Previous studies indicate that practicum experience is essential for pre-service teachers to develop understanding of effective teaching, professional identity, and culturally responsiveness. However, it is possible that first-year pre-service teachers are not ready to teach in a classroom with as many as 30 students which could present…

For many teachers of middle school and high school, the greatest challenge they face in trying to help struggling readers improve their skills can be students' self-perception. When young people do not see themselves as members of the "literacy club," it is not just a simple matter of persuading them that becoming a fluent reader is…

Research indicates that prior knowledge is an exceptionally important determiner of reading comprehension. Many of the prereading strategies currently used to assist reading comprehension do not help teachers identify what students already know about a topic. In an effort to integrate instructional assessment with prereading instruction, the…

Describes the method of using prompts to allow students to have more "voice" in a large class. The prompt assignment requires students to respond anonymously to a statement that concerns the chapter being discussed in the class. Discusses how the Internet has allowed more freedom with the prompts. Puts forth some student responses to the…

Written questions and answers lead to original thinking and writing and to better reading class management than does the "directed reading activity" approach to reading instruction. (JM)

This paper examines the uniqueness of poetry and classroom methodology as found in children's experiences of hearing, enacting, discussing, and making poems. Poetry offers the peculiar use of language, form, and a fresh look. Poems are useful in the classroom as they are read differently from ordinary text, are read with both the eye and the ear,…

Discusses guided reading as an approach that teachers can use to help young students better comprehend what they are reading. Notes that guided reading allows teachers to talk, think, and read through a text with children, offering questions, comments, and prompts to the children to stimulate their interest and understanding. (MDM)

Research on second language learning has found similarities between the reading strategies of first and second language readers. These findings are being applied by second language instructors and researchers in reading classrooms through a variety of strategy-use activities. Most foreign language reading specialists view reading as interactive…

Discusses ways of introducing literature into elementary and intermediate courses and gives some examples of classroom exercises. Collaboration between literature specialists and language textbook authors in preparing instructional materials will make it possible to introduce authentic samples of literature and to combine reading, writing, and…

A description is given of a learning-centers program for classroom organization in which teacher-directed activities are minimized in favor of semidirected and learner-directed ones. Information concerning equipment and physical arrangement and references to sources describing motivational techniques for a listening center, a self-selection…

The process of interrupting the reading of a text in order to predict what is to come is a well-established reading instructional technique known as Directed Reading/Thinking Activities (DRTA). Predictive intervention, a classroom structure based on this technique, is more frequently productive of creative revision than either teacher advice or…

A study evaluated the effectiveness of various models constructed to account for how children read and comprehended a story presented in a directed reading lesson. A commercial directed reading lesson was revised to introduce information related to the story and to help the children form a "map" of the central story content. Data were…

Some tips can assist teachers in guiding each pupil to achieve more optimally, with respect to the ability to read well and reading comprehension. Among these 10 specific tips are: (1) teach individualized phonics in context; (2) assist the student to read in proper thought units by covering up words in sentences for clarification; (3) assist…

By focusing on the accomplishments of the Colorado Right to Read Program, this report is presented with the intention of serving as a solution and/or stimulus for those searching for activities that will help them reach local educational goals and objectives. The various sections of the booklet contain the following: (1) a discussion of teacher…

Discusses English as a second language (ESL) theory as it relates to the use of literature, and presents a four-step approach to any literary text that obliges ESL students to take responsibility for building their own successively more complex schemata. This approach is illustrated with Hemingway's short story "Soldier's Home." (Author/LMO)