Guided reading is an important component of a comprehensive literacy program. Using this approach to reading instruction is beneficial to all students, including English-language learners (ELLs). While guided reading is generally used in the early elementary grades, this approach is recommended for ELLs of all ages when appropriate methods and…

Offers suggestions on using underlining as a strategy to help students identify key concepts. (FL)

Discusses how teachers can foster the development of self-monitoring and searching behaviors in beginning readers. Describes reading strategies and cues that tend to be used rather automatically. Discusses two types of processing strategies (monitoring and searching) and observing cues used for self-monitoring. Describes how to foster…

Presents a modification of the traditional Anticipation Guide format (a reading comprehension strategy) that includes a prereading "I'm Not Sure" response option and helps students to differentiate the purpose for reading. (SR)

Looks closely at students to discover if the conception of reading as decoding is sufficient for beginning readers. Discusses how one student did not seem to know how to enter into the imaginative world of texts or how to listen and respond to literature. Outlines how the notion of culture helps educators enable students to approach texts in…

Describes a graphic organizer, THINK-WINK-DECIDE (Things I Now Know--What I Need to Know--Decide). Notes that this graphic organizer helps children comprehend expository text. (MM)

Describes a guessing game called "Sentencing," which can be played with students from third grade through high school. It develops students' abilities to use semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic cues and also allows teachers to view the metacognitive strategies of their students. (SR)

Describes a strategy to teach early readers to look for smaller words that they know within a large word they do not know. (SR)

Describes the "story face," an adaptation of story mapping that provides a visual framework for understanding, identifying, and remembering elements in narrative text. Discusses several strengths of the story face strategy used with students in grades 1-5: easy to construct, easy to remember, can guide retelling, is collaboratively…

This article presents five instructional frameworks demonstrated by research as being effective in teaching reading comprehension: (1) The Scaffolded Reading Experience (SRE); (2) Questioning the Author (QtA); (3) Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR); (4) Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS); and (5) Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction…

If children are to read to learn, they must acquire skill in processing and comprehending expository texts. However, teaching children to read and comprehend informational texts takes time, because there are so many complex skills associated with this reading. Building children's knowledge of the content to be studied and introducing new…

Suggests that poor readers have less metacognitive knowledge than skilled readers and fail to use effective reading strategies. Provides guidelines for teaching reading strategies. (ARH)

Notes that children often fail to interpret metaphors correctly and that instruction in basal readers is not always helpful. Offers a strategy that shows students how to figure out metaphors on their own. (FL)

Notes that "Light Bulb Reading" is done in short, one-on-one, daily lessons that include oral reading with note-taking and discussions about miscues, skills, and strategies. Suggests that this is an effective approach for assisting struggling readers that focuses on specific, individual, assessed needs. Outlines an 11-step plan. (SG)

Describes how as a technical support teacher, the author incorporates computers into an at-risk literacy program. Discusses how computers add excitement. Considers accountability and reflection with the online program. Concludes that web reading is a new skill, but familiar reading strategies can ease the transition. (SG)