Suggests that critical reading and reading comprehension be taught separately at first to insure that students learn both to understand and to evaluate pieces of writing. (MKM)

The traditional approach to reading in the content areas has been to teach reading skills only in reading class, usually using literature or narrative selections and expecting transfer of those skills to content texts or other expository materials. The transfer of those reading skills has been such a disappointing experience that even students who…

Describes how to construct a reading guide to help students understand mathematical word problems. (MKM)

Describes multilevel French reading course at Houston Baptist University in which class time is divided into instructor-directed time where students and instructor work together and student-directed time where students work individually or in small groups with learning modules. Students contract for grades and work at their own pace. (BK)

Presents two cross-checking activities to help K-3 students learn decoding. The cross-checking involves decoding by using the consonants in a word along with the context. Children learn to decode by thinking about two things simultaneously (what word would make sense in a sentence and the word's letters and sounds). (SM)

Noting that "every pupil response" (EPR) techniques allow for all students in a group to respond to each question asked by a teacher, this paper explains how EPR techniques may be incorporated in a reading lesson to help students develop decoding ability. The paper offers a justification for using these directed teaching strategies based on…

Argues that the directed reading activity (DRA) is a teaching strategy of limited use to students and discusses how teachers can transform the teaching strategy into a learning strategy. Discusses the generalization of the DRA strategy, emphasizes self-checking for learner control of strategies, and describes attributional consequences of teaching…

Discusses how directed reading activities and vocabulary guides can be used in an English classroom to help improve students' reading comprehension. (HOD)

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

Describes the method of using prompts to allow students to have more "voice" in a large class. The prompt assignment requires students to respond anonymously to a statement that concerns the chapter being discussed in the class. Discusses how the Internet has allowed more freedom with the prompts. Puts forth some student responses to the…

Calls for review of research on best practices in phonemic awareness training and direct-instruction reading programs. Suggests that a more effective approach to reading instruction is to integrate skills instruction with meaningful literacy experiences and to use writing to help children learn about written language, including phonemic awareness.…