In the classroom experiences described in this article, grade three students were introduced to storytelling through the interactive read aloud of a mentor text and a storytelling demonstration, followed by daily collaborative activities involving listening, speaking, reading, and writing, culminating in dramatic storytelling performances. The…

The authors provide teachers with a rationale for engaging students in independent reading using a differentiated approach. By profiling types of readers, sharing observational tools, and offering teaching suggestions for each type of reader the authors give practical suggestions to facilitate reading engagement and make independent reading more…

Offers Request, the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity, the Expectation Outline, the Prereading Guided Reading Procedure, Word Wonder, and Semantic Webbing as techniques that use many of the basic principles of the directed reading activity while adjusting to the needs of specific materials and students. (FL)

Guided reading is an important component of a comprehensive literacy program. Using this approach to reading instruction is beneficial to all students, including English-language learners (ELLs). While guided reading is generally used in the early elementary grades, this approach is recommended for ELLs of all ages when appropriate methods and…

Proposes the "say and write" method and the directed sentence reading method as ways of using language experience stories to develop children's sight vocabulary. (FL)

Discusses instructional approaches to content area reading that are described in ERIC documents. Among the areas discussed are prereading activities; strategies to support comprehension as students read; an integrated approach to vocabulary, comprehension, and textbook organization; and kits of materials for integrating reading skills into content…

Describes how teachers can incorporate the use of comprehension monitoring activities into the guided reading phase of basal reading instruction. (FL)

Describes how semantic webbing exercises are useful for activating background knowledge, increasing organizational skills, focusing on the topic, and notetaking. (MM)

Guided reading is a major component of a comprehensive or balanced reading program. Most teachers understand the value of guided reading in the classroom but have difficulty managing effective implementation. They often ask, "What will the other students be doing when I am working with a guided reading group, and how do I manage all the children…

Describes a program for individualizing directed reading-thinking activities. (RB)

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)

Suggests several ways to stimulate students to comprehend literature with both feelings and facts. (TO)

Describes a comprehension questioning strategy, based on R. Stauffer's Directed Reading-Thinking Activity, that enhances students' use of reasoning on the basis of prior knowledge. (FL)