Argues that a literate environment can be fostered by teachers requesting children to read the daily newspaper and encouraging them to badger their parents for subscriptions. (FL)

Discusses a commercially produced program for increasing reading comprehension. (FL)

Points out some recurring ideas about the use of children's literature in the elementary reading program based on a review of 25 years of "The Reading Teacher." (FL)

Reviews various commercial materials for use in preparing story dramatization activities. (FL)

Replies to an article in this issue that responded to an earlier article ("On Balanced Reading") by this author. Argues that Welna's unbalanced coverage of research and critique is the very fuel that continues the Reading Wars. Argues that a study of past and present research can lead the profession to common ground. (SR)

Defines horizontal reading as providing children with more reading experiences and practice at the level they have just completed rather than moving them immediately to the next level. Describes two commercially prepared programs that make horizontal reading easier to implement and more closely correlated with the lead basal instruction. (FL)

Concludes that poor readers benefit from a cooperative strategy that gives them practice toward fluency in a supportive situation. Explains how repeated reading works and offers a strategy for using it. (FL)

Notes that recent research shows the significance of ownership of the writing process and explains how teachers can help students own the reading experience as well. (FL)

Notes that researchers have generated multiple theories as to why students learn to read better when they tutor others. Surveys several options, then concludes that the answer may lie in the amount of time spent on task in tutoring. (FL)

Argues that reading rate should not be ignored, but rather seen as evidence of excessively slow processing of text, and thus as a diagnostic indicator. Describes how excessively slow, disfluent reading leads to less overall reading, to reading frustration, and is associated with poor comprehension. Describes authentic and engaging instructional…

Reviews theories on cognition and perception as they relate to language and the arts and presents research supporting an arts-centered curriculum as beneficial to language and reading development. (FL)

Reviews the literature on classroom reading instruction and elaborates the results of a series of studies that hypothesized that high-risk students, such as those typically found in low reading groups, would become more aware of how to reason during reading if their teachers explained the mental acts associated with strategic skill use. (NKA)