Recommends four books which describe how to teach children to read and write about real-world matters. States that children who are engaged with meaningful materials that they have helped select and tasks they have helped plan require less extrinsic motivation than those who are assigned meaningless materials and tasks. (MG)

Uses teachers' initiatives in 3 content areas--social studies, science, and mathematics--to highlight how 13 software packages are and can be used to support instruction. (PRA)