Data Mountain is a program that teaches three self-determination skills: positive attributions, self-monitoring, and goal setting. Instruction of these skills is situated within the context of oral reading fluency (ORF) practice. There is evidence of positive impacts to ORF performance when instructors teach students to self-monitor and set goals…

Responding to recent challenges to Clay's Running Records (2019) and their analysis using a three-cueing system, the author examines this reading assessment from an additive perspective of both bottom-up and top-down orientations of reading instruction. Endorsing their inclusion among classroom reading assessments, the author navigates the tension…

Decoding, building fluency, and exploring word and sentence meanings are important elements of literacy instruction in elementary classrooms. Shared literacy experiences provide opportunities for teachers to engage students in meaningful reading experiences. This article describes a quick four-step process for conducting close sentence reading, a…

For students to be able to read with greater fluency and comprehension, they must first develop their understanding of morphology, the knowledge of meaningful word parts in the language. To develop this understanding, students must learn the following: letter patterns and word parts, the relation of sounds to letters, and high-frequency word…

This article describes how secondary teachers might implement readers theater in their classrooms. In addition to reading fluency, this five-day format also explicitly targets reading comprehension and vocabulary. Each day of the week requires students to engage in various activities aimed to develop diverse components of reading as well as…

Fountas and Pinnell (2012) warn that guided reading is not always synonymous with small-group instruction. While it may appear simple, much thought goes into a guided reading lesson. This chapter details the steps for teachers to follow in order to develop more effective guided reading and small group instruction for all students by identifying…

Reading connected text--that is, multiple sentences related to each other-- requires greater skill than reading isolated words. To read and understand connected text, students must quickly recognize words, integrate what they are reading with their background knowledge, and monitor their comprehension. This document provides a summary of…

This report offers seven practical, evidence-based recommendations that are relevant to all pupils, and particularly to those struggling with their literacy. To develop the recommendations, we reviewed the best available international research and consulted experts to arrive at key principles for effective literacy teaching. This second edition of…

This teaching tip showcases how students use iPads to video record themselves orally reading. In the Record, Listen, Reflect process, students conduct repeated readings with a familiar text, watch the recorded video, and conduct running records on themselves. Having an opportunity to watch videos of their own reading gives students a glimpse of…

Learning to read begins at home through everyday parent-child interactions, long before children attend school. Parents' continuing support of literacy development throughout elementary school positively affects their children's reading ability. Many recent efforts to motivate parents to be involved in their child's literacy development involve…

Strong oral reading fluency skills are an important indication of good reading. In addition, reading engagement is often correlated with reading success. Unfortunately, students with learning disabilities (LD) often struggle to read fluently and engage with text. Incorporating graphic novels as part of a comprehensive reading program may help…

The authors describe a research-based method to increase students' reading fluency. The method is called Read Two Impress, which is derived from the Neurological Impress Method and the method of repeated readings. The authors provide step-by-step procedures to effectively implement the reading fluency intervention. Previous research indicates that…

One of the most efficient ways of learning essential content in the curriculum is through reading; however, accessing content through reading even some of the most basic texts for many students with disabilities is a challenge (C. Lee & Spratley, 2010). As a student enters secondary settings, text complexity, vocabulary demands, and curricular…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often have deficient reading skills that require intensive intervention. Effective intervention is comprehensive in nature, addressing individual student needs. This article provides an overview and recommendations for one potential component of individualized support: the use of repeated…

The author is responsible for teaching reading classes and overseeing the reading curriculum at an intensive English program in the United States. The institution strives to make reading fluency a priority in the classroom, but after conducting a basic overview of the literature on the topic, the author realized that the approach could be improved…