Research from various fields supports the crucial relationship of speech and writing. Experience with the Story Workshop used in composition classes can show how thinking, speaking, listening, reading, writing, recalling, and immediate audience focus can be integrated into every phase of the writing process. Activities must enable students find…

The prevailing assumption underlying practice in the classroom is that children acquire most of their new words from context during silent reading. The trouble with learning from silent reading is that many pupils do not read widely or quickly enough. Reading aloud to children will, however, allow them to participate in activity that they all can…

Presents a summary of practical experiences with oral reading in a format that gives insights into why listening to children read empathetically is important. Offers guidelines on how to organize and use such a process. (FL)

Three assessment strategies to help elementary teachers gather information about their students' reading (and thus direct their teaching) include keeping running records of students' oral reading, requesting retellings of stories to determine students' comprehension, and talking seriously about reading with students to determine their overall…

Presents suggestions for developing a thematic teaching unit to help students overcome fear by learning about the courage of survivors in literature. The article recommends reading a story aloud, discussing courage and survival of the characters, and developing group-guided reading activities that involve individual or group projects. (SM)

Intended for reading teachers, this pamphlet contains the presentations of the 14th annual reading conference at Indiana State University, beginning with opening remarks by David C. Waterman and welcoming comments by J. Stephen Hazlett. In the opening address, "What Good is Comprehension without Composition?" by Sharon and David Moore, the role of…

This practical guidebook aims to show preschool, kindergarten, and primary teachers how to refine their literacy evaluation practices through careful "kidwatching." By observing and recording children's literacy development, teachers also develop new understandings of the ways children think and learn. Ultimately, through kidwatching,…

Describes a 12-week peer tutoring reading program for primary students. Students showed significant reading gains when compared with a control group, but lost these gains when they returned to individual silent reading. Concludes that peer tutoring is an under-utilized but valuable teaching strategy. (Author/LS)

To develop an appreciation and understanding of poetry in young children (K-3), grade school teachers should consider choosing poems that appeal to children and implement an enthusiastic instructional poetry program that can make a positive impact on the students. Recent comprehensive studies of young children's concepts and attitudes about poetry…

These official primary trait scoring guide presents details of the 6-point scoring system used in third-grade Oregon schools to evaluate students' performance in oral reading fluency and in comprehension (as measured through retelling). The oral reading fluency benchmark portion of the scoring guide is broken down into phrasing, flow, and pace…

In this lesson plan, grade 3 to 5 students examine elements of fluent reading through oral poetry performance. They use the Internet to identify a poem to prepare and perform for the class. The main objective of this lesson concerns improving fluency. During four hours over a span of five days, students will: be able to identify text written in…

Reading instruction for educable mentally handicapped students requires the use of flexible learning strategies and teaching techniques for basic sight word training; instruction in phonic analysis, structural analysis, and contextual analysis; comprehension lessons; and fluency development. Sample techniques (for fluency development) include…

Notes that good oral reading can strengthen the relationship between the spoken and printed word and improve comprehension. Offers suggestions to develop students' ability to read aloud. (FL)

Describes a method for involving disabled readers with Shakespeare texts by means of reading aloud, writing, and workshops. (HTH)

Describes the use of oral reading, journal writing, and sharing of ideas in a seventh grade class to promote an active interest in literature and thereby increase the literacy level of the students. (SRT)