Discusses computers and related technologies as a significant means for acquiring language arts skills. Samples a wide array of uses for educational computing in English and language arts classes. (SR)

Discusses seven recent publications that can enhance teachers' personal relationship with literature and illuminate and enrich creative communities in classrooms. (RS)

Illustrates how poems engage readers in heightened experiences of the world and of language itself. Shows some of the strategies that adults and elementary students employed when reading and responding to poems: summarizing the poem, entering in and opening out, entering the world of the poem, opening to the outside world, finding rich…

Suggests that, in order to re-invigorate writing in schools, educators need to remind themselves of the importance of the tools of the writing process to help them explore the distinct and multiple voices and texts. Presents samples of some of the "local literacies" that students in a migrant summer school camp produced in their writing. (SG)

Presents the author's acceptance speech when named 2000 Outstanding Educator in the Language Arts by the Elementary Section of the National Council of Teachers of English. Shares her life story to argue that teachers' actions have the potential to add, deepen, or change current trends and events within the struggle for educational justice. (SG)

Argues that literacy in the 1980s means the power to use language for one's own purposes as well as those of society. Explores the classroom phase of exercising this power through the critical commentary and discussion of social issues of three students in a lower-class London school. (HTH)

A participant in a British teacher workshop that focused on student talk describes the progress of the group toward defining the types of language they wanted to focus on in the classroom and the group's publication of weekly progress reports. (HTH)

Notes that lesson plans in English classes are unlike those in many disciplines, because the human factors involved often cause unpredictable elements. Points out that fantasy and spiritual inspiration often come into play when teachers put together language arts lesson plans. (SKC)

Describes the process one sixth grader went through in writing a short story and analyzes what this reveals about writing and the teaching of writing. (DD)

Reviews 43 recently-published collections of poetry for children that were considered by the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Committee. Groups them in terms of: evoking an image or idea; visual poetry; word play; and the voice. (SR)

Offers a profile of Ann Turner. Examines her background, her approach to writing, and to writing historical fiction. Looks at aspects of Turner's historical writing and aspects of her style. Considers if there is a place for poetic language in historical fiction for children. (SR)

Contains an interview with journalist Edwin Newman in which Newman urges that students be taught to use language with greater precision, and a response to Newman by John S. Mayher and Rita S. Brause. (DD)

Contains representative selections from issues of "Elementary English," a precursor to "Language Arts," from its fourth decade of publication. Includes articles, editorials, and ads reflecting contemporary concerns of English education still relevant today, such as censorship, criticism of reading instruction, and the evolution…

Asserts that observation is the key to discovering what non-native students already know about English and what their inclinations and abilities are when they enter the classroom. Documents a first-grade teacher's experiences with second-language learners in her classroom. (MM)

Discusses the problems that confront multilingual persons, not only in the United States but also in the People's Republic of China. (DF)