This article reports on a study that investigated how teachers from the same urban elementary school serving a low- to medium-income student population interpreted, negotiated, and resisted a district-wide mandate requiring them to implement the Open Court Reading program. Interviews and informal observations revealed that there were profound…

An interview with Michael Stubbs, lecturer in linguistics at the University of Nottingham, regarding the sociolinguistics of the classroom. (DD)

David Booth, internationally renowned educator, author, and professor of education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at Toronto University has presented workshops in all areas of language learning and has won several awards for his classroom teaching, his contributions to the teaching of reading and his books for young people. He…

Interviews with fourth grade students about their writing in science revealed their perspectives on purposes for writing, understandings of intended audiences, and use of visuals. A discussion of these themes is situated in a consideration of theory and research on genre. The article includes suggestions for teachers related to the teaching of…

Describes the positive effects that interviewing classroom guests had on the reading and communication skills of first-grade children, offers observations about what happens to children and their language when they conduct interviews, and suggests guidelines for planning and directing an interviewing program. (ET)

The purpose of writing is to communicate with an audience. Teachers need to move heaven and earth to be sure that every child knows what it is to become a published author. Criteria for selecting a piece is important. In this article, the author explores why the criteria that children use for selecting poetry to share with an audience differ from…

Interviews Lisa Delpit from the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University. Argues that many nonmainstream children need explicit instruction in literacy conventions and strategies to gain access to the culture of power. (MG)

Language arts educators who teach Latino English language learners know that part of their job is to help students learn to distinguish between the vernacular varieties of Spanish (or Mandarin, or Portuguese, or Swahili), English they use at home, and the school varieties of language expected in the classroom and in other professional and…