Explains repeated readings and the procedures involved. Looks at the reading miscues of a seven-year-old child over successive readings of a text to learn what miscue analysis reveals about repeated readings, fluency, and the word recognition view of reading. (SR)

Considers some of the current and emerging issues in the language arts, and how they are reflected in professional books. Discusses three books with distinct themes that challenge conventional wisdom about literacy. Suggests that broadening the framework of literacy will make it more accessible and equitable for a wider range of children. (SG)

Describes how a teacher researcher invited her students to be detectives on the lookout for language and to take a critical perspective on how it varies with each speaker, purpose, and context. Suggests that educators need to be careful about how they present language varieties so that their students appreciate them as more than "quaint artifacts…

Considers how public opinion and entire theories of teaching reading are based in the false Just So story--Just Sound Out, and you can read. Explains why sounding out is a handicap. Suggests a better alternative, teaching by recognizing words. (SG)

Describes some of the ways in which students can be organized for reading and writing instruction. Suggests that educators must first identify the key components of literacy, then clarify a view of instruction and learning. Argues that recent literacy research has analyzed processes and texts but has overlooked the larger literacy contexts. (SG)

Reflects on the role of literature in reading instruction. Reviews briefly research on whole language. Discusses the problems and promises of the whole-language approach and the use of children's literature in the classroom. (RS)

Offers a five-step cure for educators who keep passing out dittos and workbooks to get children quiet and keep them busy. (MG)

Applies James Britton's ideas about the spectator and participant roles in writing to the teaching of literature to fifth and sixth graders. Suggests that what may work best for teachers and for students is to see reading as an expressive act in which all freely sway between participant and spectator roles. (RS)

Critiques "America Reads," a federal initiative (launched by President Clinton in 1996) to foster universal literacy by sending a million tutors into schools. Argues that the program fails to take into account much of what is known about best practices in literacy instruction, and that inexperienced or poorly trained tutors may present…

Analyzes research in the phonics section of the Report of the National Reading Panel to examine what the data, as opposed to the Panel's interpretation and reporting of the data, say about the role of phonics in reading instruction. Suggests the methodology of the Report is flawed, and results reported in the Summary are not supported by the…

Explores the consequences for children and teachers when a scripted literacy program eliminates time for thoughtfulness. Examines some implicit and explicit expectations of children's talk during read-aloud time by sharing a study of response conducted in a multiethnic, primary grade classroom. (SG)

Focuses on three books that tackle what it means to effectively organize classrooms for literacy instruction. Notes that these texts emphasize the role of teachers as researchers working in collaboration with one another and with university researchers. (SG)

A set of field notes taken in second- and third-grade classrooms is presented as part of a statewide study of early literacy instruction. The coping strategies of two students as they attempt to overcome the boredom of the literacy practices at their school are discussed.

Critical lessons that share a transactional view of early literacy development are synthesized. A transactional view of reading and writing means that literacy as a meaning construction process, and that within a given literacy event, both the text and the reader are changed.