Drawing upon those aspects of "Becoming a Nation of Readers" directly relevant to classroom teachers, this booklet suggests ideas for classroom practices, based on research, that will improve students' reading achievement. The booklet is organized around five instructional themes: defining reading, reading readiness, beginning reading, directed reading lessons, and reading and writing. It provides a brief overview of each theme, followed by a discussion and examples of suggested instructional strategies. Among the specific questions addressed in the booklet are the following: (1) How can reading readiness activities build on oral language? (2) How can phonics be taught in conjunction with meaning? (3) What background building activities are most effective in directed reading lessons? and (4) What kinds of writing activities reinforce the reading-writing relationship? (FL)