What Really Matters for Middle School Readers: From Research to Practice, 1st edition
Title overview
- Focuses on what we know, but rarely do: The text is based in the research available on early adolescent struggling readers and the nature of the instruction they receive every day.
- Links reading volume to reading proficiencies: The author takes a close look at the volume of students’ reading, an area that has been largely ignored when designing interventions for early adolescents.
- Shows why literate conversation is a powerful classroom activity for fostering improved understanding: The textincludes ways to expand opportunities for all students to engage in literate conversations with peers during the school day, and thus substantially enhance understanding after reading.
- Proposes an all-day model of high-quality instruction for struggling adolescent readers, as opposed to a single intervention period.
- Promotes a unique school-wide framework for improving both the quality and quantity of reading lessons.
Table of contents
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Reading development in grades 5 through 9: Problems and promise
Chapter 2: It’s not decoding that is the problem (but that is what most remediation targets)
Chapter 3: “It’s the words, man”: Limited meaning vocabulary and how to improve it
Chapter 4: Read more, read better: Addressing a major source of reading difficulties
Chapter 5: Reading with comprehension: Understanding understanding
Chapter 6: Literate conversation: A powerful but seldom used method for fostering understanding of complex texts
Chapter 7: Getting the gist of it all: Summarization after reading
Chapter 8: Pulling it all together: Effective instruction all day long
Appendix: Study Guide for What Really Matters for Middle School Readers
Author bios
Dick Allington is professor of literacy studies at the University of Tennessee. He is past-president of the International Reading Association and the National Reading Conference (now the Literacy Research Association). His research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institutes of Health. He has published over 150 scholarly papers and more than 10 books. His writing has been focused on translating research findings into educational practice.