literacy. Interviews with 24 11- and 12-year olds are used to explore their perceptions and expectations concerning their literacy and its ongoing development at this pivotal stage. (Contains four…

In this article, the author advocates the use of literacy narratives--assignments in which students are asked to describe and reflect upon their experiences with reading and writing. Among their other uses, she believes that they provide a sense of students' prior literacy experiences and of their general feelings toward reading and writing, and…

A balanced approach to reading instruction favors cultivating reading as a strategic activity that requires intentionality, interest, and motivation on the part of the learner. Includes references. (MD)

Seven well-known people describe their early experiences with books and reading and tell how they became avid readers. (MD)

Describes a behavior modification program aimed at encouraging students to increase the frequency of leisure reading done at home. (EL)

Suggest that teachers start the school year,each school day, and each daily reading lesson with reading activities designed to motivate student interest in reading. Offers ideas for use at each of these times. (FL)

Creative ways to motivate students to read and report on books include having them retell the stories differently, invent products related to the stories, share snacks like those the characters ate, illustrate action from the story, write imaginary conversations between themselves and the characters, and turn the stories into short skits. (SM)

Using the "Reader's Digest" as a resource for students with seventh- to eighth-grade reading levels is recommended by a teacher of the hearing impaired. Four lesson plans based on a selected story are presented as an illustration, and ordering information is provided. (JW)