Engaging middle years students: literacy projects that matter

Students often enter preservice teacher literacy curriculum and pedagogy classes with conflicting and certainly varied notions about which literacy practices matter in middle years classrooms. Debates about authentic learner-centered tasks versus basic skill acquisition circulate in the media, in school curricula, and in the talk of teachers and parents. This article confronts such debates to suggest that authentic literacy projects can be used to provide students with the experiences, knowledge, and literacy skills that will help students become engaged, successful learners in the middle years. Practical project snapshots using a three-step model of contextualized planning are described to illustrate how teachers can motivate students and intellectualize the curriculum, while at the same time supporting students' diverse academic and cultural needs and strengths.