This book presents a vocabulary development program that is designed for use in individualized programs as well as in more traditional, full-class settings. It is part of a series of seven books, corresponding to grades 6-12, which are carefully organized to ensure the comprehension and retention of valuable core words. The book consists of 16…

Reading is the foundation for literacy and comprehension is the foundation for education. Many learning disabled students struggle to understand what they have read and many instructional approaches in small group settings focus on decoding rather than on comprehension. Employing a dual strategic approach to facilitate comprehension enables…

This paper illustrates several examples of visual science fiction use in teaching literary classics, and is based on the philosophy that students share a visual cultural literacy through movies and television, types of representation with which they are more familiar than with literary texts. It claims that visual science fiction can be utilized…

The middle school reading/literature instructor needs to determine where each student is in reading achievement and then assist each to achieve as optimally as possible. What might the teacher do to assist students to become good middle school readers? A major problem of middle schoolers is to be able to recognize a certain percent of words…

There are a plethora of ways which may be used to ascertain learner achievement in reading. This paper discusses such procedures. Comprehensive teacher observation of reading, using quality criteria, can be an excellent approach to assess reading progress. Selected criteria are discussed. Six categories of word recognition skills are important.…

A serendipitous observation resulted in an examination of the effectiveness of using a computer aided design course to improve high school student's strategic reading skills. Conducted in a 3 month semester period, the study relied on teacher observations, student questionnaires, and personal interviews. More than 75% of the students in the…

During the 1997-98 academic year, members of the Germanna Community College (Virginia) English faculty observed that students were having difficulty with reading comprehension in the content areas. Faculty conducted an informal survey of Virginia Community College System colleagues, and learned that the placement test cutoff scores used at…

This paper takes a look at some recent studies on utilization of technical tools, primarily personal computers and software, for improving fifth-grade students' reading comprehension. Specifically, the paper asks what benefits an educator can expect students to derive from closed-captioning and computer-assisted reading comprehension products. It…

Although reading instruction alone can teach students many of the skills and strategies they require for reading content area materials successfully, students also must have ample opportunities to apply these skills and strategies in "real" reading situations--that is, as they read in the content areas. Specifically, teachers can provide…

Reciprocal teaching, a type of metacognitive strategy, has been found to be an effective method in improving comprehension in school-aged students; however, little research exists on using reciprocal teaching with adult high school students. This study investigated the efficacy of using the reciprocal teaching method to improve reading…

The university curriculum leans heavily upon reading for a major way of learning in almost all academic disciplines, and problems with reading will hinder student achievement in the university. What should be done on the remedial level of instruction in reading so that the university student may proceed in working on degree requirements? First,…

This 4-part videotape series and viewing guide shows Cris Tovani, a high school teacher, working with a wide range of students, from college-bound seniors to students who have been referred to her classroom because of their struggles with reading. The viewing guide is designed to help teachers use the video series "Thoughtful Reading" in…

A considerable body of research has shown that Guided Reading lessons provide the structure students need to develop specific ways to approach reading a text. In guided reading, teachers first provide instruction for the reading involving general discussion of the text to build background information. Second, children participate in supported…

The United States government's National Reading Panel (NRP) "Put Reading First" report points to phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension as the major building blocks for reading success. This booklet seeks to demonstrate clearly and explicitly how the Harcourt Reading Program, "Trophies," links…

This document outlines the test and item specifications for the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for seventh grade reading. It notes the purpose of this test is to measure Washington seventh grade students' level of proficiency in the Essential Academic Learning Requirements in reading, and that the reading test contains literary,…