Improving Reading Skills Across The Content Areas

Based on IRA and NCTE standards, these classroom-tested reading activities will benefit all students in Grades 6-12, including gifted, special education, and ELL students.

Based on IRA and NCTE standards, these classroom-tested reading activities will benefit all students in Grades 6-12, including gifted, special education, and ELL students.

"We often hear middle and high school teachers are frustrated because their students can′t understand the textbooks or can′t write effectively about their particular content. This book will provide both the framework for solving this dilemma and the specific, practical classroom practices that teachers can use each day to help students become more competent readers and writers." -Douglas Johnson, Assistant Superintendent Kane County Regional Office of Education, IL "Every middle school and secondary teacher should have a copy of this book. It not only provides the theoretical basis for each strategy, but it also provides effective instructions for use of the strategies in the classroom." -Dorothy Giroux, Program Director, Initial Teacher Preparation Program School of Education, Loyola University Chicago Eager for proven methods to strengthen your students′ content literacy? Then this book is a must-have for your classroom! Using a step-by-step approach that makes the strategies easy to understand and implement, the authors provide updated research-based strategies that will help increase your students′ reading comprehension, strengthen their writing skills, and build vocabulary across content areas. Expanded coverage of content literacy, additional reading and writing strategies for exploring content, and suggestions for working with struggling readers are included in this revised edition. This rich resource also offers: Tips for using trade books in the classroom Graphic organizers to help students recognize text structures Assessment tools Technology activities in every chapter Real classroom examples of how the strategies have been implemented More ways to evaluate the "readability" of textbooks Over 40 ready-to-use reproducibles Whether you are getting ready to begin teaching or are a veteran teacher, this accessible, invaluable handbook will give you the tools you need to help your students become lifelong learners!

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.

Discusses the premises that guide the teaching of reading in content areas, the vast array of reading strategies available, and how to use this information to impact all learners.

Content Area Literacy by Mark Conley, one of today's top literacy researchers, brings educators a wealth of hands-on, ready-to-use ideas, strategies and techniques for helping today's diverse secondary school students develop the literacy skills they need to be successful in all content areas. The first section of the book helps teachers confront the need to fully understand today's educational landscape, while the second section focuses on the specifics of how to go about planning and teaching, using principles of content area literacy. A unique final chapter pulls it all together by showing educators how to enlist students' cooperation while reaching out to parents and the community to support teaching and learning.

History teachers aren't expected to teach science, math teachers aren't expected to teach social studies; so why are all teachers responsible for teaching reading? The answer is simple. An emphasis on reading and literacy skills in the content areas has an exponential effect on learning in every discipline. This completely revised third edition of the best-selling Teaching Reading in the Content Areas seeks to help educators understand how to teach reading in their respective disciplines, choose the best reading strategies from the vast array available, and positively impact student learning. Throughout, it draws from new research on the impact of new technologies, the population boom of English language learners, and the influence of the Common Core State Standards. Given the complexities of the reading process, teachers deserve--and this book provides--clear, research-based answers to overarching questions about teaching reading in the content areas: * What specific skills do students need to read effectively in each content area? * Which reading strategies are most appropriate to help students become more effective readers and independent learners? * What type of learning environment promotes effective reading and learning? By focusing on the differences in how content-area experts read and reason, teachers can be better prepared to help their students understand that the ways they read in biology are different from the ways they read in English, history, or mathematics. To read successfully in different content areas, students must develop discipline-specific skills and strategies along with knowledge of that discipline. With that in mind, this book also includes 40 strategies designed to help students in every grade level and across the content areas develop their vocabularies, comprehend informational and narrative texts, and engage in meaningful discussions of what they read.

This book is based on the premise that literacy is, at its core, a social process; and that, as such, it is often affected—for good or ill—by social situations and cultural/social relationships. With that philosophical construct in mind, these authors provide a solid foundation of principles and a wealth of applications for developing literacy skills in middle school and secondary school learners. Coverage encompasses comprehension, vocabulary, writing skills, study strategies, and the use of computer technology. For elementary and high school teachers.