Teaching Reading to Struggling Learners

Identifying the best way to help students who struggle with reading — whether they have learning disabilities, are English language learners, or just need extra support — is a challenge for any teacher. Schools can make that task easier with this indispensable resource, a complete guide to addressing each student's specific instructional needs and teaching reading skills side-by-side with critical language and thinking skills. Approaching literacy development as a complex process that unfolds over time, this book gives educators the guidance they need to help students continuously advance and deepen their reading skills — not just in the early grades, but into the upper grades as well. Readers will learn how to

• teach the skills identified in the Reading First initiative: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension



• teach comprehension skills along with key language skills in vocabulary and syntax



• guide students in learning literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension skills along with thinking skills



• teach comprehension skills for narrative, expository, and electronic text



• facilitate mastery of reading skills by using strategic, explicit teaching



• make teaching more effective and engaging through practical suggestions, model lessons, and sample activities for both younger and older students



• monitor the effectiveness of instruction

All the suggested ideas and approaches are evidence-based or identified as best practices in reading, so educators can use them with confidence in their classrooms. Equally effective as a text for preservice educators, a manual for in-service teachers, and a resource for administrators wrestling with different approaches to reading instruction, this in-depth, accessible book will lead to sharper skills and better outcomes for a wide range of struggling learners.