What Really Matters for Middle School Readers

Description

The latest from well-known author and literacy expert Dr. Richard Allington is intended as the first step in preparing future teachers to provide early adolescents with high-quality literacy instruction. What Really Matters for Middle School Readers: From Research to Practice looks at the areas that struggling adolescents find most difficult–meaning, vocabulary, (especially academic words), and inferential comprehension–and focuses on ways to foster accelerated growth. Dr. Allington stresses that through expanding the volume of high-success reading that students experience each day, as well as through the wide variety of additional classroom strategies and methodologies included in the text, middle school students can achieve a working literacy proficiency.

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

• 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.

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.

The latest from well-known author and literacy expert Richard Allington is intended as the first step in preparing future teachers to provide early adolescents with high-quality literacy instruction. What Really Matters for Middle School Readers: From Research to Practice looks at the areas that struggling adolescents find most difficult—meaning, vocabulary, (especially for academic words), and inferential comprehension—and focuses on ways to foster accelerated growth. Dr. Allington stresses that through expanding the volume of high-success reading that students experience each day, as well as through the wide variety of additional classroom strategies and methodologies included in the text, middle school students can achieve a working literacy proficiency.

The latest from well-known author and literacy expert Richard Allington is intended as the first step in preparing future teachers to provide early adolescents with high-quality literacy instruction. What Really Matters for Middle School Readers: From Research to Practice looks at the areas that struggling adolescents find most difficult—meaning, vocabulary, (especially for academic words), and inferential comprehension—and focuses on ways to foster accelerated growth. Dr. Allington stresses that through expanding the volume of high-success reading that students experience each day, as well as through the wide variety of additional classroom strategies and methodologies included in the text, middle school students can achieve a working literacy proficiency.

“I was absolutely riveted and engrossed in the material at the beginning of the first chapter…The information presented should be the very first in-service teachers receive at the beginning of the school year. Everything from the changing demographics to the lack of reading instruction in the middle years, to the effective teaching strategies should be sung from on high in every district of America.” — Theresa Barone, Derby Middle School

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.