This study applied Reader Response theory (which stresses an aesthetic experience with the text) with seven less proficient readers (learning-disabled fifth and sixth graders). Student response was best when the text was read to them, when their responses were oral, and when instruction focused on active meaning construction and the reader/text…

Describes a technique that helped less-able fourth grade readers develop a better understanding of story parts and how they fit together. Explains that the technique also improved reading comprehension. (FL)

Describes a directed reading and writing lesson that uses the power of the composing process throughout content area lessons to enhance reading comprehension. Uses a fifth grade science lesson as a model. (FL)

This book offers successful classroom practices that encourage students to learn purposefully and constructively by reflecting on their own learning processes and by making connections between what they read (whether verbal or visual texts) and the lives they lead. Extending from middle and high school through college composition and English…

A group of elementary teachers enrolled in a graduate class in language arts at the University of North Dakota explored how children construct their own meanings as they interact with texts. One teacher regularly read to her 20-month-old grandson, and excerpts from the journal she kept reveal that his understanding of a specific text evolved to…

This unit of study involves high ability intermediate-grade students interacting with literature while enhancing reading comprehension and textual analysis skills. Students read literature and engage in shared inquiry to develop an awareness about the nature and importance of change, particularly as it affects people in various circumstances,…