The present study builds upon established best practices in narrative comprehension instruction by redesigning a story map, to retain the benefits of text structure instruction, while also facilitating students to reach deeper levels of character-based comprehension. Framed in reader response theory, dual coding theory, and developmental theories…

Current standards push for elementary students to have text-based and text-centric discussions of what they read. This study explored what bilingual third-grade students talked about during small-group text-based discussions of informational texts. The author conducted a qualitative analysis of 10 video-recorded discussions, five of books matched…

The author explored text difficulty for third-grade bilingual students reading below grade level. In six small-group discussions, students read and discussed informational texts matched to their reading levels, and in six other sessions they read and discussed texts one year ahead of their reading levels. The alternating treatment design and…

Transaction circles weave together elements of guided reading and literature circles in an open conversational structure that supports students as agentive learners. Discourse within these circles utilizing digital informational texts assist in the development of democratic practices even in a time when federal mandates limit curricula and…

The first part of the present paper deals with the analysis of the literary theory and linguistic background of the reader-response method, respectively with the presentation of the process of composition and its psychological components. The reader-response textual interpretation method can take several different approaches of literary theory,…

This article describes a qualitative study of discussion patterns within guided reading groups in a struggling metropolitan school. The study involves analysis of reader response to literature through discussion within teacher-led and student-led contexts. Transcripts of discussions surrounding texts, teacher interviews, and student surveys were…

This research study investigated the effectiveness of an early reading intervention for self-efficacy (E-RISE) on struggling readers' efficacy and reading achievement in an at-risk elementary school setting. A total of 117 first, second, and third graders participated. The intervention group contained 39 students, and the comparison group…

Explains how to develop the independent use of literature response journals with remedial readers. (MM)

Considers the ways in which the discourses available to children influence their responses to children's literature. Examines boys' and girls' responses after reading to questions focusing on major characteristics of a nontraditional protagonist. Concludes that change will occur gradually as an apathetic attitude is reduced if educators…

Shares the author's experiences as a third-grade teacher facing the dilemma of not having multiple copies of good literature available. Tells the story of how she developed effective instructional strategies for using the limited resources she was able to find. Describes how, despite less than ideal resources, children engaged in rich, thoughtful…

This instructional study investigated the effects of two approaches to fostering elementary students' comprehension of literature. Participants were 54 third-grade students in 2 classrooms in a linguistic and culturally diverse, urban elementary school. Students read two folktales, receiving a Scaffolded Reading Experience (SRE) unit with one…

Reflects on how the author's third-grade students, experienced in literary conversation from their reading workshop, transferred the practice of literary conversation to their writing workshop. (SR)

A study outlined the processes through which two beginning elementary teachers in the San Francisco Bay area learned to overcome institutional constraints which tended to standardize ethnically diverse students' responses to literature. The study focused specifically on the changes in one teacher's instruction which freed her third/fourth grade…

A study/research partnership between university teacher educators and teachers was formed when teachers at the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade levels decided to implement an innovation called Literature Response Groups in their classrooms. The setting was an urban elementary school in northern California. Participants included six elementary…