Additional+Resources

Use these documents to increase your learning about reading instruction and strategy implementation:

Content area teachers are responsible for applicable Iowa Core Literacy Standards. For more information, see the following link: [|6-12 Literacy in content areas]

The following factors contribute to your students' comprehension: (1) The Reader (2) The Text (3) The Activity (4) The Context For more details, read[| Four Conditions That Determine What Meaning a Reader Will Construct From a Text]

Students can't be expected to just 'do' a strategy. Read the following article on the Gradual Release of Responsibility to see the role teacher modeling, guided practice, and collaborative work plays in students successfully working independently: [|The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model]

Best Practices in Reading
 * Reading aloud to students
 * Time for independent reading
 * Student's choice of their own reading materials
 * Exposing students to a wide and rich range of literature
 * Teacher modeling and discussing his/her own reading processes
 * Primary instructional emphasis on comprehension
 * Teaching reading as a process:
 * Use strategies that activate prior knowledge
 * Help students make and test predictions
 * Structure help during reading
 * Provide after-reading applications
 * Social, collaborative activities with much discussion and interaction
 * Grouping by interests or book choices
 * Silent reading followed by discussion
 * Teaching skills in the context of whole and meaningful literature
 * Writing before and after reading
 * Use of reading in content fields (e.g. historical novels in social studies)
 * Evaluation that focuses on holistic, higher-order thinking processes
 * Measuring success of reading program by students' reading habits, attitudes, and comprehension

Daniels, H., Zemelman, S. and Hyde A. (2005) //Best practice: New standards for teaching and learning in America's schools//. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.