Teaching children to inquire, discuss ideas, and defend thinking about a literary text is a key aim of the common core state standards (CCSS). This article describes how four third-grade, male struggling readers successfully co-constructed meaning during a discussion based reading intervention rooted in philosophical inquiry. Three elements that…

Kathleen Riley begins this article by providing quotes from James H. Lytle, and Anissa Weinraub, which were published in "Perspectives on Urban Education" in the summer of 2013. While they hold different professional positions (Lytle is a retired administrator and professor; Weinraub is a teacher and organizer), both wrote as…

When it comes to reading formats, readers can take their pick from a variety of choices, and the new face at this party is the enhanced eBook. Videos are embedded. Music plays at certain intervals. Artwork and graphics fade in and out. They are like someone all dressed up for a party; enhanced eBooks are, in essence, prettier and more enticing…

The idea of this book arose out of an awareness that students with language learning disabilities are completely ignored in the Egyptian school system and there are no special programs that cater to these students. They are placed in normal schools that are not prepared to deal with their unique difficulties. This book, therefore, is an attempt to…

This paper presents several "tips" for Spanish speaking adults who start a reading comprehension course in English. The document is the product of my twenty-five years of experience as a language teacher. By using these practical pieces of advice, learners understand the differences between English and their own language, are able read,…

Four reading strategies and several web tools that are effective for reading closely and identifying textual evidence are described and explained. As teacher-educators with many years of experience teaching reading and the language arts, we have found these reading strategies and web tools helpful for middle school students as they consider…

More than twenty years ago reading researchers sought to capture the behaviors good readers demonstrated to make meaning from their reading. By shifting the focus away from what was wrong, researchers were able to study and discuss what worked. A comprehensive list of reading strategies emerged from this research. This was an important discovery.…

Looking back on a course they had designed, the authors recognized that the catalyst to success was the commitment to incorporating five course components: (1) substantial instructional minutes; (2) authentic academic reading material; (3) various instructional groupings; (4) instruction on vocabulary; and (5) background knowledge, and modeling of…

To graduate from high school and become competitive in the workplace and other postsecondary endeavors, adolescents are required to meet rigorous standards, such as the Common Core State Standards. To meet such standards, teachers must teach students to read and make sense of increasingly complex content-area expository text. Secondary teachers,…

In this paper, we seek to inform policy regarding the professional development of teachers of students who are learning English. To do this, we employ a framework that considers the pedagogical knowledge, practical teaching skills, and dispositions recommended by PD researchers and ELL teacher educators. We then present an approach that…

It makes sense that an emphasis on new ways of reading and writing fits easily within the Common Core umbrella. After all, a primary thrust of the new standards is college and career readiness. How can young people be prepared to thrive in today's society--in which people are connected 24 hours a day by media and coworkers may well live in…

Reading is critical for scientific thinking. It is a foundation for many of the skills in which scientists and engineers must be proficient, such as conducting research, developing informed conjectures, and engaging in reasoned argument (NRC 2012). Yet, students frequently find science reading difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating. Strategies…

In Part I, we underscore the issues surrounding young deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) learners of literacy in Taiwan who use sign to support their learning of Chinese literacy. We also described the linguistic features of Chinese writing and the visual codes used by DHH children. In Part II, we describe the reading and writing practices used with…

This Teaching Tip article explores the importance of phrasing while reading. It also presents an instructional intervention strategy for helping students develop greater proficiency in reading with phrases that reflect the meaning of the text.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) require literacy instruction for secondary students across content areas, but they also recommend that this instruction account for the discipline-specific nature of academic texts. Since English language arts (ELA) teachers and literacy specialists are also responsible for teaching students to read across…