Outlines the procedures for organizing a book club for elementary level students. Describes how a book club motivates children to read and gives them the opportunity to share, enjoy, and exercise their oral communication skills. (MM)

Reflects on some of the issues that have been raised in this column over the past six years, including readability formulae, reading assessment, and the use of basal readers. (MM)

Describes how to map a short story. Notes that story mapping gives students an indepth understanding of the concepts of protagonist and antagonist, as well as a visual image of the story's shape and structure. Provides a sample short story map. (MM)

Argues that authorship, in the sense of creation and re-creation of meaning, should be a central focus in any model of literacy instruction. Examines the elements of the "traditional" model of literacy development. Discusses the place of text within that model. Discusses implications for classroom literacy instruction. (SR)

Suggests using story maps as a direct technique for teaching students the elements of stories: setting, plot, mood, and theme. (MG)

Highlights three areas of technology that may have an impact on the future of teaching, especially as it relates to reading: nanotechnology, hypertext, and telecommunications. (MG)

Reviews five professional resource books on whole language instruction and mentions three additional books on the topic. Suggests these books to educators who are interested in obtaining information and support for child-centered instruction. (MG)

Uses an acrostic of the word "vocabulary" to present enjoyable and effective strategies and activities for vocabulary instruction with elementary students. (SR)

Considers ways to describe complex learning that teachers would find useful, especially with respect to the teaching of reading. Identifies a generic set of ecological factors that seem to support such complex learning. Refers to these factors as "conditions of learning." (SG)

Traditional literacy practices and educational policymakers define reading as a process of vocabulary recognition and print-based decoding. This perspective is especially prevalent in the primary-grade literacy classroom. Yet, a growing movement sees literacy encompassing not only printed text, but a wide range of cultural, technological, and…

In the author's experience, a significant source of reading difficulty for many beginning and struggling readers are misconceptions about print concepts so basic teachers assume their students are aware of them. Many children fail to grasp implicit principles of print such as the following: the reader cannot make up the words, the order of letters…

Discusses a number of current documents that reflect the renewed role of phonics in beginning reading instruction. (TO)

Examines the problems of word division, reviews the pertinent literature, and discusses teaching methods. (RB)

Suggests that children should be taught to blend isolated sounds into words as an aid to reading. (MKM)

Having students draw pictures about what they have read is a way to check their reading comprehension. (MKM)