I found several good articles in out-of-the-way places and only got through half of an excellent issue of The Reading Teacher. More next week.

All the best,

Kim
 

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Quotes of the Week

“It is the accumulation of the hundreds of minute decisions that is the difference between mediocrity and true excellence.”
Eva Moskowitz, New York City charter school director, quoted in “Refocusing Her
Zeal” by Elissa Gootman, New York Times, Nov. 4, 2008 (p. A24)

“There are two things about schools that amaze me: they constantly reinvent the wheel, and they overlook large sources of untapped talent.”
Stephen Dexter, Jr. in “Creative Energy” in Principal Leadership, Dec. 2008 (p. 40)

“That somewhat grumpy person in human resources or facilities may well come to your rescue some day. Don’t forget it.”
Donald Boomgaarden (see item #2)

“When your arguments fail and you have to simply tell people what they must do, then you have not won. You have lost.”
Donald Boomgaarden, quoting his boss (ibid.)

“Take teachers in American inner cities. They may be good technically and feel deeply about their responsibility to their students. But if they don’t find joy in their work, they burn out; it’s just too hard. You have to build into hard jobs like that supports and rewards, so that what was initially meaningful and engaging will continue to be so.”
Howard Gardner (quoted in item #1)
 

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1. What Constitutes “Good Work”?

In this thoughtful New York Times article, author Daniel Goleman reports on recent research by Howard Gardner, William Damon, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on what constitutes truly satisfying and fulfilling work. “Good work,” as they call it, has these characteristics:
- The person is highly competent and effective;
- The work aligns with his or her values;
- The person has “a pleasing sense of engagement” in the work.
“Lacking any of these three ingredients,” says Goleman, “a job or profession may be great in other ways, but it does not make the cut for good work.” For example, the head of a global environmental organization (one of hundreds interviewed by Gardner and his colleagues) said that his work expressed his values but didn’t engage or challenge him; others who were technically excellent at their work were haunted by the question, “Why am I doing this?”
By contrast, Govan Brown, a New York City bus driver, became a legend by always telling his passengers the history of places they passed as they rode up Madison Avenue, informing them of sales in stores along the way, and giving reviews of movies and museum exhibits. Over the years, Brown received more than 1,400 letters of commendation and not a single complaint, and his retirement party was attended by hundreds of loyal passengers. Mr. Brown, a Baptist deacon, loved his work, and saw his passengers as another “flock” that needed tending.
What surprised the researchers most was the importance of joy in one’s work. “Take teachers in American inner cities,” said Gardner. “They may be good technically and feel deeply about their responsibility to their students. But if they don’t find joy in their work, they burn out; it’s just too hard. You have to build into hard jobs like that supports and rewards, so that what was initially meaningful and engaging will continue to be so.”
Gardner suggests that people considering a job offer should visit the work site and ask themselves, “Is this the kind of place where I can see myself in others… Are my colleagues people I’d admire or people I’d prefer to avoid?”

“It May Be a Good Job, but Is It ‘Good Work’?” by Daniel Goleman, New York Times, Nov. 16, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/jobs/16pre.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=It%20May%20be%20a%20good%20job,%20but%20is%20it%20good%20work&st=cse
 

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2. Five Rules for Effective Leadership

In this article in The Chronicle of Higher Education article, Loyola College administrator Donald Boomgaarden shares some important leadership advice. Boomgaarden has come to believe that pulling rank and using power should be the last resort. His boss once told him, “When your arguments fail and you have to simply tell people what they must do, then you have not won. You have lost.” What these words and his own experience have taught him, Boomgaarden says, is that authority “rests primarily in my ability to convince others that it is in their own best interests to help me. I work with faculty members, administrators, staff members, students, and outside constituents regularly. They are extremely busy already and do not give up their time easily, but gaining their support is absolutely essential to my work.” Here are his pointers:
• Everyone you work with is important. “That somewhat grumpy person in human resources or facilities may well come to your rescue some day,” says Boomgaarden. “Don’t forget it. When you have even the slightest opportunity to show kindness, perform a small favor, or just listen to a complaint with understanding, seize it. Faculty members, for example, live in a hectic environment and often receive precious little recognition for their hard work. Be someone who supports and enjoys their successes.”
• Be on a mission. “Confronted by daily events that challenge your abilities and patience,” he says, “you may find it easy to forget that there is a higher mission in what you do. Remembering that higher mission, and keeping it a part of your daily interactions with others, will give life and joy to your work. It will make coming in on those especially tough days much, much easier.”
• Stop, look, and listen. “Before reacting to a problem,” advises Boomgaarden, “stop and think about where it falls on the priority list. Is it a serious problem? A temporary flare-up that will take care of itself? Something you could postpone and return to later when passions have cooled?” If a situation seems to be spinning out of control (perhaps an angry exchange of e-mails), he advises, “Stop and look at what is really going on, speak to the participants, and listen carefully.” This approach, he says, “can help you avoid making false assumptions or working with bad information – two things that can destroy your credibility.”
• It’s not about you. Boomgaarden recalls that one Christmas in his church, he was getting upset at his inattentive and unfocused youth choir, whose members were more interested in text-messaging than the performance they were about to give to hundreds of people. Noticing his furrowed brow, an older priest said to him, “Don, it’s not about you or me.” This stopped Boomgaarden dead in his tracks. “I’d completely forgotten that the children and parents were there for Christmas, not for my music program,” he recalls, and has remembered that comment in his work with faculty and others. “We are part of something much larger, and that simple truth can help to put what we do in perspective.”
• Be courageous. “It is easy to become anxious and afraid, particularly since we do not have control over all aspects of the situation,” says Boomgaarden. “We often must lead others over whom we actually have no real authority and who are skeptical about the worth of the ultimate task at hand. Sometimes the obstacles seem insurmountable. But timidity, fear, and anxiety undermine what little authority we have.” At such moments, he says, “others are looking to us to be the calm in the storm. We have the courage within us, but we must remind ourselves in times of stress that it is there, waiting to be used if only we would summon it. Forget you have it, and you are lost.”

“Managing from the Middle: Five Rules to Help You, as a Midlevel Administrator, Lead People Over Whom You Have No Real Authority” by Donald Boomgaarden in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 28, 08 (Vol. LV, #14, p. A31, 34), no e-link available; the author can be reached at drboomgaarden@loyola.edu.
 

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3. Using Student “Guardians” to Deal with High-School Bullying

In this intriguing Education Digest article, Nantucket High School (MA) behavior specialist Gregory Toledo describes the school’s approach to bullying. He says the “Guardian” program, now in its third year, has been highly effective at reducing incidents, helping all students feel safe, and improving the school’s culture.
Toledo and his colleagues define bullying as harassment, intimidation, belittling, or uncivil targeting by other students. They believe that a bullying incident usually has three characteristics:
- It is relatively brief.
- It is not witnessed or noticed by adults.
- It is not reported.
Efforts to get students to report bullying are futile, he believes. “The social consequences for victims and reporters often intensify, causing a chilling effect on students’ willingness to come forward,” he says, “…driving it further into the shadows.” But Toledo doesn’t think the usual “law enforcement” approach to bullying works either.
What makes more sense, he believes, is seeing bullying as a cultural problem, since it happens almost entirely within the student milieu. “The bullying dynamic is fairly consistent and straightforward,” says Toledo: “A bully will victimize a vulnerable student for personal entertainment and/or to entertain other students. Other students present may join in by goading, laughing, or tacitly encouraging that behavior. Or they may remain silent, walk away, or avoid the situation altogether.”
“But not everyone endorses this form of entertainment,” he continues, “and the silent and moral majority, if you will, is what we must tap into.” Toledo and his colleagues decided to recruit “Guardians” to help solve their school’s bullying problem. “Some students – the uninvolved, disapproving students who want to stop bullying, but who have no answers in the moment and no organized support network – are potential Guardians.”
Every year, students are recruited based on recommendations from teachers, other staff, and existing Guardians based on these criteria:
- Integrity
- Compassion and empathy
- Nonviolence
- Wisdom and sound judgment
- Courage
Students are interviewed and selected, and those who agree to become Guardians have a private meeting in October in which they pair up with either Toledo or his assistant as an adult “ally” and go through training and role-playing on different techniques for dealing with bullying. The Guardians remain anonymous within the school and are asked to be discreet about their role; they rarely meet as a group, don’t have a group photograph, and aren’t acknowledged in the yearbook. “There is no glory,” says Toledo.
When a Guardian witnesses or hears about a bullying incident, he or she immediately speaks to the victim and offers support, so the student doesn’t feel alone and that nobody cares. Guardians then decide on an “intervention” – but they are not avengers. Violence is totally banned from this program. Here are some of the options Guardians are trained in:
• Consultation – If the Guardian is unsure about what to do, he or she may speak with Toledo or his assistant for advice. Unless there is an immediate safety issue, no names are used in these talks. This chat can lead to one or more of the interventions below.
• Hand-off – The Guardian informs Toledo or his assistant and they take over. If there is no immediate safety issue, there is no report to the administration, but one of several things may happen: (a) Toledo or his assistant may show up at the place and time where the bullying is happening and preempt it; (b) They may alert specific teachers about where and when the bullying is happening so they can prevent it; (c) They may contact an adjustment counselor to help support the victim; (d) They may check class lists to see where the victim, bully, and Guardian intersect during the school day; if a Guardian knows the bully and/or the victim, he or she may speak to one or both to “get under” the bullying dynamic and see if it can be stopped; (e) Toledo may speak to the victim, offering support or strategy (“I establish trust by reassuring the victim that I will do nothing that he or she is uncomfortable with, unless safety is an issue,” he says); and finally, (f) If he knows the bully, Toledo will casually suggest, without letting on that he knows about the bullying, that the bully, as a favor, “look out for” the victim. “Usually, the behavior would cease by having a light discreetly shined on it,” says Toledo.
• Standing up – If a Guardian sees bullying happening, he or she may (a) Walk up and stand beside the victim, silently facing the bully with a nonthreatening posture, or say “Come on” to the victim and walk away; or (b) Address the bully by name and ask him or her to stop it. “If the Guardian is especially skilled, has status in the student culture, or has an earlier connection with the bully,” says Toledo, “the incident almost always withers away.” Both approaches usually interrupt the incident and put a stop to the bullying.
• A strategic fib – During an incident, the Guardian may tell the victim that he or she has a phone call in the front office or needs to see a particular teacher right away, interrupting the incident and giving the victim a face-saving way out.
• Assignments – Toledo describes a situation where a boy’s mother called the school to report that her son was being bothered every day by several students at the end of a particular class. Toledo looked at the roster and saw that there was a Guardian in the class. The next day, the Guardian introduced himself to the victim and started to walk out of the classroom with him. One of the bullies yanked the victim’s book bag from behind, and the Guardian turned and asked, “What are you doing?” “I’m just playing around…” said the bully. “That’s not cool. You shouldn’t do stuff like that,” said the Guardian. Toledo reports that this stopped the bullying cold. “The intervention was minimal, not personal – and highly effective,” he writes. “It was a form of positive peer pressure by a student who gently wove himself into the dynamic and managed to shift the spotlight from the victim to the offender.”
Toledo says that each bullying situation is different and Guardians, because they are closer to situations than adults, can usually scope out the best approach. “They have more exact information, often know the details of the dynamic, and have social connections among their peer group that we lack,” he writes. “They have the greatest potential to both shore up students who are singled out for harassment and intervene discreetly and naturally. Guardians may decide not to get too involved and in fact are trusted to make their own decisions,” he concludes. “They are not expected to become social martyrs. Fulfilling their minimum obligation is enough for the victim to feel support.”
Toledo describes his role (and that of his assistant) as offering experience, wisdom, and support. “Our authority is not surrendered,” he says, “only placed further down the line so that we can work directly and indirectly with students to devise lesser and, frankly, far more effective solutions.”

“The Guardians Initiative: A Student-Centered Approach to Bullying” by Gregory Toledo in Education Digest, December 2008 (Vol. 74, #4, p. 10-15), no e-link available; the author can be reached at scalinatella@hotmail.com.
 

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4. How to Promote “Word Consciousness” in Elementary Classrooms

In this article in The Reading Teacher, education professors Michael Graves and Susan Watts-Taffe describe how a first grader asked his mother, “If dynamite blows things up, then why did you say ‘This house is dynamite!’ when you saw Uncle Mike’s new house?” This boy was developing “word consciousness” – an awareness of the words around him, an appreciation of the power of words, an understanding of way certain words are used in place of others, knowledge about the differences between spoken and written language, and a sense of how some words can be substituted for others. Given that students need to learn about 40,000 words by the time they graduate from high school, Graves and Watts-Taffe believe that getting students conscious of and excited about words should be a major goal of literacy programs – especially for students who come to school with small vocabularies. They have five suggestions for fostering word consciousness:
• Create a word-rich environment. This can be done by posting lots of words on word walls, bulletin boards, and objects around the room; displaying plenty of books from different genres in ways that entice young readers; and making sure students hear a rich variety of words during the day. Repeated reading of familiar texts is particularly helpful for young children, explaining new words, extending word meanings, and helping students make connections between words and their own experiences.
• Recognize and promote adept diction. Read-alouds are a good place to start. “Because most vocabulary is learned from context,” say the authors, “making it a regular practice to read aloud to students from well-chosen pieces of prose and poetry, both fiction and non-fiction, provides a gold mine for building word consciousness.” Slightly older children can bring back words from home or the community (“My dad said I was an apprentice when he was teaching me how to wash the car”) and keep notebooks of new words.
• Promote wordplay. Classrooms should be stocked with word games that let students have fun with vocabulary, for example, the I Spy series by Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo for pre-school through grade 3; Balderdash for grades 4 and above; teacher-made games like Applause, Applause; Word Association; and Idea Completion (created by Isabel Beck and her colleagues (2002); and playing with idioms, clichés, and puns (see books like Why the Banana Split and Double Trouble in Walla Walla, as well as this website for a daily outrageous pun: http://www.punoftheday.com).
• Get the most out of writing. Students’ own writing is an ideal forum for working with synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, slang and formal English, etc. A writing unit can be built explicitly around word choice; for example, one teacher took the words fidgety, confident, energized, overwhelmed, jaded, anxious, brisk, ingenious, resourceful, and audacious and had students study the words and incorporate them into an adventure narrative over the space of a week.
• Involve students in original investigations. Students can be asked to research words used by particular professions and in certain situations; how people’s vocabularies differ from one situation to another; the evolution of slang; and how vocabulary changes over time.
• Teach students about words. From the first time they are exposed to a new word, they move along a four-stage continuum:
- Never having seen it before;
- Knowing there is such a word but not knowing what it means;
- Having a vague and context-bound meaning for the word;
- Knowing and remembering the word.
“In addition to structuring multiple exposures and practice opportunities with new words,” say Graves and Watts-Taffe, “it’s important for teachers and students to recognize that students’ early attempts to articulate their understanding of new words will often reflect partial rather than full knowledge. These early attempts, marked by partial misunderstanding and imprecision, are a crucial component of the word learning process. When students know that word learning requires time and practice, they are more likely to see themselves as competent word learners throughout the entire process, which of course they are!”
Students also need to learn about multiple meanings (e.g., jam, jam, and jam) and the links among words (e.g., tree, maple, birch, pine, forest, rainforest, deforestation, and habitat). The more words students know, and the more word groupings are linked in their brains, the easier it is for them to learn even more words.

“For the Love of Words: Fostering Word Consciousness in Young Readers” by Michael Graves and Susan Watts-Taffe in The Reading Teacher, November 2008 (Vol. 62, #3, p. 185-193) no e-link available; the authors are at mgraves@umn.edu and wattstaffe@zoomtown.com.
 

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5. A List of Staff-Student “Boundary Invasions”

Following up on last week’s article on identifying and putting a stop to “boundary invasions” by school staff that might be precursors to sexual abuse, here is a helpful list by the same authors (Donald Austin and Michael Patterson), from an article in Inquiry and Analysis:
- Taking an undue interest in a student; having a “special” friend or a “special relationship” with a particular student;
- Giving gifts or money to the student for no legitimate reason;
- Engaging in peer-like behavior with students (e.g., trying to be cool by being like one of the kids);
- Being overly “touchy” with students;
- Favoring certain students by giving them special privileges;
- Favoring certain students by inviting them to come to the classroom at non-class times;
- Getting the student out of class repeatedly to visit the staff member;
- Talking to the student about problems that would normally be discussed only with adults (e.g., marital problems);
- Telling the student “secrets” and having “secrets” with the student;
- Talking to the student about his or her personal problems to the extent that the adult becomes a confidant when it is not the adult’s job to do so.
- Allowing the student to get away with inappropriate behavior;
- Being alone with the student behind closed doors at school;
- Taking the student on outings, away from protective adults;
- Giving students rides in the teacher’s personal vehicle without administrative approval;
- Initiating or extending contact with students beyond the school day for personal purposes;
- Using e-mail, text-messaging, or websites to discuss personal topics or interests with students;
- Invading the student’s privacy (e.g., walking in on the student in the bathroom or locker-room, asking about bra sizes or previous sexual experiences);
- Going to the student’s home for non-educational purposes;
- Taking the student on personal outings, even with the parent’s permission;
- Inviting students to the teacher’s home without proper chaperones;
- Telling sexual jokes to students;
- Engaging in talk containing sexual innuendo or banter with students;
- Talking about sexual topics that are not related to the curriculum;
- Showing pornography to the student;
- Hugging, kissing, or other inappropriate physical contact with the student.

“Protecting Children from Sexual Misconduct by School Employees” by Donald Austin and Michael Patterson in Inquiry and Analysis, May 2008 (from the National School Boards Association’s Council of School Attorneys)
 

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6. Helping to Combat Stereotyping of Arabs

“The other students didn’t even know who Arabs were until 9/11 and suddenly they thought all of us were terrorists.” So said an Arab-American teenager, quoted in this article in The Reading Teacher by Virginia professors Tami Craft Al-Hazza and Katherine Bucher. The authors believe it’s important for elementary schools begin to bridge the gulf of ignorance and prejudice. First, a few pertinent facts teachers might work with:
- Arabs are a diverse people with Semitic roots in the Arabian peninsula.
- There are about 300 million Arabs in the world, originating from 17 countries.
- Scholars divide Arabs into three major regions: North African, Mediterranean, and Arabian Gulf. All three share a common identity, but each has distinct attire, food, music, traditions, and customs.
- Armenians, Turks, Iranians, Afghans, and Pakistani are not Arabs, although they live in the same region and share some cultural values and traditions.
- Although most Arabs are Muslims, only 20 percent of the world’s Muslims are Arabs. Most Muslims live in Indonesia.
The article lists a number of resource books and websites with more detailed information.
Second, Al-Hazza and Bucher suggest that well-chosen children’s literature in elementary classrooms can be very helpful in un-doing stereotypes, building understanding, identifying the problems faced by immigrants to the U.S., helping children get a sense of their place in the world, and forging “a sense of interconnectedness and community.” By applying rigorous selection criteria, they have compiled a list of suggested books:
Fiction:
- The Day of Ahmed’s Secret by Heide and Gilliand (Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard, 1990)
- Sami and the Time of Troubles by Heide and Gilliand (Clarion, 1992)
- The House of Wisdom by Heide and Gilliand ( DK Children, 1999)
- The Storytellers by Lewin (Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1998)
- Ali, Child of the Desert by London (Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1997)
- Figs and Fate: Stories About Growing Up in the Arab World Today by Marston (George Braziller, 2005)
- A Hand Full of Stars by Schami (Dutton, 1990)
- The Shadows of Ghadames by Stolz (Delacorte, 2004)
- One Green Apple by Bunting (Clarion, 2006)
- A Balloon for Granddad by Gray (Orchard, 1988)
- The Stars in My Geddoh’s Sky by Matze (Albert Whitman, 1999)
- Grandma Hekmat Remembers: An Egyptian-American Family Story by Morris (Millbrook, 2003)
- Sitti’s Secrets by Nye (Four Winds Press, 1994)
- A Peddler’s Dream by Shefelman (Houghton Mifflin, 1992)
Folk Literature:
- Hosni the Dreamer: An Arabian Tale by Ben-Ezer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997)
- The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella by Hickox (Holiday House, 1998)
- Maarouf and the Dream Caravan by Johnson-Davies (Hoopoe Books, 1996)
- Stories from the Arab Past by Johnson-Davies (Hoopoe Books (1997)
- Goha the Wise Fool by Johnson-Davies (Philomel Books, 2005)
- Tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves: A Story from the Arabian Nights by Kimmel (Holiday House, 1996)
- Tunjur! Tunjur! Tunjur! by MacDonald (Marshall Cavendish, 2006)
- The Enchanted Storks: A Tale of Bagdad by Shepard (Clarion, 1995)
- Gilgamesh the King by Zeman (Tundra Books, 1992)
- Sindbad: From the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights by Zeman (Tundra Books, 1999)
- Sindbad in the Land of the Giants by Zeman (Tundra Books, 2001)
Nonfiction:
- Lebanon in the News: Past, Present, and Future by David (MyReportLinks.com Books, 2006)
- Muhammad by Demi (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2003)
- An Arab Family by Dutton (Lerner, 1985)
- The Children of Egypt by Harkonen (Carolrhoda, 1991)
- Count Your Way Through the Arab World by Haskins (Carolrhoda, 1987)
- Kuwait by Korman (Chelsea House, 2003)
- A Child’s Picture Dictionary, English/Arabic by Sheheen (Adama Books, 1985)
- Alia’s Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq by Stamaty (Knopf, 2004)
- Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq by Winter (Harcourt, 2005)
- Coming to America: A Muslim Family’s Story by Wolf (Lee and Low, 2003)
- Arab American Encyclopedia by Ameri and Ramey (Thompson Gale, 2000)
- Arab Americans by Anderson (World Almanac Library, 2007)
- Arab American Biography by Hall (Thompson Gale, 1999)
- Arab American Voices by Hall (Thompson Gale, 2000)
- The Arabs: Coming to America by Schur (Greenhaven Press, 2005)

Finally, Al-Hazza and Bucher suggest these ways to get students delving into two or more characters in a book:
- Describe the characters
- Compare the characters – how are they different
- Associate the characters – how are they the same?
- Argue for or against what the characters did
- Analyze the characters in terms of their strong and weak points
- Apply what you know about the characters – how would they fare if they lived here today?

“Building Arab Americans’ Cultural Identity and Acceptance with Children’s Literature” by Tami Craft Al-Hazza and Katherine Bucher in The Reading Teacher, November 2008 (Vol. 62, #3, p. 210-219), no e-link available; the authors can be reached at talhazza@odu.edu and kbucher@odu.edu.
 

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7. Short Items: a. What was this wonderful machine? b. Online teacher resources; c. Online e-Books;

a. What was this wonderful machine? – “Once upon a time,” writes Caleb Crain in the New York Times Book Review, “America derived most of its power from a natural, renewable resource that was roughly as efficient as an automobile engine but did not pollute the air with nitrogen dioxide or suspended particulate matter or carcinogenic hydrocarbons. This power source was versatile. Hooked up to the right devices, it could thresh wheat or saw wood. It was also highly portable – in fact, it propelled itself – and could move either along railroad tracks or independently of them. Each unit came with a useful, non-threatening amount of programmable memory preinstalled, including software that prompted forgetful users once it had learned a routine, and each possessed a character so distinctive that most users gave theirs a name. As a bonus feature, the power source neighed.”

From a review of Horses at Work by Ann Norton Green (Harvard University Press, 2008) by Caleb Crain in the New York Times Book Review, Nov. 29, 2008 (p. 16)

b. Online teacher resources – High-school teacher Larry Ferlazzo has a blog with new online resources and thousands of links to websites in all subject areas. Check it out at http://larryferlazzo.com.

Spotted in “Bulletin Board” in Principal Leadership, December 2008 (Vol. 9, #4, p. 10-11)

c. Online e-Books – In this article in The Reading Teacher about the virtues of electronic talking books to increase home reading among reluctant readers, Australian professors Grade Oakley and Jenny Jay share websites that have online e-Books:
• Woodlands Junior School from England:
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Games/educational/onlinestory.htm#talk
• Read On Audio Stories from Australia:
http://www.beenleigss.eq.edu.au/requested_sites/audiostories/index.html
• Ziptales from Australia (subscription required):
http://www.ziptales.com.au
• CBeebies Stories (for younger children) from England:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories
• Awesome Talking Library (Awesome Talkster can turn any web page into an electronic talking book with text highlighting:
http://www.awesomelibrary.org/Awesome_Talking_Library.html.

“‘Making Time’ for Reading: Factors That Influence the Success of Multimedia Reading in the Home” by Grace Oakley and Jenny Jay in The Reading Teacher, November 2008 (Vol. 62, #3, p. 246-255), no e-link available; the authors can be reached at g.oakley@ecu.edu.au and j.jay@ecu.edu.au.
 

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