A study was conducted to observe and describe two reading instruction procedures stemming from two different theoretical influences. Two teachers, one skills and one whole language oriented, were selected on the basis of peer and administrator recommendation, among other qualifications. Their stated instructional base and theoretical orientations were measured using the Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (TORP). Data were collected from video tapes and their transcriptions and from teacher journals. The results were analyzed using these questions as guides: On what unit of our language and linguistic system did the teacher focus the children's attention? What aspects of reading were emphasized? Was the reading material contingent on the student, teacher, or material? and, What attitude toward reading specific text did the teacher encourage? Findings showed that in every category of observable data the teachers adhered closely to their theoretical model, and that, in diametric opposition to the instructional position of the skills teacher, the whole-language teacher focused children's attention on the largest unit of language suitable for the situation, encouraged the children to construct meaning sensible to them and their lives, permitted deviations from text in allowing miscues, involved children in planning, utilized library books and other texts, and encouraged children to "think about and feel" what they read. (CRH)