Reading Strategies
Are your students buried in post-its? Oversharing with those text-to-self connections? Parroting back comprehension tips but rarely applying them when they are actually reading? Our contributors sort through what works with strategy instruction, and have wise advice for avoiding superficial approaches to developing comprehension skills.
Latest Content
Beginning a Novel with Close Reading
Aimee Buckner helps a fourth-grade boy tease out emerging themes in the first pages of the novel Morning Girl.
Understanding Fiction and Nonfiction in First Grade
This is a demonstration lesson in a first-grade classroom on understanding the difference between fiction and nonfiction led by Erin Quealy. It is the first video in a three-part series.
Second-Grade Reading Group
Heather Rader demonstrates the importance of a varied reading diet to a second-grade group, sharing her own stack of books.
Just Reading?
Christy Rush-Levine challenges the notion that there is anything easy or natural about getting young teens to select and read books independently in classrooms.
Fourth-Grade Read Aloud: Checking In
In this video from a fourth-grade classroom, Gi Reed reads aloud Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson. Gi continually checks in with her students, making sure they are visualizing, noticing new vocabulary, and making connections to earlier incidents in the texts—all without breaking the flow of the story.
Using a Strategy Card in a Reading Conference
Deb Gaby confers with second grader Reagan early in the school year. She is reading her first chapter book, and using a reading strategies "toolkit" for support.
Book Clubs Then and Now: Change Is the Constant
Mary Lee Hahn considers how book clubs have changed over time in her fifth-grade classroom.
Provoking Young Readers
Melanie Meehan finds read aloud is a great time for children to connect opinions and experiences.
Owl Research Notes Group
Andrea Smith helps a group of boys take notes during an owl research project.
Favorite Wordless Picture Books for Teaching Inference
Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris present some of their favorite children’s books for teaching inference.
Working Hard and Reading Carefully: On Theme and Rereading
Jennifer Allen uses commercials to promote the importance of rereading to students while teaching theme.
Redefining Just-Right Books
Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris share advice for rethinking how teachers and students define “just-right” texts.
Supporting Readers with Nonfiction Text
Cathy Mere finds that criteria for “just-rightness” varies with genre.
Setting Goals with Students
Melanie Meehan shares anchor charts and strategies for goal-setting.
Intervening with Read Aloud
Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris are using read alouds as an intervention strategy with struggling learners.
Percy Jackson Read-Aloud in Fourth Grade
Tony Keefer demonstrates how he makes his read-alouds interactive, and explains why he selected Percy Jackson to use with this group of fourth graders.
Notebook Sketching: Conferring with Sarah
Aimee Buckner confers with Sarah about sketching in her notebook.
Catching Up with Anna
Katie Doherty Czerwinski tackles the challenging issue of helping a student catch up in book clubs and reading workshop when they have missed a lot of class time.
Using Google Earth to Support Readers
Justin Stygles finds Google Earth is a marvelous tool for helping students research settings in novels.
Using Lord of the Flies to Teach Argument
Gretchen Schroeder has suggestions for using short texts and close reading to help students comprehend The Lord of the Flies.
Picture Books or Beginning Readers?
Many beloved characters from picture books are showing up in beginning readers, and in the process can lose a lot of their appeal. Shari Frost provides teachers with criteria for choosing between picture books or beginning readers.
Conferring About Characters in First Grade
Katie DiCesare confers with Vidhi about the main character in her independent reading book.
Inform, Inspire, Instruct: Essays as Mentor Texts in High School
Kim Campbell shares her favorite nonfiction short texts to use with adolescents.
Whole Class Partner Share Session in First Grade
Katie DiCesare leads her first graders in a reading share session during a character traits unit.
“Lift a Line” Boys Reading Group
Franki Sibberson gives a group of boys a “lift a line” assignment to build their close reading skills.
Using Close Reading to Analyze Propaganda
Propaganda, word clouds, and close reading engage students in Holly Mueller’s sixth-grade class.
Fluency and Comprehension Conference
Aimee Buckner confers with fourth grader Amanda about her reading comprehension and fluency, encouraging her to use a post-it note to track thinking around a focus question.
Second-Grade Reading Share
Sean Moore leads a second-grade whole-class reading share early in the year. This quick video shows that this instruction time is as much about establishing social norms as talking about reading.
Fourth-Grade Reading Conference: Focusing While Reading
Aimee Buckner helps fourth grader Isaiah focus his reading early in the year in this quick conference.
Sticky Notes Small Group
Sean Moore meets with a group of second graders to remind them how to use sticky notes strategically while they are reading.
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