Deaf elementary and secondary students were found to be less skilled when reading stories in "elaboration" (i.e., drawing conclusions through interpretation of details), a process requiring higher-order thinking skills. An approach to teaching these skills is described that compares and contrasts a series of stories sharing a common theme. (VW)

Discusses prereading activities for home economics education: motivational activities, preview activities, vocabulary activities, and prequestioning activities. Teaching methods, steps, and examples are suggested for each activity. (CT)

Suggests 10 classroom-tested activities that improve reading comprehension. (DF)

Describes a behavior modification program aimed at encouraging students to increase the frequency of leisure reading done at home. (EL)

Shows how to integrate a college reading course with a content area course. Presents five steps of a procedural model followed by students, which include knowing what one needs to do, making plans, doing it, evaluating the plan, and deciding how to handle the problem next time. Contains strategy sheet and concludes with recommendations. (EL)

Explains how students can be introduced to the delights and problems of lyric poetry by reading A.E. Housman's "Lovliest of Trees, the Cherry Now." (HOD)

Suggests that one way reading teachers can begin to familiarize themselves with content area texts is to create network diagrams or maps of the information. (HOD)

Students having difficulty with reading in the social studies may be having difficulty with much more than the technical, skill-oriented facility with language that the content area approach is supposed to alleviate. Students must also be taught to interpret the text, i.e., to link the world to the words that represent it. (RM)

A New York State rural school district converted a school bus into a self-contained Publishing Activities Center (PAC) that helps develop students' reading and writing skills. (MD)

The International Schools' Assessment (ISA) provides an insight into students' proficiency in the three domains of mathematical literacy, reading and writing, in each case derived from a single measure of performance on a particular day. This document is designed to help administrators and teachers interpret the reports provided to schools on…

Many students in grades 3-5 may be reluctant to participate in literature discussion groups because they are accustomed to round-robin reading and whole-class discussions followed by individual workbook exercises. These children may require extensive instructional support to learn to participate in more independent discussions. This book describes…

Authentic or popular texts--such as newspapers, grocery lists, magazines, and pamphlets--can be used effectively in reading instruction. This article first discusses the importance and usefulness of environmental print, or authentic texts, in the context of formal schooling. It then presents a list of authentic texts (several kinds of texts for…

This paper begins with an overview of necessary word recognition skills and the debate between use of phonics versus whole language. The paper gives a useful 5-step strategy for decoding unfamiliar words: (1) use context clues; (2) try the sound of the initial consonant, vowel, or blend in addition to context clues; (3) check for structural clues;…

Intended for reading and classroom teachers, this book, organized in two parts, is a complete, step-by-step guide to setting up and running a reading workshop for grades 5-12 where reading is "the" priority. Part 1, "Management of the Reading Workshop," shows how to create a reading workshop, offers specific tools and…

Presents two activities for building elementary school students' vocabulary skills and increasing their knowledge of phonics and spelling patterns. The primary activity involves word mapping. The intermediate activity helps students pronounce and understand unfamiliar, multisyllabic words. A reproducible page on vocabulary strategies is included.…