Survey finds: (1) recreational and academic reading attitudes became gradually more negative over the elementary school years and were steepest for least able readers; (2) girls possessed more favorable attitudes than boys; (3) ethnicity played little role; and (4) extent of teacher's reliance on basal readers was not a factor. Suggests that…

Argues that children's literature enhances the teaching of reading skills, assists in language development, provides a good model for developing writing skills, and develops permanent reading habits. (SR)

Describes a program designed to facilitate the conditions whereby children in a small rural village school could perceive pleasure and purpose in literacy and thus create a climate of positive motivation resulting in productive reading and writing activities. (RS)

Discusses the concept of ownership of literacy and how ownership can be assessed. Suggests that teachers must give high priority to encouraging and assessing their students' ownership of literacy if they want them to be committed to literacy as a lifelong pursuit. (MG)

Describes the reading/language arts program at Queen Bee Elementary School (in a Chicago suburb), designated as an exemplary program by the International Reading Association. (SR)

Discusses three recent books that focus on discussion as a way of engaging children, of helping them deepen their understandings of themselves and the books they read, and of structuring a literature-based curriculum that supports their comprehension and critical reading development. (SR)

Examines R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" series, and investigates why children (including the author's two daughters) like them. Explores the lures of the horror fiction genre. Suggests that the attractiveness of the genre can be found in books more rewarding in literary terms, such as those by John Bellairs. Offers suggestions about the…

Describes Retrospective Miscue Analysis (RMA), an instructional strategy that invites readers to reflect on their own reading process. Explains several variations on the RMA strategy. (SR)

Suggests that reading aloud: incorporates into any language program, is cost effective, requires little preparation, develops listening habits, builds language skills, aids reading comprehension, and impacts students' attitudes toward reading. Lists 15 books that are good to read aloud for K-1, 14 books for grades 2-3, and 13 books good for…

This conceptual essay critiques current understandings of children's motivation for literacy learning, and argues for a reconceptualization of motivation that centers on the learner as agent in the social construction of meaning. The essay is illustrated with vignettes and examples drawn from two ethnographic studies conducted in whole-language…

Third of a 4-part longitudinal study examining the unfolding reading cognition of novice teachers, a study focused on seven teachers during their first year of teaching in elementary schools in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The teachers' reading beliefs and practices were identified using a variety of approaches including lesson plan review,…

Developed by students at Harrison Elementary, Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a web site celebrating Iowa's sesquicentennial, this booklet presents a variety of material about literacy in Iowa. The first section of the booklet provides information on professional and state organizations dealing with literacy and presents the school's home page. The next…

A practicum used a program of high interest activities involving reading to address the problem of low reading comprehension grades and test scores of eight students in the second through fourth grades, who were an average of 1 year behind the norm in reading. The program's six units included a listening unit, computer technology unit, daily…

Even though Swedish students (age 9 and 14 years) placed third in the recent IEA study, reading instruction in Swedish schools is apparently no better than in other countries taking part in the IEA study. No strong correlations between type of reading instruction and students' reading skills have been found. Schools in Nordic countries work under…

Arguing that children are not taken seriously in the United States, this lecture states that basic education is not simply computing and decoding, but also dreaming and imagining. The lecture urges educators not only to stick to the reality of budget cutting and deficit spending but, for the children's sake, also to stick to a dream. In the…