Reports a year-long study of middle school language arts students. Finds that average students who are instructed in the art of reflective analysis by way of the systematic use of reflective questions and reflective events do, in fact, over time become more aware of the increasingly more sophisticated challenges that writers face. (SR)

Explores vocabulary-learning opportunities in a seventh-grade literature-based reading program. Discusses how this program supported vocabulary teaching and learning both explicitly and implicitly, and shows how varying classroom configurations expanded learners' word knowledge and enhanced their word-learning abilities. (SR)

Presents a debate between two English teachers (in the form of a critique of a March 1997 article in this journal, a response to that critique, and a rebuttal of that response) on the classics, student choice in reading, and teaching. (SR)

Describes how elementary teachers are integrating children's literature into content lessons. Describes three reasons for the use of picture books in content classrooms and describes specific ways that various books can be used in teaching a range of content area subjects. Lists resources for teachers, children's literature for specific content…

Argues that reflecting on important "marker" stories in people's lives by using counting ropes (based on the children's book "Knots on a Counting Rope" by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault) helps students and teachers make sense of their complex worlds. Describes how they are used in the author's language arts methods course. Describes a…

Investigates the possibilities that a reader response approach offered strong female characters to four middle school girls reading and talking about two young adult novels. Examines issues involved in negotiating meaning in such literature discussions, including real talk, "inappropriate" talk, preferences in group talk, and privileged talk.…

Investigates ways of introducing media theory into the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) practical production module in Media Studies. Describes how the author developed and critiqued his approach to what he taught and how it should be assessed. Argues that the subtlest understandings of audience were gained as students reflected…

Introduces a Storm Trackers unit that uses actual hurricane data to track hurricane movements. Uses an inquiry-based teaching approach in a cooperative learning environment. (YDS)

Describes lessons and units that allow the author's high school English students to make important connections with members of their community, publish their efforts, and thus bridge the gap between young adults and their communities. Describes a "literary cookbook" (published and distributed in their community) in which each student wrote one…

Describes a range of community-based writing projects that the author used with her middle and high school students of all levels. Discusses how these projects (ranging from simple interviews, to short biographies to profiles published and distributed in the community) not only became part of students' home town, but also helped students distill…

Provides information on china painting, focusing on Kurt Weiser, who paints on ceramics using china paints. Discusses his techniques and describes his work titled "Woman with Mongoose." Includes accompanying projects for art history, visual arts, language arts, natural science, and science or mathematics. (CMK)

Reviews the evolution of relevant research in both response to literature and in the enactment of response-based practices in classrooms. Examines research on text, readers, and contexts. Examines research exploring how readers construct texts as cultural worlds, construct identities through participation in worlds, and share responses through…

Describes teaching tolerance with 125 eighth-grade language arts students. Discusses how, through a critical examination of two picture books on the internment of Japanese Americans by the United States government during World War II, students were able to shed light on this historical event, while also learning for themselves how the truth is…

Introduces an adoption journal activity which is based on the observation of a subject and recording data of growth and behavior over a lengthy period of time. Integrates science, mathematics, and language arts. Includes eight assignments with rubrics. (YDS)

Asserts that 3- to 6-year-olds are capable of types of thinking previously thought possible only by older children and that they readily understand content organized into stories. Offers suggestions for providing a storytelling foundation in Montessori early childhood classrooms, including a "random words" challenge and use of abstract paintings…