Part of helping students learn to read critically and with comprehension is guiding them to use writing to help think through the content and clarify what they understand--or don't. Looking at students' writing also helps teachers see how much learners are really understanding in their reading and where exactly any learner is struggling. After…

Reading just one text on any topic, Cummins argues, isn't enough if we expect students to learn at deep levels about the topic, synthesize various sources of information, and gain the knowledge they need to write and speak seriously about the topic. Reading a second or third text expands a reader's knowledge on any topic or story--and the why…

Recent research shows that reading comprehension relies heavily on prior knowledge. Far more than generic "reading skills" like drawing inferences, making predictions, and knowing the function of subheads, how well students learn from a nonfiction text depends on their background knowledge of the text's subject matter. And in a cyclical…

"Our job is to instill in students a deep sense of engagement with the intricacies of complex texts, to rouse them to see more in the texts they read--and to do this in a way that makes them want to read more," writes Mary Ehrenworth. A tall order--but Ehrenworth presents specific close reading practices that teachers can implement to…

Frequently, when assigned to read, intermediate and middle grade students engage in a mindless encounter with the text. Or, try as they may to focus and gather information, they're mostly confused and not sure how to repair the breakdown in their meaning-making. With the new focus on close reading--and on engaging students with more rigorous…

Considering the nature of the complex prose that K-12 students today must learn from, in light of the Common Core State Standards, students need to read informational texts on a meaningful level-and with enthusiasm. Teachers, Brozo says, need to achieve three goals: motivate students to read informational texts, expand students' background…

The Common Core State Standards emphasize the value of teaching students to engage with complex text. But what exactly makes a text complex, and how can teachers help students develop their ability to learn from such texts? The authors of this article discuss five factors that determine text complexity: vocabulary, sentence structure, coherence,…

When young readers encounter texts that contain too many unfamiliar words, their comprehension suffers. Reading becomes slow, laborious, and frustrating, impeding their learning. That's why vocabulary knowledge is a key element in reading comprehension. To comprehend fully and learn well, all students need regular vocabulary exploration.…

Students who struggle with reading comprehension in middle school often lack the academic vocabulary the need to understand grade-level textbooks and other instructional materials. Research shows that to learn a new word well, students need to encounter and use it multiple times in different contexts. The authors describe Word Generation, a…

According to a 2010 report by ACT, "Only 31 percent of students are performing at a college-and-career reading level with respect to successfully understanding complex text" (p. 5). This statistic demonstrates what educators know: Middle and high school students face numerous challenges in reading, understanding, connecting to, and…

Explicit directions about what to seek in a text will help students to tackle difficult assignments. Teachers will have to clarify the meaning behind the mission while helping students master challenging texts and will also have to improve comprehension by explicitly identifying what information students need to absorb from a text.

Kindergarten teachers explore reading comprehension by using a surprisingly complex array of strategies. Kindergarten can be converted as a workshop of readers and thinkers, who take seriously the work of making meaning from books and also building on their interests helps students make authentic connections.

In Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction (ECRI) classrooms, teachers are given directives for teaching and testing literal, inferential, critical, and creative comprehension to help students understand what they read. (Author/MLF)

Describes the development of reciprocal teaching--an instructional procedure originally designed to improve poor readers' text comprehension--and its application in Springfield, Illinois, schools. Research is clustered into three types of studies: effectiveness, efficiency, and feasibility. Program implementation, evaluation, and success factors…

Many learning strategies endorsed by curriculum and instruction publications have never demonstrated their worth in objective experimental evaluations. Most researchers agree that cognitive strategies should be taught in conjunction with content and in response to learner needs and capabilities. Teacher modeling and self-regulation lie at the…