Comprehending expository reading material is a challenge for many students. Research has shown that students' expository reading comprehension can improve with the help of text structure instruction. The purpose of this article is to present teachers with a framework for effectively implementing text structure instruction in their classrooms.…

Close Reading utilizes several strategies to help readers think more critically about a text. Close reading can be performed within the context of shared readings, read-alouds by the teacher, literature discussion groups, and guided reading groups. Students attempting to more closely read difficult texts may benefit from technologies and platforms…

The goal of this practice guide is to offer educators specific, evidence-based recommendations for teaching foundational reading skills to students in kindergarten through 3rd grade. This guide is a companion to the existing practice guide, "Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade", and as a set, these guides…

This resource is part of a series produced by the Center for Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI) to assist teachers and those who support teachers to plan teaching and learning from College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) for all students, including students with disabilities, English learners, academically at-risk students, students…

The basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic are necessary, but not sufficient for participation in a world that demands independent and cooperative problem solving of its citizens. Young children come to school with an interest in the community and the world outside their own. Social studies curricula can affirm the child's immediate…

Strong reading comprehension skills are central not only to academic and professional success, but also to a productive social and civic life. These skills build the capacity to learn independently, to absorb information on a variety of topics, to enjoy reading, and to experience literature more deeply. Despite the growing demand for highly…

In this article, the author discusses top-level structure, a form of text structure that would help students improve their reading comprehension. There are four main organizational patterns, or top-level structures, that occur mostly in factual texts: compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/ solution, and list-like. Authors often use signaling…

Writers carefully include critical information in the opening lines of their chapters, but students often gloss over these beginning sentences, missing information that could help them better comprehend the text. To address this concern, the authors created a strategy that prompts students to examine the opening lines of chapters, helping readers…

Hands-on explorations can be extended through interactions with informational texts, enhancing both science learning and literacy development. In this article, the author describes a primary-grade science activity that begins with students examining pine cones and sharing their experiences and observations with peers. The students then generate…

Middle school students will interact with a variety of different texts to uncover a broader meaning of reading. During the three 50-minute sessions, students will identify different categories of text materials from basic picture books to textbooks; compile a list of strategies and processes needed to read the different types of books; and develop…

This teacher's manual is a resource to assist teachers in expanding and refining their repertoire of teaching strategies and to guide them in instructional planning and decision making when teaching reading in the content areas. The manual does not prescribe a particular style of teaching--it is of value to teachers as they consider their…

Researchers have found that readers they described as "strategic" had a purpose for reading, that they monitored their comprehension as they read, and they reflected on their reading. Although most readers have grasped fundamental reading processes by age 12, they still do not have well-articulated concepts about effective strategies to…

Noting that elementary-school students often fail to understand many of the ideas presented in school textbooks, this book presents the Questioning the Author (QtA) strategy, which is designed to establish student interactions with text and build greater understanding by teaching students to question the ideas presented in the text while they are…

Encouraging teachers to utilize procedures and techniques that help their students become active, willing lifelong readers, this handbook has been compiled to serve as a guide for integrating the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment's (PSSA) definition of reading as a dynamic, interactive process into classroom practice. The handbook…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Comprehension Strategies module explains the process of building comprehension in readers so that they read for meaning and understanding. There are six interferences to comprehension that…