It is increasingly clear that the Internet will be the defining technology for reading, writing, and communication in the 21st century. But without the ability to locate information in an efficient and effective manner, students' access to information on the Internet is limited. This article introduces SEARCH, a strategy classroom teachers can use…

Provides an artistic prewriting activity to help students design the characters in the stories they write. (MG)

As educators struggle to find ways to engage students in literacy development and content area exploration, performance literacy is emerging as an important pedagogical tool. This article defines performance literacy as the process of teaching students to write and perform stories. The author lists the five major components in the development of…

At a writers' camp, teachers and children collaboratively write and learn together during the summer. Through student writing samples, this article shows how teachers and students apply journalistic techniques of observing, note-taking, and interviewing to collect information about their local community. Teachers and children taking part in the…

Reports on a study that examines the effects precis writing and outlining have on students' ability to identify ideas in a text and generate and elaborate on those ideas in a written form. (FL)

Offers four ideas for students to share their writing. Suggests that providing time and ways for children to share gives their writing purpose and direction. (MG)

Notes research showing that narration and opinion writing are two different crafts and that children differentiate between the two when they write. (FL)

This regular column in "The Reading Teacher" offers support to educators who want to take an active stance when it comes to integrating technology with the literacy curriculum. Here, the author suggests practical ways that teachers can productively link classroom computer technologies to tried-and-true practices. She shares her rationale for…

Because it is often assumed that reading and responding to multicultural literature will help dominant-culture readers value diversity and gain a greater appreciation of their own heritage, it is important to examine what children in actual classrooms are learning from the books they read. Analysis of the writing of 123 dominant-culture eighth…

Reports a study of fourteen word lists and proposes a basic list of 240 starter words. (TO)

Describes a writing strategy that reflects the importance of writing for authentic purposes for real audiences. Discusses how cross-grade-level exchanges can support this approach. (MG)

Young Spanish?English bilingual children's writing reveals their understanding of the writing process and the relationship between their two languages. After examining more than 100 writing samples of young bilingual children, the researchers found similar developmental patterns to those of monolingual English and monolingual Spanish children.…

Students can be motivated to share their reading interests and their writing talents by creating book report mobiles. After students have read a book, they begin their mobile by attaching string to an empty box which has been covered with plain paper. Next, they decorate one side of the mobile with a drawing which illustrates the story or they…

Case studies of first graders' approaches to learning reading and writing show that individual attack style is persistent regardless of teaching method and is related to personality and possibly physiology. (DD)