This practicum study evaluated a non-basal, multidisciplinary, multisensory approach to teaching higher order reading comprehension skills to eight fifth-grade learning-disabled students from low socioeconomic minority group backgrounds. The four comprehension skills were: (1) identifying the main idea; (2) determining cause and effect; (3) making…

The purpose of this project was to increase grade four students' reading motivation by helping them to develop a broader awareness of literary genres, and through participation in literature-based discussion activities. Approximately 71 students and 33 teachers participated. The following interventions were used: creating a literature rich…

A study examined the effectiveness of the Title 1 Middle School Summer program that provided students at two middle schools in the Columbus, Ohio public school district with background experiences to help them connect learning to living. Mathematics and literacy lessons were developed around travel experiences to museums, zoos, baseball games, Sea…

A study examined whether implementing reading computer assisted instruction compared to traditional reading instruction will produce more effective comprehension at the elementary school level. Subjects, 30 fifth-grade boys and girls in a low socioeconomic area of Brooklyn, New York, were divided into experimental and control groups. Subjects in…

This study describes a program for improving student's reading skills. The targeted population consisted of students in a self-contained inclusion fourth grade classroom in a rural community, located in the Midwest. The lack of reading skills had been demonstrated through standardized achievement tests and the Developmental Reading Assessment.…

A reading comprehension program was developed and implemented that addressed the needs of sixth-grade students. The program focused on critical thinking skills using a teamwork approach. Each heterogeneous small group used a checklist composed of before, during, and after reading questions and activities. At the conclusion of the 12-week…

This document is a collection of materials used in a pre-student teaching practicum in language arts, in which each pre-student teacher is assigned to work with two or three children in the fourth or fifth grade for six lessons combining reading and writing with the use of the computer. The document also includes forms and questionnaires used in…

A practicum developed and implemented an integrated reading program to raise reading vocabulary and comprehension scores and reading attitudes in a fourth-grade classroom. A classroom of 23 students was used to implement the program. A standard diagnostic test was used to record pre- and post-test scores in vocabulary and comprehension, and a…

This study described how a fifth grade reading and writing class utilized short stories to comprehend how authors used eight different writing techniques in their own writing. The researcher found that when the fifth grade students comprehended how to use a writing technique they were able to apply it to their own personal, expressive writing. The…

A study examined how Accelerated Reader Program (a computerized reading management program used in elementary education) affected attitudes toward reading and use of the media center. Fifth-grade students in three Lee County, Florida schools were surveyed. One school had no Accelerated Reader program in place; one school had a mandatory…

Concern about the high percentage of underprepared minority students in American schools and the increasing demand that schools educate them to a level never before attained are discussed, and a study of reading disabled bilingual students is reported. It is noted that continuing to allow a disproportionate number of minority or disadvantaged…

Conducted as the third in a series of four investigations of teacher explanation of reading skills, a study examined the relationship between explicit teacher explanation and student awareness of lesson content and reading achievement gains. Subjects were seven fifth-grade teachers and their respective low-reading ability groups. The teachers were…

This report studied intermediate grade students identified as learning disabled in a resource room setting to examine the effects of adapting repeated reading and sustained reading while manipulating level of text difficulty in a peer-mediated format. Twelve resource room teachers identified 67 students with learning disabilities and reading…

This practicum focused on the use of repeated taped reading instruction with modeling to improve fluency, comprehension, and automatic word recognition in five students (ages 11-13 years) with learning disabilities for a period of 10 weeks. The instruction also involved the teacher giving corrective feedback and having the students answer story…

Both a "how-to" book and the story of a "year in the life" with a teacher and her at-risk students, this book is a research chronicle that offers proven methods and inspiration for teachers of the most obdurate middle and secondary school students. The book presents case studies, photographs, quotes from educators, surveys,…