How can we prepare and encourage new teachers to take on the challenge of changing traditional views of literacy education? Teacher educator William Kist shares a first-year teacher's story of incorporating new literacies within an eighth-grade alternative classroom.

Describes the author's first teaching year in an eighth-grade literature class in which the students had no interest in the topic. Introduces "authentic talk" to engage the students. Discusses how the students' interest in reading increased as they read and discussed favorite works of children's literature. (SG)