Discusses games and simulations which can be used to stimulate student motivation, ensure active participation, and reinforce specific skills and concepts. (JM)

Reviews the literature in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) on developing personal reading interests and habits. (RB)

Notes that contemporary poets are writing sensitive and imaginative poetry that offers children insights into life and fun. (FL)

Notes that the goal of phonics instruction is to help students develop the alphabetic principle. Explains how the words "explicit" and "systematic" are used in multiple ways in the context of phonics instruction. Suggests that educators should engage in serious discussions about how multiple approaches to phonics instruction…

Presents materials that contribute to students' excitement and interest. Reminds teachers that with a new curriculum and new guidelines from local or national educational agencies, the goal is to help students become joyfully literate and experience the pleasures and the rewards that most educators associate with learning. Reviews materials for…

Outlines how teachers can motivate students and narrow the gap between school and home by using students' anecdotes about their families for reading or writing activities. Notes that this exercise also helps bridge the gap between spoken and written language. (MM)

Discusses the advantages of dialogue journal writing in elementary education. Describes the organization of dialogue journal writing in a sixth grade classroom, noting that dialogue journals provide an ideal tool of empowerment for both students and teachers, and enable teachers to integrate reading and writing in a whole language approach. (MM)

Examines elementary students' reading preferences, habits, and behaviors. Reveals four powerful influences on elementary students' motivation to read: prior experiences with books, social interactions about books, book access, and book choice. (SR)

Considers how rather than being hooked on books, children of the new millennium are hooked on watching music videos, movies, sports, or TV shows. Suggests that children can read books about or written by many of their favorite Hollywood or TV stars. Presents an annotated list of approximately 65 children's books with connections to celebrities.…

This article offers teachers and students an idea for a curriculum-related poetry break or "poetry getaway." The teacher identifies poems that relate to classroom content or themes; then, he gathers a series of objects that connect to the poems and places them in a suitcase. When it appears that everyone could use a poetry getaway, a student is…

Tells how teacher developed books increased students' motivation to read. (RB)

Suggests that teachers use gothic tales, Indian legends, and other appealing stories to develop students' schema for the literature they will eventually read. Explains how to use storytelling effectively. (FL)

Surveys the Reading Is Fun-damental Program (RIF) in Cleveland, Ohio, which makes it possible for disadvantaged children to select and own books. (RW)

Argues that computers can be used by reading teachers in a number of ways, including (1) as a diagnostic test administrator, (2) as a target for student hostility, (3) as a "tutee" for poor readers, (4) as a conversationalist, (5) as an accuracy trainer, and (6) as a game partner. (FL)

Describes Image-making Within the Writing Process, an innovative art-based literacy program designed to entice even the most discouraged of learners with a series of process-oriented art explorations and concrete tools for thinking through and designing stories. (SR)