Proposes that many times, English language art teachers fail to "mind the gaps" that exist between students' interest, reading abilities, levels of life experience, and the worlds of the texts they are asked to read as part of the curriculum. Suggests that each piece of difficult text needs a specific bridge tailored to its particular difficulties…

Presents a point, counterpoint strategy which helps students build a repertoire of interpretive strategies that can be enlisted when dealing with complex short stories. Notes that the key to the strategy is that students begin with their personal responses and move toward more public and generalized interpretations. (RS)

Deals with the text patterns commonly found in social studies books. Explores the expository text pattern and offers a teaching pattern to help guide students through the transition from narrative to content area texts in the upper elementary grades. (MG)

Describes a schema-awareness activity (used with sixth graders and college students) that provides teachers with a model of how students can use their past experiences and their ability to infer and predict when reading. Notes that the activity convinces students that they bring to the reading act much more than they encounter on the printed page.…

Despite research and theory to the contrary, approaches to the teaching of reading continue to reflect a transmission model of reading, focused on the retrieval of information from a text. It is argued that writing should be fully integrated with reading to give students experiences of engagement and connection with texts. (66 references)…

Presents an in-class literature exercise to help students understand that there may be more than one "right" reading, more than one right answer, more than one right way of understanding literature. (SR)

Reading aloud makes important contributions to young children's literacy development, but some methods of reading aloud are much more beneficial than others. Researchers have investigated ways to make read-aloud sessions more meaningful for children, and several methods have emerged as particularly effective. This article examines the role of…

In earlier work on the hermeneutics of charity, the author explored the relevance of Augustine's insistence on charity in reading Scripture for interpreters of non-biblical texts. This article shows how one might bring such charitable reading into the classroom and reframe the teacher's task in its light. The article discusses some implications…

Describes the basic components of Iser's theory, then suggests ways to get students to interact with texts. (FL)

Explores the multidimensional nature of learning from text through a discussion of the critical variables of students' knowledge, interest, and use of strategies. Examines the developmental nature of learning from text as students journey through school from acclimation to competence, and finally to expertise in a subject area. Suggests…

Relates how student-made questions inspired at-risk students to get involved with an assigned text. States that the students became engaged in literature and no longer needed the teacher to pose questions or set agendas. (PRA)

The study reported in this paper responds to the current movement toward literature-based reading instruction. Five fifth-graders attending a Midwest, urban school participated in the 10-week study in a classroom in which the teacher initiated a literature-based reading program. Data sets included observational field notes, audiotaped lessons,…

Two exercises were developed to demonstrate how Mikhail Bakhtin's conception of novelistic language and creative interpretation are instrumental in teaching students to read creatively. The text chosen for these exercises was "Crime Against Nature" by Minnie Bruce Pratt. According to Bakhtin's scheme, a fiction can be read most…

A study was conducted to determine how effective webbing--schematic representation of main ideas and supporting details--would be in helping students build bridges between their reading of a text and outlining the material in it. Subjects were 21 sixth grade students, who had been working on outlining and were familiar with its purpose and form.…

This book offers a broad range of perspectives on the study of literacy in which reading and writing is examined as it occurs in classrooms, businesses, communities, and families, among other settings. The book contains the following chapters: (1) "In Search of Meaning" (Judith Green); (2) "The Development of Literacy: Access, Acquisition and…