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. [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...]

Purpose-Driven Reading
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

When assigning classroom reading, consider using techniques that target the reluctant and/or struggling readers in your classroom. Here are a couple of strategies: Set a purpose for the reading. Besides "because the teacher told me to," what is the reason you want them to read [read more...]

Turn Subheadings into Questions
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

We know that comprehension increases when students have an authentic purpose for their content-area and textbook reading. Challenge students to turn subheadings into questions, and then their purpose for reading becomes a hunt to find answers to the questions. [read more...]

Using Pictures to Jumpstart Summary Writing
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

After reading a story or selection in the reading series, many teachers have students retell the story by writing a short summary. Woodburn Elementary second grade teacher Pam Weesner jumpstarts her summary writing with a strategy that targets her visual learners and reluctant writers. [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 [read more...]