... and understanding of literary texts. At the same time, the educational community is abuzz with visions of the classroom as a wired environment. Many educational technologists champion the Internet as unsettled terrain upon which communities of learners can be built (Riel, 1996). The question of primary interest to me in this paper is how these two visions of the classroom?s a literate community and as a wired environment?an influence one another to improve literacy instruction. I begin by investigating how successful instructional models create literate classroom environments. I look carefully at the elements that these models have in common and their theoretical foundations. In the second half of the paper I consider how technology, especially a Web-based environment designed to work in concert with the Book Club program in grades five and six (Raphael, Goatley, Woodman, & McMahon, 1994), might be used to increase both the depth and the breadth of ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now