Explore the vast range of titles available.

In this article, the authors describe the impact of a reader response game in an English language arts classroom. They explore the theoretical intersection of game-based learning and “good games” and transactional theory as a framework for this practice. After incorporating a “good game” of reader response in classes, the authors found that the students increased both their volume of texts read and their engagement across text format/type and genre. The authors conclude by discussing the theoretical and instructional implications of using a reader response style game in the English language arts classroom and beyond.

Gamification uses game elements such as quests, challenges, levels, and rewards to motivate and engage students in the classroom. Given the engagement that students feel during gameplay, it is sensible to include elements of game design to motivate students and create a space for comprehensive vocabulary instruction. Designing a gamified vocabulary curriculum begins with clear learning goals, a careful selection of key terms, and the transformation of activities into quest challenges. This article shares how to design a gamified vocabulary curriculum to scaffold higher order thinking skills. Snapshots and examples of vocabulary gamification, along with suggestions for everyday practice, are included and aligned to the levels of Bloom's taxonomy. A discussion on how gamification supports student autonomy and mastery learning in a goal‐oriented environment is provided.

Measuring students’ reading motivation is a common practice in literacy classrooms, and results often inform instruction. This mixed‐methods study problematizes this practice, raising tensions between how reading motivation is measured and its enactment in a reading class. Key tensions include reading motivation as competition versus a collective endeavor, reading motivation emphasizing teacher‐directed learning versus student‐led learning, and reading motivation valuing texts as windows versus mirrors. The author suggests that teachers should take a critical lens to reading motivation measurement tools before using them.

Does print still matter in this digital age? What is the role of technology in reading? Do adolescents who enjoy reading view the reading of print and digital material differently from those who do not enjoy reading? Drawing on survey data from 6,005 students and focus group data with 96 students across six secondary schools, the authors conducted a mixed-methods study to examine adolescents’ print and digital reading habits in Singapore. Findings show that adolescents prefer print but move toward more online reading as they get older. Adolescents’ online reading habits are reflective of their print preferences and behavior with physical books. The authors explain how both print and technology matter to motivate adolescent reading.

The author examines the benefits of journaling in his fifth‐grade classroom. Reviewing student journal data from the past 25 years, he shares an effective method for preparing a classroom for daily journaling, one that minimizes teacher‐issued prompts and implements procedures for sharing and reflecting. Positive effects include insights into students’ feelings, beliefs, values, and attitudes, as well as an examination of how effective practice motivates students to write, which in turn improves their composition skills.

The early reading gap among diverse subgroups of students in schools has made teachers conscious of how students’ culture affects their perceptions of reading and the literacy materials now being used in classrooms. The reported racial and gender gap among elementary literacy readers leaves African American boys on the fringes of literacy growth and development. Therefore, teachers are responsible for implementing strategies to build an emergent and early literacy classroom that motivates all boys of color to enjoy reading at an early age while shining a positive spotlight on all student backgrounds. Adopting a culturally responsive approach to literacy, increasing student responsibility in the literacy selection process, and supplying culturally relevant texts that positively influence student self-perception will foster motivation for male students of color who are marginalized during the literacy-learning process.

Most people have struggled with reading in one situation or another, depending on their appreciation for the content, their prior experiences, and the texts. This department column shares ways for educators to help literacy learners unlock their potential with instruction anchored in their skills, knowledge, ways of learning, interests, and attitudes.

Culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy is an asset‐based approach to teaching and learning. In this way, students’ identities, languages, and cultures are centered in the learning experience, creating a sense of belonging. The authors observed culturally relevant and sustaining approaches to teaching and learning while visiting schools in New Zealand as part of a three‐week study abroad program. Specifically, the authors observed how teachers in New Zealand centered Maori and Pasifika cultures into daily instruction and learning. Together as teacher educators, an inservice teacher, and a preservice teacher, the authors examine the importance of culturally relevant and sustaining teaching and share their observations of how students’ cultures are honored through writing and arts integration in the classrooms visited in New Zealand. The authors describe how a fifth‐grade teacher applied lessons learned from her visit to New Zealand in her own classroom context in the United States.

There is far more to the digital divide than meets the eye. In this article, the authors consolidate existing research on the digital divide to offer some tangible ways for educators to bridge the gap between the haves and have‐nots, or the cans and cannots. Drawing on Aldous Huxley's notion of a “brave new world,” some digital divide approaches and frameworks require debunking and are strongly associated with first‐world nations that fail to account for the differential access to technologies that people who live in poverty have. Taking a closer look at current realities, the authors send out a call to teachers, administrators, and researchers to think more seriously and consequentially about the effect the widespread adoption of technologies has had on younger generations and the role of the digital on knowledge creation and on imagined futures.

This article offers insights into students’ perceptions of writing through the use of drawings and written responses. In a descriptive qualitative study of fifth graders across two diverse elementary schools, students were prompted to draw a picture about a recent experience with writing and how that experience made them feel. Students were then asked to write a description of their drawings. We studied features in the drawings and written responses and constructed four thematic categories. Findings highlight the range of both positive and negative experiences with writing as well as a realistic tool for literacy teachers to use to take the temperature of the classroom.