Addresses the difficulties for upper elementary students in shifting from reading to learn to reading for content. Suggests that integrating reading instruction into social studies lessons will help students improve in confidence and responsibility for learning. Includes detailed plans for two lessons and the strategies to be used. (DK)

A pioneering middle-school teacher in Eugene, Oregon, found that harnessing the World Wide Web's vast resources can be challenging. However, structured directions and creative repackaging of "almost perfect" sites can turn the Web into a useful tool for developing reading comprehension and meeting statewide Learner Content Standards.…

In a second-chance program to develop reading competence, secondary students in an Alberta district continue in core academic subjects while enrolling in a 90-minute curriculum based on the "Picture Work Inductive Model." They listen to readings by teachers, write to prompts, and read independently. (Contains 14 references.) (MLH)

Explains how students who have difficulty remembering what they have read may be taught how to reread sections of text by suggesting to them that reading is analogous to watching a video with the remote control in hand. (TB)

An elementary school principal and her staff implemented a nongraded, continuous-progress model of reading instruction based on frequent assessment of student skills. The model enjoyed widespread teacher and parental support. The school, serving disadvantaged students, was recognized by the state education agency for significantly improving test…

Discusses the desirability of creating lifelong readers and suggests that the use of formulas to measure the reading levels of books and tests that assign reading levels to students do not help. Offers suggestions for school librarians to encourage reading, including helping students select books through readers' advisory. (LRW)

Presents the "Structured Reading Lesson" as one simple way to structure reading activities so that the before, during, and after phases of the reading experience are all touched upon. Considers how reading strategies that students have developed to comprehend fictional narratives do not always help them with textbooks. Presents…

Offers a brief historical overview of the reading-writing connection. Argues that making personal connections and self-monitoring comprehension are key behaviors of active readers and should be promoted during reading as well as before and after. Describes one such reading activity, called the "Think-Link" chart, that requires writing, encourages…

Children love nonfiction books, and their reading of such texts has shown a strong relationship between science achievement and informational reading and writing abilities. How can elementary teachers capitalize on this natural affinity and make the most effective use of nonfiction trade books in their classroom? There are numerous strategies to…

An urban school district was able to improve its students' reading achievement substantially by implementing a variety of literary coaching models. The six literary coaching process strategies used by schools are discussed.

The author describes how thinking aloud promotes the comprehension of all learners, including those who struggle with reading. These techniques "improved strategy use, promoted self-efficacy, and increased engagement as well as comprehension." Suggestions and methods for supporting think-alouds are provided.

Students in science classrooms are given numerous opportunities to read expository text in a variety of formats and for a variety of purposes. They read to solve a problem, understand the steps in an experiment, gain base knowledge about a concept, answer their own questions, compare their inquiry results with what others have found, expand their…

Reading comprehension skills promote achievement in science, so how can teachers help students to develop these skills? Research indicates that students who read well are more likely to be successful in school and in life (Belk 1999). Furthermore, there is a direct link between science skills and reading skills (Carter and Simpson 1978). There are…

Beyond decoding words and sentences, everyone thinks of a reader as a person who makes particular kinds of intertextual connections, who asks particular kinds of questions of a text, who reads at a particular intellectual distance from the text, who talks about more than the text's meaning and analyzes its nature. The difference in how teachers…

Too many middle school students struggle to comprehend their textbooks in science and other content areas. Thus, many adolescent learners lag behind in developing scientific literacy, which the National Research Council has defined as sufficient understanding of the scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making,…