Discusses "textual intelligence": knowledge of how texts of all kinds work. Describes how the author uses grammar in his classroom to help students understand how to read and write better and how to think with greater clarity. Describes activities used before and after students read or write. Argues that grammar is a process that helps students…

Describes how one 8th-grade English language arts teacher works to keep her students as the primary focus in her curriculum. Discusses how she uses a class council to connect with literature, discuss upsetting issues or incidents, and solve problems. Outlines activities that further the social and emotional learning component of her curriculum.…

Argues that computer technology can help to engage struggling readers in meaningful transactions with text. Lists and describes seven web sites that will captivate reluctant readers. Notes three web sites that send students on "WebQuests" to transact with text in order to build knowledge. Discusses other ways to engage students in text via…

Offers brief descriptions of 25 books, both fiction and nonfiction, that are accessible to struggling readers, provide a high-quality reading experience, and may allow them to break through their difficulties to see reading as something of value to their lives. (SR)

Describes the author's experience when the director and teacher-trainers of a writing program persuaded him that the oral interpretation he wished them to perform was too troubling and explosive to use. Outlines his questions and anguish about the incident, and the urgency of dealing with the dilemmas of multiculturalism, racial intolerance, and…

Suggests the authentic audience found on the Internet has a profound effect on the quality of student writing in all grades, and that the key to successful technology projects is integrating them into the curriculum so that computers are a means, not an end. Offers ideas for classroom activities and projects using stand-alone computers, and using…

Discusses how a teacher of sixth- and seventh-grade primarily Mexican immigrants: (1) models being a second-language learner by working at Spanish; (2) provides an enjoyable school experience; (3) learns about students' culture and gives it respect; (4) seeks a detailed picture of where each English learner is academically; and (5) cultivates a…

In this article, the authors discuss how Louise Rosenblatt's work influenced many teachers' teaching and learning practices. Rosenblatt was known for helping readers find their rightful place in the act of reading. Louise argued in the 1930s (and steadfastly maintained until her recent death) that the act of reading was a dynamic transaction…

Looks at how technology has changed an eighth-grade teacher's world of teaching and learning in a variety of ways, including: professional growth; connecting the writing process with word processing; presentation of information (such as short story elements or parts of speech); research on and access to the Internet; electronic literary magazines…

In this essay, the author explains not only how she came to write her classic text "Literature as Exploration," but she also describes the path of her own professional journey. A conviction about the difference between "literary" and other reading led to her writing "Literature as Exploration" in the first place. In this book, she argued that…