Within educational reform initiatives, professional development often feels like something done to, not with and for, teachers. In this article, two district literacy leaders share their experience designing a dialogic model of literacy professional development for teachers that advocates for open-door teaching. Through dialogic professional…

The essay is the most intimate of reading experiences, in which the reader is invited to eavesdrop as the writer works through a thought or excavates a memory. The writer can be explicit, in the first person, or just implicit, as the person behind the words, but he or she is absolutely, powerfully present. It's as if, for those few thousand words,…

The initiation, organization, and management of a mentor program will be complicated. In the end, at the center of a mentor program are people who are eager to help their colleagues and who have developed some skills for coaching others as they encounter challenges and as they grow as professionals. In this article, the authors offer a rudimentary…

"Fresh, fearless, more or less brilliant stuff"--if you want to get hired. That sums up the importance of authentic assessment in writing and the unwitting harm caused by typically vapid writing prompts and rubrics, and rigid use of the so-called writing process. The point of writing is to have something to say and to make a difference in saying…

Authentic discussions about writing are the sorts of conversations that professional or experienced writers might have, where writers explore purpose, effect, clarity, and interpretation. These discussions help students develop "writing skills and strategies because students are able to work at progressively higher levels with the guidance and…

The Zine Project helps students and teachers consider the assumptions and expectations we have about how literacy functions in school and community contexts. In this article, Tobi Jacobi examines the relationships among composition theory, community literacy practices, and service learning, taking into account the complex possibilities and…

Four doctoral students and their professor contemplate the value of play in their high school and college classrooms. They discuss their experiences teaching children's books, student illustrations, and excerpts from magazines and newspapers that convey the intricacies of the English language through homonyms, homophones, homographs, and polysemy.…

Deplores the decline of thoughtful communication as evidenced in bumper sticker messages, signs, and verbal cliches. (DF)

Discusses the idea of using graffiti as a technique for teaching a poetry course and improving classroom communication. (RB)

Kentucky writer describes the friendships he has made with readers all over the world who identify with the Appalachian characters in his books. (PD)

A consideration of Sir Patrick Spens" from the point of view that structure determines meaning." (Author/RD)

Guidelines are given for conducting positive, effective conferences.

Describes the nature and importance of role taking (taking the perspective of others) and illustrates how students' role-taking ability might be measured. (DD)

Students should become involved in the production of messages to be transmitted by both non-electronic and electronic media. (DD)