This "Conversation Currents" features JoBeth Allen and Valerie Kinloch discussing their thoughts and experiences working with families and communities. Allen bases her comments on the belief that programs have to be adaptable to many different constituencies and demographics, and so must be recreated every year with every teacher and…

The article focuses on the notion of tablet technologies as placed resources (Prinsloo, 2005; Prinsloo & Rowsell, 2012) by exploring how an international research project in Australia, Canada, and the United States forged community through online spaces. There is a tendency in media and in literature to romanticize technologies like iPads as a…

Utilizing a New Literacies Studies framework, this article presents critical lessons in film production from a multiple site case study. Examples of children's classroom experiences demonstrate how filmmaking and play come together in a process of storying--a collaborative and multimodal approach to text composition. Students in both preschool and…

Considerable research indicates that high-stakes accountability policies have the capacity to influence language arts instruction, particularly in urban, high-needs schools where pressure to increase test scores tends to be most acute. This article utilizes Cultural Historical Activity Theory to critically examine the constraints and affordances…

In this article, the authors propose a revised way of thinking about reading levels, one that promotes a wider and more flexible view of teacher decision making about the use of leveled texts in classrooms. They share five key principles to consider when looking at the use of instruction that involves matching leveled materials with readers.…

Literacy centers are widely used by teachers seen as being effective in promoting literacy (Pressley, Rankin, & Yokoi, 2000); yet little research has been completed on how or why they are effective. Based on the social cultural constructivist theory posited by Vygotsky (1978), and research theories of Dyson (1993), the peer dialogue at the…

During the 2004-05 school year, Parkview Elementary School experienced a dramatic shift from a focus on authentic assessment and responsive, individualized teaching to a one-size-fits-all approach to literacy assessment and instruction. In an effort to boost test scores, the district mandated the use of Open Court Reading, a scripted language arts…

Discusses problems with oral reading, recommends standards to guide the selection of oral reading materials, and suggests nine directions to children to guide their rehearsal for oral reading. (DD)

A fictional account used to demonstrate the importance of making reading interesting and meaningful to children. (DD)

Provides a nine-item annotated bibliography of publications in the ERIC database related to literature and the language arts. Offers useful resources that satisfy a variety of professional needs. (MG)

Reading teachers should recognize the distinction between prefixes and etymological elements in whole words. (DD)

Discusses the phonics v whole-word controversy in the teaching of reading and defends the use of the phonics approach for certain purposes. (DD)

Presents responses of 16 prominent people in the field of reading/language arts to a question concerning what single most important thing the profession knows in the 1990s that it did not know in the 1960s. Notes common themes of the influence of writing, use of good literature, and integration of language arts. (RS)

Thomas Kuhn's ideas of paradigm are discussed and their role in the development of science and their application to the issue of disagreements in the field of reading is examined. Disagreements in the field of reading occur and new theories keep on developing, but they should not be abandoned.

Suggests ways to help students avoid miscues caused by eye dialects in their reading. (DD)