Description
Identifying the best way to help students who struggle with reading—whether they have learning disabilities, are English language learners, or just need extra support—is a challenge for any teacher. Schools can make that task easier with this indispensable resource, a complete guide to addressing each student's specific instructional needs and teaching reading skills side-by-side with critical language and thinking skills. Approaching literacy development as a complex process that unfolds over time, this book gives educators the guidance they need to help students continuously advance and deepen their reading skills—not just in the early grades, but into the upper grades as well. Readers will learn how to
- teach the skills identified in the Reading First initiative: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
- teach comprehension skills along with key language skills in vocabulary and syntax
- guide students in learning literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension skills along with thinking skills
- teach comprehension skills for narrative, expository, and electronic text
- facilitate mastery of reading skills by using strategic, explicit teaching
- make teaching more effective and engaging through practical suggestions, model lessons, and sample activities for both younger and older students
- monitor the effectiveness of instruction
All the suggested ideas and approaches are evidence-based or identified as best practices in reading, so educators can use them with confidence in their classrooms. Equally effective as a text for preservice educators, a manual for in-service teachers, and a resource for administrators wrestling with different approaches to reading instruction, this in-depth, accessible book will lead to sharper skills and better outcomes for a wide range of struggling learners.
Reviews
Review by: Stephanie Schunder, School of Continuing Studies, University of Richmond
"I have decided to use [Teaching Reading to Struggling Learners] for my summer course . . .the book was well written!"
Review by: Melinda Rice, Elon University
"A valuable resource . . . will help teachers with the challenging task of designing a "balanced" reading program that includes instruction in decoding, fluency, vocabulary development, and comprehension. I look forward to using [this] book in my undergraduate classes."
Review by: Sally Smith, Founder and Executive Director, The Lab School of Washington
"At last, teachers have an extremely comprehensive, helpful book on how to teach reading. . . . Dr. Minskoff has made it easy for teachers to be successful!"
Review by: Donald Deshler, Center for Research on Learning, The University of Kansas
"Will be embraced by any teacher who works with struggling readers . . . a must-have resource for improving outcomes for these students."
Review by: Noel Gregg, Distinguished Research Professor, University of Georgia
"Teachers will find this text filled with ideas and activities they can immediately apply in the classroom."
Table of Contents
About the Author
Foreword:
Nancy MatherIntroduction
Acknowledgments
- A Three-Legged Instructional Model for Teaching Reading to Struggling Learners
- S.E.T. : Strategic, Explicit Teaching
- Building a Solid Foundation: Teaching Pre-Reading Skills
- Breaking the Code : Teaching Phonics Skills
- Reading the Big Words: Teaching Structural Analysis Skills
- Teaching Words by Using Visual Cues
- Developing Speed and Accuracy: Teaching Fluency Skills
- Teaching Reading Comprehension: The Basic Approach
- Teaching Reading Comprehension and Language Skills
- Teaching Reading Comprehension and Cognitive Processing
- Teaching Reading Comprehension with Different Types of Text Structures
- Assessment for Planning and Monitoring Reading Instruction
References
Appendix A: Glossary
Appendix B: Tests for Assessing Reading
Appendix C: Proficiency Tests for Phonological awareness, Phonics, and Structural Analysis
Appendix D: Programs for Teaching Reading to Struggling Learners
Appendix E: Reading Record Form
Appendix F: Games for Making Reading Instruction Fun
Appendix G: Fry Readability Graph for Estimating Readability--Extended
Index