The United States ranked ninth among 35 nations in an international study among students in reading, as reported by the Progress in International Reading Literacy. Standards keep going up for students in reading achievement. Literature books for children must be rewritten in keeping up with the times in a demanding school and societal environment.…

Most educators recognize the importance of home-school connections, especially for the development of engaged and enthusiastic readers. This collection of 33 articles published in "The Reading Teacher" from 1993 to 1999 presents the "best of the best" classroom-tested ideas and approaches for increasing student motivation for…

Presents three strategies to motivate elementary students: (1) the "Miles to Go" game, charting students' experiences with book content, recording their conclusions and feelings; (2) shopping lists used to seek practical information from other students, to practice notetaking and listening; and (3) neon-colored notebooks given to each…

Students should have ample time to read for enjoyment and pleasure. As a major goal of their instruction, teachers should seek to cultivate a liking for reading in their students. Reading materials available for students--library books and children's magazines--need to cover a wide variety of genres and be on different reading levels. This is…

Blending research evidence with practical recommendations, this book demonstrates how promoting children's engagement with reading can greatly enhance reading achievement. A collection of articles from leading literacy researchers and educators, the book illuminates what a child needs to become an engaged reader and presents a set of instructional…

This book offers a framework called Learner Support to help teachers, grades 1-6, identify and support children who need extra help in their reading development. During 15-minute, one-on-one sessions using real literature, teachers learn to help struggling readers use reading strategies, incorporate sight word review, complete cloze procedures,…

Intended for teachers of preschool and up, this book combines three favorite pastimes: reading great books, exploring related activities, and cooking. The book lists 36 books relating to a holiday or observation, beginning with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and ending with New Year's Eve. It summarizes each featured book and gives a related…

Reading comprehension is an important skill that every student needs in order to be successful. It is directly influenced by how readers construct a representation of the information that they are taking in. Overwhelmingly, the processing strategies found in research can appropriately fit into the Into, Through, Beyond strategies used in the…

Learning environments have an impact on acquiring skills in reading as well as developing positive attitudes toward reading. Another variable that affects attitudes and aptitude toward reading is the "climate" or "environment" in which children learn their skills. This paper concentrates on the phenomenon that is reaching epic proportions in the…

Attempting to increase reading engagement, a collaborative team implemented a year-long integration of reading/language arts and science instruction known as Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI). Compared to traditionally organized instruction, the CORI context increased strategy use, conceptual learning, and text comprehension more than…

This report describes a program for increasing levels of leisure time reading and heightened awareness of age and ability appropriate literature with an effort to encourage targeted students in grades 2, 3, and 6 to become lifelong readers. The targeted population lives in a growing rural, low to upper middle class community located in north…

Intended for teachers of grades 2-6, this book offers methods to help students become lifelong readers. The book's instructions include emphasizing respect for the readers' choices of books and their own unique response to the literature. Information is intended to promote thoughtful analysis of what has been read and to validate readers'…

Drawing on the professional literature of many fields, this book provides an interpretation of the available research on motivation and describes instructional approaches in classroom contexts. The book aims to help teacher educators, researchers, and graduate students understand the research literature in motivation and use in their efforts to…

Reading is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought. Reading consists of two related processes, word recognition and comprehension. Learning to read is an important educational goal. Research has shown that there is a great deal of transfer from learning to read in one language to learning to read in a second language. This…

Describes the One-Third Report method for motivating reluctant students to read and write: the teacher reads aloud a portion of a story; the class brainstorms endings; students read one-third of assignments, then write about what they need to know or hypothesize endings, which motivates them to finish the story. Includes sample One-Third Report.…