Asking questions that invite students to access advanced thinking skills during classroom discourse is a key strategy for challenging and supporting high-ability middle school readers. This critical teaching practice requires careful teacher listening. However, empirical research around teachers' "listening orientations," or how teachers…

This article considers three emergent themes from informal discussions with fourth and fifth graders about their book selections from the Vermont Children's Choice program. Twelve students were interviewed about how they selected books from the list. Student responses showed that they held the DCF nominee list in high regard, that they relied…

Within a short time span, response to intervention (RTI) has altered how educators serve students with reading difficulties. Its impact is most evident at the primary level, where the focus is on limiting referrals to special education by preventing reading difficulties. Educators have paid less attention to exploring how to use RTI with older…

Learning to read in English still developing literacy in one's mother tongue is a challenge facing many young English language learners (ELLs) around the world. Reading progress of six young language learners was followed in a second grade classroom in an urban English-immersion school in Lebanon. Two of the six children were identified as…

Notes that teachers are now spending a great deal of time teaching reading skills and ignoring activities that encourage students to engage in the total reading process. Recommends techniques and activities designed to encourage reading for enjoyment and comprehension. (FL)

Describes selected plans of teaching reading--individualized reading, basal reader, initial teaching alphabet, language experience and color coding--and suggests each plan's inherent philosophy. (MM)

Describes a viable method of reading instruction that can be utilized by the small school teacher to lead 20 or 30 individuals to common goals and objectives at unequal rates. (AH)

The long term effects of the Individually Guided Education (IGE) program on elementary school grade equivalent reading achievement scores were investigated using cohort analysis in four elementary schools. Results indicated that local attributes affected reading scores more than the IGE program. (JKS)

Discusses individualized reading instruction in the United States in its historical context. States that effective, child-centered, individualized reading programs are guided by three principles: the desires, needs, and motives of each child; individual abilities, interests, and instructional needs; and opportunities for social interaction. Points…

When the authors realized that successful book selection is not a natural skill for all learners, they developed a tool to support self-selection of independent reading material without book leveling. This tool is called BOOKMATCH, and it supports readers for whom book selection is "complicated." BOOKMATCH is an acronym in which each letter…

A self-paced reading skills program was designed to boost the reading ability of seventh- and eighth-grade students. The study correlated students' independent reading levels with science grades. Techniques included guided reading, context clues and cloze activities. Over six months, reading levels increased 1 to 5 grade levels; science grades…

Describes a child-centered reading program for a group of 10- to 11-year-old reluctant readers. (JL)

Contributors offer teaching ideas, including: using Sherlock Holmes mysteries to teach character and plot development, using materials supplied by the athletic coaches in the reading laboratory, and using individualized reading in the content areas. (AEA)

A "Personalized Contract Book Program," modeled on the way that competent readers learn to read at home, provided a nonpressured environment that fostered students' reading development. (DD)