From the Editors

Abstract

We invite you in to our penultimate issue. Hard to believe, but we have just this issue and one more before our editorship ends. We think each issue of The Reading Teacher is exciting to organize and share. We always look forward to hearing from you about how you have used the content to enrich your teaching and thinking, and we know that this issue will stimulate conversation and reflection about how we teach to increase the learning and motivation of all of our students. We organized this issue around three major themes: digital opportunities, writing, and reading differences. Although we grouped the content this way, you may find that you have additional ways to connect pieces, such as age range or instructional strategy. We know that however you organize your reading, you will enjoy and reflect on all the ideas shared within. There are three pieces in particular that focus on digital opportunities. Julie Coiro, Jill Castek, and David Quinn lead us off with an exploration of personal inquiry and online research. We learn through their framework how to support students' personal research as they participate in inquiry, collaboration, creation, and reflection about their research journey. Frank Serafini, Danielle Kachorsky, and Earl Aguilera help us understand the differences between picture books in print and as apps. They highlight these important differences and offer interesting picture book apps to explore. Amy Hutchison, Larysa Nadolny, and Anne Estapa explore apps that help students learn how to code. That's right, students use coding apps to develop content learning. Through this process, students gain logical thinking, problem-solving, sequencing, and planning skills. There is no one better from whom to learn about writing than Ruth Culham. She helps us understand the importance of using consistent vocabulary during writing instruction. We enjoyed how she invited us to think about writing instruction throughout her piece. Erin McClure invites us to use predictable charts with young students to help them integrate reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Louise Spear-Swerling shares common types of reading problems: word reading difficulties, specific reading comprehension difficulties, and mixed reading difficulties. She reminds us how important it is to use assessments to identify reading problems and their patterns to better support student learning. Mark Pacheco and Mary Miller help us understand translanguaging and how its use supports emergent bilinguals. Translanguaging is the practice of using heritage languages to make meaning within classroom instruction. Margaret Vaughn, Seth Parsons, Melissa Gallagher, and Jeneille Branen share how to use adaptive instruction to support student learning. This practice shows how teachers constantly informally assess students, reflect on their teaching practices, know their students well, and have a vision for instruction. Ruth Meese shares her strategy, TOTO, to help students become familiar with and automatic at decoding vowel pairs. Her practice helps students understand vowel sounds and the frequency of sounds. Sharon Pratt and Melena Urbanowski show us how to help young children self-monitor and self-correct during a reciprocal teaching routine. Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey describe how content learning is more than reading a textbook or trade book. Rather, content learning involves exploring an area of inquiry, integrating information and ideas, and leaving students with big ideas and information they will use throughout their lives. Borrowing from Fisher and Frey, we know that this issue will provide you with ideas that will influence your teaching tomorrow and throughout your life. Enjoy!