In this article, the author explores how a group of ten fourth-grade students who were avid readers became a community of inquiry. The primary goal of this study was to document the children's reading engagement: how they created, entered, and sustained the world of the story. This article also reflects the impact of three elements--data…

This study involved fourth grade children as co-researchers of their engaged, aesthetic reading experience. As members of the "Readers as Researchers Club," they documented their engagement with text--how they create, enter, and sustain the story world. The children, who self-identified as avid readers, explored the activities central to their…

Examines the reading practices and socially influenced responses of six eighth graders in a literature discussion group. Recounts the responses of the students' interpretive community. (MS)

Reflects on how the author's third-grade students, experienced in literary conversation from their reading workshop, transferred the practice of literary conversation to their writing workshop. (SR)

Examines the value of literature response groups by gathering information about the dialogue occurring within them. Studies the content of talk, the functions of language in use, and evidence of reading comprehension. Finds that literature response groups are a good resource for helping children communicate through talk in the classroom. (MS)

Shares how one teacher and her class of seventh graders learned to share and discuss literature through the notions of stances and instructional scaffolding. (MG)

Discusses in depth the kinds of trust within classroom communities that make reader-response groups work (trust between teachers and students, trust among students, and students having trust in themselves). (SR)