Notes that competitions can excite and motivate students in reading and writing. Lists a sampling of such competitions, appropriate for students of all ages, and offers tips about participation. (SR)

Describes the State-Question-Read-Conclude (SQRC), a student-centered reading/thinking strategy based on the Directed Reading Activity format, and SQ3R, all proven to be effective strategies for developing the reading and thinking skills of elementary and secondary school students. (RS)

Discusses seven strategies teachers can implement without cost to help students consciously use techniques to aid comprehension and promote critical thinking. Illustrates the strategies with classroom observations and supporting documentation from leading reading specialists. (RS)

Describes a jigsaw puzzle activity, a two-part cooperative learning activity useful at any level of mathematics instruction, intended to teach students to become "strategic readers" of their mathematics textbooks. (SR)

Lists 21 teacher tested ways of encouraging voluntary reading. Suggestions include role playing, teacher modeling, reading aloud, reading books from a series, critical reading, bringing books from home, and tape recording passages from books. (RS)

Discusses six books intended to help teachers reach struggling readers: books that outline strategy instruction, offer a wealth of information, and show how to create instructional sequences and activities that will develop and enhance the conceptual, procedural, and textual knowledge of students. (SR)

Recommends Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) in grades 2-12 to improve students' reading and to teach them to love to read. Outlines rules for SSR, and offers notes to the teacher on its implementation. (SR)

Summarizes findings about repeated reading since the 1970s and details the most recent findings. Argues that, because of strong evidence of the effectiveness of repeated reading, the many facets of this procedure should be integrated into the fabric of daily literacy instruction. Offers specific suggestions for applications including applications…

Offers the response of a professor and former elementary and secondary teacher to the question posed by a seventh-grade teacher regarding what teachers can do to encourage students with negative attitudes toward reading to read both in and out of school. Discusses ways that both reading aloud and reading along are effective strategies to entice…

Discusses reading fluency, the role of fluency in reading, and how fluency works. Suggests students' fluency and reading comprehension can be boosted by combining the technique of repeated reading and Readers Theatre--the combination is an effective and viable means of motivating children to read a text. (RS)

This teaching guide urges the use of sentence combining as a technique to improve both the reading and the writing of students. The guide offers practical activities in sentence combining in forms that will make classroom teaching more interesting for the instructor and elicit more productive work from the student. The guide is divided into the…

Intended to challenge readers of all ages to celebrate the wonder of words arranged on the printed page, this book contains descriptions of activities that have been highly successful in drawing children into literacy and keeping them there. The 64 activities presented in the book can be performed in the home, at school, in the library, around…

This book, one of four in the Teaching Reading Collection, presents the "best of the best" classroom-tested ideas, approaches, and practical applications for helping students learn about words. The articles have been drawn from the journal "The Reading Teacher" from 1993-1999. The ideas and strategies are intended to provide possible building…

This study was designed to determine statistically whether the prolonged use of three prepared reading readiness activities has any influence on seventh-grade students' abilities to read unfamiliar literature; which of the readiness activities is most influential on students' abilities; and whether or not longevity of such influence exists. The…

This instructor's edition of a vocabulary textbook for college students, who read at the fifth to eighth grade level, features 25 chapters and teaches 250 basic words. The first and third chapters in each unit contain word-part practices. The second and fourth chapters in each unit contain synonym-antonym practices. The book's last chapter in each…