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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.

As the popularity of project‐based learning grows, so does the importance of understanding how this instructional approach can support students’ learning and development. The authors describe a project‐based approach to literacy and social studies instruction that research has shown to be effective. Key characteristics of the approach and illustrations of how those characteristics are enacted in a project‐based learning geography unit are identified. In the unit, students develop informational reading and persuasive writing skills and learn key social studies content and skills by engaging in the development of brochures about their local community for an authentic audience. The authors also describe how educators can navigate common challenges that can arise when transitioning to a project‐based approach.

The authors share findings from a study that incorporated two types of participatory interview approaches (conversational drawing interviews and walking tour interviews) to elicit young students’ (K–2) motivation‐related perceptions of a reading intervention to better understand and support their motivation for doing reading in the program. All 14 students shared perceived benefits of intervention participation, and 10 students shared perceived costs. For five students, the perceived costs appeared to outweigh the perceived benefits; these students reported that if allowed to choose, they would not participate in the reading intervention. A perceived lack of autonomy within the intervention was a common theme woven through these students’ responses. Given the connection between motivation and achievement, the authors emphasize the importance of eliciting students’ motivation‐related perceptions of reading instruction and offer suggestions for probing young students’ understandings.

Individuals who self‐identify as poor readers can have a range of reading experiences, practices, and abilities. The author examined how adolescents and adults who self‐identified as poor readers (a) found enjoyment in reading an interactive fiction app, (b) why they chose to engage with a text‐based app, and (c) if their involvement with the app changed their reading practices. Participants were heavily involved in reading on the app, and their experiences allowed them to enjoy reading and begin to see themselves as readers in a positive light. However, all participants reported that they were uninterested in reading outside the app. Findings indicate that a positive experience can help youth and adults change how they engage with texts, but more support is required to help them engage with texts more broadly.

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.

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.

The authors explored adolescents’ reasons for reading or not reading books. In individual interviews with 39 adolescents (ages 15 and 16) in the United Kingdom, they reported that reading books offered an opportunity to relax, learn, escape the real world, and become immersed; was exciting, developed their empathy skills, and provided a form of social capital. However, challenges to book reading included a lack of time; that it was too effortful; that it was not encouraged, was expensive, or was uncool, or that students had simply lost the habit or grown out of it. Implications for high school classrooms are discussed, and the researchers argue that time, space, and/or initiatives to read for pleasure are important. Collaborative work among researchers, teachers, and engaged/disengaged adolescent readers is essential to ensure that these initiatives are optimal and reach and resonate with their intended audience.

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.

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.