Collecting Research
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

When first studying a new concept or subject; students can learn a lot about a topic by simply “reading” images. This is also a fabulous pre-reading strategy for students to get in the habit of previewing the visual text features to build background knowledge, especially on an unfamiliar topic. [read more...]

Introducing Text Features & Conducting a Scavenger Hunt
Monday, October 25th, 2010

If your content-area instruction requires a nonfiction textbook, this month is the perfect opportunity to conduct a quick text-feature treasure hunt. Students need to know how to enter the text and access information quickly. A simple activity like this provides them with [read more...]

Remove the Text to Reveal the Text Features
Thursday, October 14th, 2010

To introduce text features to students, consider removing all the gray text (traditional paragraph text) from the page. Letting students practice without the distraction of text makes it easier to see text features. This is especially important for struggling readers. [read more...]

Picture Books Build Background Knowledge
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Most picture books (also known as “children’s literature”) are usually 32 pages or less with illustrations on every page or double-page spread. At first glance, most middle school and high school teachers would walk past them assuming picture books to be for an [read more...]

Using Picture Books to Build Background Knowledge
Monday, October 27th, 2008

To first excite students about a new topic of study and also give them some initial information, check out your elementary school media center or local library. Picture books can become a supplemental reading resource to the traditional textbook. [read more...]

Tracking with Sticky Notes
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

To get her students to engage in critical thinking while they read, Maureen Scane (Sunman Elementary) and her fourth grade class brainstormed for “ways to think” while reading. After they generated multiple ways and wrote them on chart paper, she then challenged [read more...]

Purpose-Driven Reading
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Chunk the text into smaller portions and offer students some guideposts. If you don’t know why the main character is hiding by the end of page 14, you might want to reread. By giving them milestones, you break down what could be an overwhelming amount [read more...]

Turn Subheadings into Questions
Monday, May 19th, 2008

We know that comprehension increases when students have an authentic purpose for their content- area and textbook reading. Mary Hall (Sweetser Elementary, Sweetser, IN) helps her students identify their purpose by teaching them to turn traditional chapter subheadings into questions. [read more...]

Coding Text to "Slow Down" the Reader
Monday, May 19th, 2008

Students don’t always take content area reading and writing as “seriously” as that of Language Arts. However, to truly comprehend the subject matter, students need to apply strong reader and writer habits in content area reading, too. [read more...]

Pre-Reading Strategies that Motivate
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Teachers frequently ask for ways to motivate kids to want to read. After all, it's pretty hard to work on students' reading comprehension if they didn't do the reading. With that said, here are two of my favorite pre-reading strategies to motivate kids to dive into the passage. [read more...]