The first document of a curriculum series describes objectives for three units from a program to meet the needs of academically gifted elementary students in the area of reading, with emphasis on comprehension skills including critical and creative reading. Following an introduction on teaching critical reading, three major sections focus on units…

Part of a curriculum series for academically gifted elementary students in the area of reading, the document presents objectives and activities for language arts instruction. There are three major objectives: (1) recognizing persuasive use of words, vague and imprecise words, multiple meanings conveyed by a single word, and propaganda techniques;…

Part of a curriculum series for academically gifted elementary students in the area of reading, the five lesson plan guides are intended to provide teachers with suggested activities stressing high levels of reading comprehension as well as encouraging teachers to use their own ideas. Each guide focuses on one of the following major objectives:…

Part of a curriculum series for academically gifted elementary students in the area of reading, the four lesson plan guides each fucus on one of the following major objectives: (1) identifying the relationship between the major and minor premise and stating whether the conclusion is a fallacy in reasoning; (2) recognizing the pursuasive use of…

A model for the levels of social interaction between author and reader provides a framework for examining the devices through which the author engages the reader. An important aspect of this model is the creation of additional levels of social interaction involving, for example, an "implied author" and an "implied reader."…

Transactional literary theory centers on the reader's contribution in the two-way relationship with the literary text, lifting the reader to a prominent, essential position along with the author and the text. It develops the premise that the reader evokes a literary work through selective attention to the details of the author's "paper and…

A REVIEW OF RESEARCH ON CRITICAL READING INDICATES THAT EFFORTS ARE BEING MADE TO TEACH CRITICAL READING AT BOTH THE SECONDARY AND ELEMENTARY LEVELS, PARTICULARLY AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL. NATIONAL READING CONFERENCE YEARBOOKS AND REVIEWS OF REPORTED RESEARCH, HOWEVER, FAILED TO SHOW A SINGLE CONTROLLED STUDY ON CRITICAL READING AT THE COLLEGE…

THE DESIGN OF THIS COURSE WAS BASED ON THE BELIEF THAT GOOD DISCUSSION IS A WAY TO INCREASE UNDERSTANDING. ALTHOUGH THE COURSE IS PRESENTED IN DETAILED FORM, LIKE A SYLLABUS, IT WAS NOT INTENDED BY THE AUTHORS TO BE RIGIDLY FOLLOWED LIKE A SCHEDULE BUT, INSTEAD, TO BE USED AS A FRAMEWORK TO HELP THE TEACHER IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DISCUSSION…

Suggestions are given for over 50 activities which secondary students at many levels can use with fiction or non-fiction to provide opportunities to read, relate, reflect, and record their thoughts about a book. The primary goal is to help students gain insight into the literary elements that prompt their responses. Stated objectives for each…

A work of literature has no hidden meanings; everything needed for complete understanding is contained within the text. A failure to perceive sense in literature is not a permanent situation, however, nor is the work itself a static phenomenon. The perception of meaning may vary according to the reader's experience, but, strictly speaking, a…

This paper discusses some of the procedures for assessing specific content in books, suggests some ideas for activities which adolescents could select to demonstrate that they can recognize and judge certain elements in books, and lists several cautions which need to be considered when analyzing content. The first procedure in a content analysis…

The functional literacy of various groups of 17-year-old students was assessed to discover whether the reading skills which are usually taught in the schools are adequate for functioning in everyday life. Eighty-six test exercises were classified according to the various formats of reading materials they represent and according to the types of…

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument, the Special Education Research Test (SERT) to assess the critical reading ability of Utah State University Special Education graduate students. Five steps were taken in the development of the instrument. Content validity was determined using a group of regionally and nationally…

Three important goals of general education are: (1) to hone critical reading skills so that students will gain the skills of acquiring and processing the information demanded for meaningful participation in a free society; (2) to develop and refine valuing skills in order that students will feel competent about and operate efficiently in…