Education Commons^™

Becoming Literate: The Acquisition Of Story Discourse, David L. Brown, L.D. Briggs

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Educators and researchers are focusing their attention on children's knowledge of reading and writing acquired prior to formal instruction. Many research projects have described the parallel between children's acquisition of spoken and written language. As a result of extensive research during the last twenty years, educators' understanding of how children learn to read and write has changed drastically.

Reviews: Professional Materials, Kathryn Kinnucan-Welsch, Sherry R. Myers, Paul Bright, Jeanne M. Jacobson

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Jerry L. Johns (1991). Basic Reading Inventory; Children's Books: Merry Christmas, Amanda and April; Chicken Man; All the Lights in the Night; Jack and the Beanstalk; The Swineherd; The Worst Person's Christmas; That's Exactly the Way it Wasn’t; An Auto Mechanic, A Carpenter, A Potter; Meredith's Mother Takes the Train

Reading Horizons Vol. 32, No. 2

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons, volume 32, issue 2.

College Students As Readers, Jan Labonty

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The Statistics on the reading habits of adult Americans are grim: 10% of the population reads 70% of the books while most adults never read for pleasure. Of the 159 members of the United Nations, the United States ranks a mediocre 24th in book production and 49th in literacy. The 27 million Americans considered functionally illiterate and the additional 35 million who have less than minimum survival skill comprise approximately one-third of the adult population. Their ranks are increasing by 2.3 million each year (Larrick, 1987).

Reviews: Professional Materials, Ronald A. Crowell, Sue Coker, Kathy Barclay, Mark Neidlinger

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Hy Ruchlis and Sandra Oddo (1990). Clear Thinking: A Practical Introduction; Books for children; songbooks; Three recommended children's books; Content area literature for young people

Reading Horizons Vol. 32, No. 1

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons, volume 32, issue 1.

Readers Theatre: Bringing Life To The Reading Program!, Terrell A. Young

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Readers Theatre is a presentation of prose, poetry, or content area material that is read aloud by several readers. Readers Theatre is similar to a play; however, the participants read their parts rather than memorize them. Therefore, Readers Theatre is both less threatening and less time consuming for students than involvement in conventional children's drama since it is easier to read rather than memorize the script.

Guiding Illiterate Parents In Assistning Their Children In Emergent Literacy, Pamela J. Farris, Mary R. Denner

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

As the number of illiterate adults continues to grow, increasing numbers of children have parents with limited reading and writing skills. Such children are deprived of the joys of reading, for their parents do not read to them at bedtime nor do such parents peruse the morning paper.

Primary Teachers Involved In Change: A Special Kind Of Learning, Kathy Dulaney Barclay

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

In this article, I offer a glimpse into the classrooms of seven teachers, describing, in their words, some of their successes, as well as their struggles, as they attempted to make changes in their classroom environments and their instructional procedures.

Commentary: A Pledge Of Responsibility For Children By Teachers Of Reading, Richard D. Robinson

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Statements of responsibility for literacy.

Making Wordsmiths, Beth Weir

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Templeton (1991) uses the term "wordsmith" to refer to language users conversant with and excited about their use of words as tools. Becoming a "wordsmith," developing a working knowledge of the English language and an interest in it is no mean feat.

The Thinking-Writing Connection: Using Clustering To Help Students Write Persuasively, Jeannie L. Steele, Patty Steele

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Understanding what you know, think or believe about a topic is essential if you are to write clearly about that topic. Yet it is often difficult for young writers to know what they think and, certainly, even more difficult for them to organize their thinking. Simply telling students to write more clearly or to make their point more effectively will not make them able to do so. They must be taught how to become aware of their thoughts and feelings and how to organize them to effectively communicate them through their writing.

Reading In Families: A Research Update, Linda Asmussen, Janet S. Gaffney

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Asmussen and Gaffney have uncovered one of the many rich sources of research data inherent in the Read ing Recovery program. The Ohio research studies (already some 13 volumes) have documented the success of Reading Recovery in the United States. Success like this produces a need to unravel the warp and woof to examine the nature of that success. Certainly there are many threads to examine. In this brief research update, they describe a current study to explore reading in the families of a sample of Reading Recovery children in Illinois. It will be interesting to compare their findings with …

Why Is An Inservice Programme For Reading Recovery Teachers Necessary?, Marie M. Clay

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The Reading Recovery program was developed in New Zealand to answer the question how can an education system provide a second chance for young children who have not re sponded to the literacy programme in their first year of instruc tion at school? (It is not a program for teaching beginning reading to 80-90% of school children.) There are four aspects to the program: 1) the teaching of children, 2) the training of teachers, 3) the training of teacher leaders, and 4) implement ing the program in an education system and coordinating the long-term prevention strategy. Teachers help children from …

As We See It; Classroom Teachers View Reading Recovery, Jennifer Hamill, Cynthia Kelly, Jeanne M. Jacobson

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This is the second article in this special issue not written by Reading Recovery trained teachers. Hamill and Kelly are first grade teachers in one of the 26 participating schools in the first year of Reading Recovery implementation in Michigan. In response to questions by the editor of Reading Horizons, they explain the program — its impact on the Reading Recovery children and on their classroom teaching.

Clearly the concerted work of the Reading Recovery teacher-in-training and these teachers demonstrates that the Reading Recovery program is an intervention in the education system, as well as a program for children.

Hypothesizing About Reading Recovery, Michael F. Opitz

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Professor Opitz's article is one of two in this special issue not written by a Reading Recovery trained teacher. The author has examined the literature on Reading Recovery and attempted to puzzle out the reason(s) for its success. Trained Reading Recovery teachers will find both points of agreement and disagreement, and many points on which to establish a discussion. Opitz writes, "...we do not, I believe, know why the program works." Yet as Clay suggests in this issue, answers are learned in the year-long and continuing contact training sessions. Our understanding of why the program works does not come from …

Reading Recovery: A Viable Prevention Of Learning Disability, Carol A. Lyons

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Mrs. Wishy Washy, one of the most popular charac ters of the little books used in Reading Recovery, sets a Herculean task for herself — to keep the barnyard ani mals clean. Professor Lyons, too, has taken on a big job — to convince the educational establishment that there must be a better way to cope with the increasing number of children classified as learning disabled. Suggesting that Reading Recovery can be that first net for avoiding the mislabeling of young children as "at-risk" learners, she provides a detailed case study of Mike, once labeled LD. The detailed description of …

Helping To Learn: Components And Principles Of Reading Recovery Training, Noel K. Jones

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Professor Jones, completing his training at The Ohio State University as a Reading Recovery teacher trainer, reflects on the dynamics of Reading Recovery training at the many levels of the program: teacher training, teacher leader training, and the program for university trainers. Jones identifies a set of unifying activities that underlie the training of Reading Recovery personnel at all three training levels. He zeroes in on "the public teaching" be hind the glass and characterizes it "as a powerful force toward individual self-improvement." He also explores the tension created because of watching the lesson and attending to the discussion, a …

Reviews, Stephanie Brinkerhoff

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The Story Box.Wright Group (1990).

Article Index

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Index to articles in volume 31.

Author Index

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Index to authors in volume 31.

Reading Horizons Vol. 31, No. 5

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete Issue of Reading Horizons volume 31, issue 5.

Reading Recovery: Getting Started In A School System, Janet S. Gaffney

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

In this article, Professor Gaffney suggests a schema for school personnel interested in planning for the implementation of a Reading Recovery program in a local school district or consortium of school districts. Her emphasis that Reading Recovery is a system of intervention, not a bag of tricks or quickie methods, for the purpose of preventing reading failure is an important caution to would-be innovators. She also describes the nature of full implementation, its importance, and how to plan for it. In addition, she joins Professor Clay in cautioning us that the Reading Recovery procedures were not devised for the 80-90% …

Making Seatwork Work, Patricia M. Cunningham

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Seatwork is an activity which has very few supporters but which is a part of every school day in almost every elementary classroom. In elementary classrooms, most of the seatwork is done during the reading/language time and often occupies two-thirds of the allocated time (Allington and McGill-Franzen, 1989; Rosenshine, 1979). Seatwork serves an important management function in that it allows teachers to focus their attention on groups or individual children with varying needs and abilities. Seatwork is also supposed to provide children with some of the practice needed to become better readers and writers.

Using Writing As A Clinical Intervention, Michael P. French, Kim E. Reinhart

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The programs at the Bowling Green State University Reading Center are designed to help both elementary and secondary children improve their literacy skills by offering a variety of assessment and developmentally appropriate reading programs. These programs include individualized instructional programs which utilize a variety of language based teaching strategies and techniques, including the use of writing as a clinical intervention.

Improving The Effectiveness And Efficiency Of Textbook Selection Procedures: A Smorgasbord Of Suggestions And Strategies, Jeanne Shay Schumm, Martha Doucette

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Textbook selection in the United States used to be quite simple. As Nila Banton Smith (1986) reminds us, choices in colonial America were limited to the New England Primer and a Holy Bible. Throw in a slate and a lunch pail and children were fully equipped for the school year!

Reading Horizons Vol. 31, No. 4

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete Issue of Reading Horizons volume 31, issue 4.

Reading, Writing, Discussing: An Interactive Approach To Teaching In The Content Areas, Pamela J. Farris, Carol Fuhler, Mary Louise Ginejko

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Content area reading necessitates that students develop effective study strategies. Farrar (1986) pointed out that much of the reading in the content areas requires higher thinking skills than for narrative passages and noted that "examining one's own opinions, judgments, and reactions in relation to what the author has presented and applying that knowledge to new situations marks a qualitative jump from the... comprehension of the basal reader" (p. 46).

Professional Materials, Lynn Nations Johnson

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Literature-Based Social Studies: Children's Books and Activities to Enrich the K-5 Curriculum. Mildred Knight Laughlin and Patricia Payne Kardaleff. 1991. Children's Books: Aldo Peanut Butter. Johanna Hurwitz. 1990; Alison's Zinnia. Anita Lobel, author and illustrator. 1991;Building a House. Byron Barton. 1990; Manatee on Location. Kathy Darling. 1991; Yellow Ball. Molly Bang. 1991; By The Sea. Michelle Koch. 1991; The Twelve Days of Summer. Elizabeth L. O'Donnell. 1991. Reviewed By: Sherry Myers, Linda K. Judy, Cindy Overly, and Jeanne M. Jacobson

Using Poetry With Adolescents In A Remedial Reading Program: A Case Study, Sheila Shapiro, Mary Welch

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Teachers who teach reading to low-achieving adolescents know that good, high-interest, low-vocabulary instructional materials are difficult to find and sometimes unavailable. Even when good materials are available in the form of magazine articles, short stories, and easy novels, they are often overwhelming to an adolescent who is reading four-to five years or more below grade level.