English Update. May 13, 2007. The Reading Teacher (May 07).

Idea summaries from The Reading Teacher, May 2007. Summarizing these articles does not imply advocacy. RayS.

Curriculum..... Video games.... Investigate the learning principles that underlie successful video games and how these principles can improve instruction. C Compton-Lilly. RT (May 07), 726.

Reading..... Video games..... What are some principles that underlie successful use of video games that could be applied to reading instruction? Authentic; engaging; read only books that interest; practice leads to improvement; risk-free; time to talk with teachers about what students are reading; broaden the range of resources. C Compton-Lilly. RT (May 07), 727.

Curriculum..... Achievement..... Performance gap exists between white, affluent Caucasian students and low-income white, African-American and Latino students--no matter what measure is used. WH Teale and LB Gambrell. RT (May 07), 728.

Reading..... Aloud..... Research on reading aloud to children, ages 3 to 6: improvement in vocabulary, literary syntax, story recall, organization and expressive language. However, modest relationship between frequency and quality of parent-child read-alouds; negative between kindergarten teachers' reading aloud and decoding. Merely reading aloud is not sufficient for oral vocabulary and listening comprehension. LM McGee and JA Schickedanz. RT (May 07), 742.

Reading..... Aloud..... Authors recommend that teachers read aloud interactively with young children. Means careful preparation before reading. LM McGee and JA Schickedanz. RT (May 07), 742-751.

Writing..... Summarizing..... Steps in teaching students to write a summary: study model; modeler writes a summary while thinking aloud; student writes summary and compares to model with the aid of the modeler. L Helsel and D Greenberg. RT (May 07), 753.

Computer..... Data..... "Being data rich doesn't necessarily translate into being data smart." NA Reilly. RT (May 07), 770.

Reading..... Summer..... Tips for parents. Early readers: point out print; read aloud and point to words; read short passage until child can read with you and then to you; older children should read to younger; pretend read; library; write messages; watch TV with captions on. Tips for parents of advanced children: talk about what child is reading; library; read aloud; listen to children read aloud; play word games. M Mraz and JT Razinski. RT (May 07), 788.