Face-to-face time with students in the early childhood college setting is at a premium and often flies by before we begin to scratch the surface of active learning. Building a community of learners is one of our main goals as instructors; therefore, we strive to set up active learning environments optimal for all students. This reflection on…

The emergence of quality multimodal texts such as graphic novels may provide new vistas that allow adolescents access to more complex readings of difficult texts. This is especially true for the large number of graphic versions of Shakespearean text that have recently come on the market. However, it is still unclear as to what students actually…

In this "prosumer" era in which people seem always to be producing and consuming texts, words matter as much as--or more than--they ever have. Learning how grammar works in the texts they read and write is essential to students' literacy. It is time to reframe English teachers' view to include both writing "and" reading as contexts for grammar…

Comprehension strategy instruction has been widely studied in the past 10 years. We now know that students who actively engage and interact with text using particular cognitive strategies are more likely to understand and remember more of what they have read. Students who use these strategies are able to access knowledge that is outside the realm…

Through retelling, students can begin to attach sense and meaning to the sometimes complex concepts they encounter in science texts. Also, the shift from silent thinking to verbal expression causes the brain to consolidate and integrate new ideas. As students share information through retelling, they gain new perspectives on the text as they hear…

In the past five years, at least a half dozen major reports have focused on adolescent literacy and providing adolescents with age-appropriate instruction. What is age-appropriate instruction for middle school students? As recent reports on adolescent literacy, such as those of the Carnegie Corporation and the ACT make clear, age-appropriate…

Critical thinking skills are crucial for both academic and everyday life. This paper presents the author's Text Analysis Matrix (TAM), a model for developing skills for the critical examination of texts. The TAM guidelines involve finding and clarifying the main claims of a text, discovering and assessing arguments, uncovering the implications for…

Writers carefully include critical information in the opening lines of their chapters, but students often gloss over these beginning sentences, missing information that could help them better comprehend the text. To address this concern, the authors created a strategy that prompts students to examine the opening lines of chapters, helping readers…

Argues that instructors involved in academic assistance must become familiar with the academic demands their students face in different content courses. Discusses four methods to gather such information, and shows how to identify relevant strategies for students to practice with actual course texts. (SR)

When the author and her teaching colleague assessed their 7th and 8th grade students' research papers, they realized that although the papers demonstrated proper structure, the students had not gained meaningful understanding of their topics. Although the teachers had carefully prepared students to write, they had not ensured that students had…

Designed for low-level adult learners, this book contains true stories of 20 men and women who have faced and overcome serious challenges in their lives. The book is intended to inspire and motivate developmental students in basic reading and writing classes. The book can be adapted to different instructional approaches--some teachers may wish to…

The Research Institute for the Study of Learning Disabilities, established at Teachers College, Columbia University, was guided by the postulation that academic failure experienced by learning-disabled children results from interaction between the way they process information and the information processing demands of the instructional methods…