A study compared the philosophies developed in undergraduate methods courses with philosophies influenced by example under a cooperating teacher in an elementary school classroom. Subjects for the first part of the study were 14 undergraduate students enrolled in a methods course. The subjects for the second part of the study were 12 students who…

Originally developed for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on developing a decision-making plan for the reading teacher is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a lecture giving an overview on…

Many schools expect teachers to act as curriculum clerks, carrying out decisions about subject matter and classroom management. A promising new metaphor for professional educators is that of teacher as explorer, the leader of an expedition into unfamiliar territory. The image of explorer changes the perspective on teaching goals and roles and…

A great deal can be taught using the newspaper because this medium contains a variety of information in a number of differing formats. Straight news and sports stories can be used to teach or reinforce the skills of attending to detail, comparing and contrasting, categorizing, determining the main idea, understanding vocabulary, sequencing,…

Articles in this yearbook address the problems associated with how reading research informs practice. Articles, listed with their authors, are as follows: (1) "Reading Research into Policy and Practice: Practitioner's Viewpoint" (Deborah L. Thompson); (2) "Michigan's Reading Program: A Decade of Change" (Elaine M. Weber); (3)…

Teachers working with at-risk students must instill in their students the motivation and desire to read. At-risk readers do not value reading in the same way their teachers do. Teachers should strive to make the reading experience one that is relevant to the student both at their present reading level and when their ability to read has improved.…

Because of recent shifts in understanding the nature of knowledge and the process of learning, there may be major and long-lasting changes in the nature of educational research and its role for educators. Since most people understand through the use of metaphor, a metaphor that previously fostered the understanding of research is the assembly line…

Articles in this eighth yearbook of the American Reading Forum address the dilemmas of teaching reading. Articles, listed with their authors, are as follows: (1) "Deepening a Dilemma: Stylus vs. Computer Writing at an Early Primary Level" (J. Heep); (2) "Concept Maps and Vee Diagrams: Strategies To Deal with the Dilemma of the Restricted…

Intended to help reading teachers develop and demonstrate mastery of diagnostic or remediation skills prior to or with application in a real classroom, this handbook provides simulated materials for use within a course or staff development program to supplement lectures, discussions, readings, demonstrations, and films. Following an introduction,…

While diagnosis is generally considered a vital element in reading clinicians' expertise, research has revealed that even degreed, experienced reading clinicians display little personal consistency or agreement with one another when diagnosing simulated cases of reading difficulty. Three studies were conducted to determine if systematizing the…

Research on reading teacher effectiveness has taken several different directions over the past 30 years: during the 1950s and most of the 1960s, research focused primarily on teacher qualities; in the early 1970s attention shifted to the effect of the teaching process on student learning, while in the late 1970s and early 1980s experiments defined…

Compiled from papers presented at the annual Reading/Special Education Institute at Fordham University, this collection of essays addresses reading problems of special education students. The book is divided into three sections. The first section covers reading assessment and reading intervention; section 2 addresses the specific learner and the…

In light of criticisms that teacher preparation programs do not adequately prepare prospective reading teachers and specialists for actual classroom problems, a study was conducted to determine the accuracy of teacher diagnoses and planning for reading difficulties and to examine differences in coursework preparation and classroom experience.…

Reading educators stress the importance of teaching reading study skills in college content area classes. Thus, a freshman level reading education course offered the opportunity simultaneously to model effective practices for preservice teachers and to conduct a study of the gains in both content knowledge and reading study skills for students who…

To determine if college and university reading clinics assess students' attitudes toward reading and to discover the methods used in such assessments, questionnaires were sent to the directors of 110 reading clinics. Analysis of the data gathered from the 55 respondents revealed that a majority did assess reading attitudes and that most used…