Intended primarily for preservice elementary classroom teachers, this book focuses on preparing teachers for literacy education as it is practiced today, giving them the background knowledge, will, and wisdom to find other and better ways. The book is based on three assumptions: teachers must participate in examining and defining their philosophy and goals, and in selecting the teaching methods that will guide their efforts; teachers need to build familiarity with the research literature of the field; and teachers must be prepared to work in a variety of possible settings. Chapters in the book are: (1) Literacy and the Reading Process; (2) Literacy Providers: Principles and Beliefs of Influential Teachers; (3) Emergent Reading and Writing: Early Childhood to Primary Grades; (4) Reading Aloud, Listening, and Speaking; (5) Reading and Responding: Emergent Higher Order Literacy; (6) Word Recognition and Analysis; (7) Vocabulary for Reading, Listening, Thinking, and Writing; (8) Improving Basic Comprehension; (9) Critical and Creative Reading, Writing, and Thinking; (10) Content Area Reading, Writing, Reasoning, and Study; (11) Literacy Provisions for Children with Special Needs; (12) Literacy Assessment; and (13) The Classroom and School Literacy Program. Appendixes contain a "picture potency formula," a teacher's primer on phonics, a vocabulary of "senses," and performance indicators. Contains approximately 1,500 references. (RS)