Ways to succeed in school and advice on reading books and textbooks are covered in four essays. The analogy of playing the "game of school" and preparing for and playing a sport is developed by Charles I. Brown in two essays. Study activities that are designed to be done before, during, and after class are suggested to help the student maximize…

Describes how two fifth-grade boys developed and sustained a love of fantasy books. Describes how these two discriminating readers have developed taste and a social context for their reading experience. Shows how their experience demonstrates important principles about reading and about reading curriculum. (SR)

Discusses attitude development, symptoms of poor reading attitudes, and ways to remediate poor attitudes. (FL)

Presents a hypothetical situation of an elementary school principal's concern at students writing during reading time, and offers a possible teacher's response with information about the direct tie between writing and reading improvement. (JC)

Relates the author's experiences teaching remedial reading in a Texas high school, where the state-mandated exit-level competency test heavily influences teaching. Discusses negative effects on students and on teachers. Describes how the author's teaching evolved from an emphasis on this basic skills test to a focus on engaging students in…

Discusses goals that will best support middle school students' development in reading and learning from text, including actively constructing meaning, learning about themselves and others, reading strategically, and enjoying reading. (SR)

Argues for the fundamental importance of fostering a lifetime reading habit in middle school students. Discusses various ways to provide opportunities to read in middle school; describes teacher demonstrations of effective reading/thinking behaviors; discusses reading aloud; and notes the importance of literacy educators advocating this kind of…

A review of National Assessment of Educational Progress findings presents a picture of the reading attitudes of a large segment of the American population, and of the relationship between reading attitudes and reading performance. The findings show that a negative attitude toward reading exists, and that it increases with each year spent in…

Reading journals can help college readers successfully meet the demands of complex and sophisticated texts when students use them as a strategy for making meaning rather than simply extracting information. There are three primary reasons for using reading journals at the college level: (1) writing is a way of discovering when students are free to…