Language Arts - Texts, Technology, and Thinking, Jan 2001

In this article, Deborah Hicks reflects on how the social practices and relationships experienced by a young reader at home were brought to bear as he worked to become a reader at school.

Klein and Olson argue that the effects of electronic technology on students’ thinking and learning may be much less than some technophiles would have us believe.

Abigail Garthwait observes sixth graders composing nonfiction projects in hypermedia and finds more questions than answers.

LaSpina considers how textual and digital visual worlds come together to create new ways of thinking about text and the nature of representation.

Pianfetti argues for a more prominent place for technology in professional development programs for teachers.

The standards movement links success to explicit “high standards” without regard to the cultural background and knowledge of individual children. In this article, McIntyre, Kyle, Moore, Sweazy, and Greer begin with the assumption that successful teaching demands a better understanding of the cultural backgrounds and experiences of students and their families.

Van Horn illustrates the importance of personal relevance and life experience in students’ ability to become engaged in the essay genre.

In this month’s Talking about Books column, Kauffman and Short consider books that were used in an exploration of “identity” in Kauffman’s fourth/fifth-grade, multiage classroom.

This installment of our Roundtable on Books column includes reviews of a variety of professional books ranging from texts that focus on issues of race, to books that take up emergent literacy, to texts on beginning teaching.

Daniel Darigan profiles X. J. Kennedy, the recipent of the NCTE 295 Poetry Award for the year 2000.