Students are expected to interpret the complexities and nuances of literary texts yet might struggle with interpreting texts in ways that are academically valued in literary studies. While linguistic studies that examine students' literary interpretive writing have mainly been situated in secondary contexts, there is a noticeable absence of…

Quotations yield the greatest insight from the fewest words. In addition to the wisdom and guidance quotations provide, teachers effectively use quotations in displays, presentations, speeches, research, writing prompts, classroom lessons, and discussions. Students employ quotations for speeches, classroom assignments, as sources of inspiration…

Imagine a thriving English classroom. One that's active, experiential, collaborative, and rigorous. "Authentic Literacy Instruction" will help you not just imagine this classroom, but also create it. Through a hands-on approach to student-centered literacy, the authors share how to reinvigorate your love for what you do and refine your…

Much of the special education research on writing has focused on skill acquisition and remediation. However, a significant problem with this approach is that it does not account for the sociocultural nature of writing or the importance of culturally sustaining pedagogies in writing instruction. In this article, the author uses practitioner…

Various instructional approaches have been laid out for conceptualizing argumentation talk and writing in English classrooms. One prominent, and historically durable, approach is formalist--teachers slot the teaching of argument into a form-based approach, usually using the 5-paragraph theme. This model too often fails to persuade students of the…

This study explores how ELL students' parents participated in a blog-mediated English language arts curriculum in a second grade classroom at a U.S. urban school, and how they supported their children's learning of school-based writing. Adopting ecological perspectives on technological affordances, this study views digital literacy as discursive…

Help students meet today's literacy demands with this new book from Terry Roberts and Laura Billings. The authors show how a seminar approach can lead students deeper into a text and improve their speaking, listening, and writing skills, as recommended by the Common Core State Standards. Roberts and Billings provide easy-to-follow information on…

This article discusses building ecoliteracy through place-based education (PBE) within English language arts: some ideas of what PBE is, why it's important, and examples of how it might be applied. The author contends that observing nature and creating personal metaphors from the natural world can help students develop keener writing skills and…

This article discusses the pedagogical practices of a middle level English teacher who teaches reading and writing skills creatively and recursively. By providing varied ways for students to construct knowledge and repeatedly grapple with difficult concepts, this teacher sustains an environment of collaborative inquiry whereby students internalize…

This paper documents an evaluation of children's written responses to a story telling package used in an intervention project set up by the National Association for the Teaching of English as part of the larger "Inspire Rotherham" literacy campaign. The brief was to provide a group of primary teachers with innovative and inspirational approaches…

This pilot study sought to develop and evaluate the use of a treatment package that included systematic and direct instruction on acquisition of literacy skills aligned with middle school English/Language Arts standards for students with moderate to severe disabilities, including autism. Participants included five teachers and 15 middle school…

From leading authorities in both adolescent literacy and content-area teaching, this book addresses the particular challenges of literacy learning in each of the major academic disciplines. Chapters focus on how to help students successfully engage with texts and ideas in English/literature, science, math, history, and arts classrooms. The book…

Recognizing the profound relationship between thinking and language, the authors have developed the traditional Paideia seminar into a literacy cycle of instruction that involves students in reading, speaking, listening, writing, and thinking. As staff members of the National Paideia Center, they have observed that learning to think requires…

The purpose of this paper is to describe a variety of teaching and learning strategies that were used within a classroom of Deaf adults participating in a high school English course as part of an upgrading program. The class was conducted in a bilingual manner; that is, being Deaf and communicating with American Sign Language (ASL) was not…

Conceptualizes language competence as a multidimensional force and lists factors relevant to literacy at the university level. (RL)