A.  There are some students who cannot read chapter 5.  They either cannot call the words, or if they can call the words, they do not understand the meaning of the passages.

B.  There are students who are "teacher pleasers" and will truly "read" chapter 5.  "Read" does not hold the same meaning for teachers as it does for students.  Most students who do the required reading are likely reading passively and retain very little if any of what they consider themselves to have "read."

C.  There are students who know how to "play school."  They are not going to read the assigned chapters since they know (from having seen it acted out for the last 8-12 years of school) that the next day the teacher  is going to "go over" chapter 5 and tell them everything they need to know.  Or, HEAVEN FORBID, the teacher is going to direct students to READ THE TEXT ALOUD so that he/she can be sure that all students have "heard" (again a very undefined term) chapter 5. 

FACT:  None of the above listed options are acceptable. 

FACT:  There are strategies available to teachers that will 

In a Utopic situation, all children would learn to decode and comprehend in the primary grades or, in some cases, before they even start to school.   The reality, however, is that we have too many students in our classrooms who cannot read at grade level (throughout this webpage "read" means comprehending - even if all words are "called" correctly, no reading has occurred unless the person reading the print UNDERSTANDS the meaning of the passage).  While few  students who are typical learners reach high school without the skills needed to "call words" (decode text), many, many students graduate from high school without being able to comprehend the passages in which they called words. 

Regardless of students' abilities to decode and comprehend text in a high school classroom, the teacher's responsibility is to teach the state-mandated curriculum for that grade level.  Thus the rub:  how do we use materials AT grade level when we have readers who do not read (comprehension is implied) at grade level?   

Readers Theater:  http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/

Reading:  Expression = Comprehension:  http://www.ttms.org/say_about_a_book/expression_equals_comprehension.htm

How do Expressive Readers Read?:  http://www.ttms.org/say_about_a_book/how_do_expressive_readers_read.htm

Guess What?  (riddle poems):  http://members.aol.com/Eleehart/guesswhat.html

Giggle Poetry:  http://www.gigglepoetry.com/

Falling Up - Shel Silverstein

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices - Paul Fleischman

Comprehension is the goal of all reading experiences.  Without meaning, no reading has occurred.  In this area, we find ourselves in a national crisis.  Specific DAILY lesson plans that include PRE, DURING, and POST reading strategies dramatically increase the number of students who UNDERSTAND the assigned reading.  These identified and TAUGHT strategies become a part of students' repertoire of automatic strategies they use for the rest of their lives, and they know HOW and WHEN to ADJUST the strategies to fit the reading event. 

What Secondary Teachers can do to Teach Reading:  http://www.edletter.org/past/issues/1999-ja/secondary.shtml

Reading Comprehension Strategies:  http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/readquest/strat/

Helping Children with Disabilities Learn to Read:  http://idea.uoregon.edu/%7Encite/programs/read.html

Passive reading is a LEARNED response from reinforced behaviors in the way teachers ask students to "read" selected passages/texts and then the way the passages/texts are handled in class.  People always have a PURPOSE for what they read.  Students need to be given specific purposes for what they should find out as they are reading.   Readers who are reading to determine certain information have better comprehension and retention of what they read.   

During Reading Strategies that Encourage ACTIVE READING include:

"I hate reading."  It is no surprise that this is the mantra of millions of our students.  The phrase is a first cousin to I hate books, I hate school, I hate learning.  Typically we do very little in our schools to ensure that our students not only CAN read, but also LOVE to read.  Reading is thinking.  Some of the greatest criticisms from employers in the work force who get our graduates are that we are not graduating THINKERS - PROBLEM-SOLVERS - TEAM PLAYERS - INVENTORS - INITIATORS.  

THINKING Strategies include:

Think Tank:  http://thinktank.4teachers.org/ - research tool

Literature Circles:  http://www.pampetty.com/litcircles.htm

Content Area Reading Strategies:  http://www.ttms.org/content_area_reading/content_area_reading.htm

Ideas for Improving Book Talks and Book Reviews:  http://www.ttms.org/say_about_a_book/say_about_a_book.htm

Study Guides and Strategies:  http://www.studygs.net/index.htm

Reading Comprehension:  http://www.rhlschool.com/reading.htm

Tools for Reading, Writing and Thinking:  http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Tools/Index.htm

Reading Strategies:  http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/612/Reading/Reading%20Strategies/reading%20strategies%20index.htm

Dictionary Game:  http://www.col-ed.org/cur/lang/lang43.txt

Word Study:  Working and Playing with Words:  http://www.literacyconnections.com/WordStudy.html

Virtual Flashcards:  http://www.virtualflashcards.com/

Hink Pinks:  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/4455/hinks.html

                   http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=5912

Wacky World of Words:  http://www3.telus.net/teachwell/

Five Language Arts 'Sponges':  http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_sponges.shtml

Nifty Thrifty Fifty

 Teaching for Learning: Group Work:  http://www.flinders.edu.au/teach/teach/groupwork.htm (see this link for other suggestions for methods of instruction, including problem-based learning, collaborative learning, and  student-centered learning, etc.:  http://w ww.flinders.edu.au/teach/teach/practices.htm)

Working in Groups:  http://bokcenter.harvard.edu/docs/wigintro.html

Overview:  Working in Groups:  http://writing.colostate.edu/references/processes/group/index.cfm

Group Projects:  http://www.studygs.net/groupprojects.htm

A Biography Study:  Using Role-Play to Explore Authors' Lives:  http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=398    

A Harlem Renaissance Retrospective: Connecting Art, Music, Dance, and Poetry:  http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=252

A High-Interest Novel Helps Struggling Readers Confront Bullying in Schools:  http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=390

Entire selection of lesson plans 9-12:  http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/index.asp?grade=4&strand=0&engagement=0&display.x=30&display.y=11
 

Resources:

Reading Workshop by Jim Burke:  http://www.englishcompanion.com/pdfDocs/jimburkehandouts.pdf

Young Adult Literature - Middle/Secondary English-Language Arts:  http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/yalit.htm

Ideas for Teaching Literature and Reading:  http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/readingliterature/menu.html

Content Area Reading:  http://www.pampetty.com/contentareareading.htm

Reading Strategies:  http://www.paec.org/david/reading/general.pdf

Instructional Strategies and Resources:  http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/clic/instructional_strategies_resources.html

Adolescents and Literacy in the Content Area:  http://knowledgeloom.org/practices3.jsp?location=1&bpinterid=1174&spotlightid=1174 

A Summary of Scientific-Based Research (SBR) Supporting the Use of Inquiry-Based Teaching/Learning Strategies:  http://www.proquestk12.com/lsm/pqelib/pdfs/SBReLibTeacherTraining.pdf

Language Arts Mini-Lessons (9-12):  http://yn.la.ca.us/cec/ceclang/ceclang-high.html

Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum in the Middle Grades:  http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/promoting_literacy.phtml

103 Things to do Before/During and After Reading:  http://www.readingrockets.org/article.php?ID=445

Reading Comprehension Skills and Practice:  http://www.nelliemuller.com/reading_comprehension.htm

A Vision for Action and Research for Middle and High School Literacy:  http://www.all4ed.org/publications/ReadingNext/ReadingNext.pdf

WebQuest Generator:  http://www.phpwebquest.org/english/index.htm (if this page opens to a non-English version, click on ENGLISH and it will change to English) 

Interactive Unit Planner:  http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/iup/

Jeopardy Games (all content areas):  http://www.hardin.k12.ky.us/res_techn/countyjeopardygames.htm

100 Things to do with Books:  http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/resources/books.html

Java Games - all content areas:  http://www.quia.com/shared/geo/

Rubistar - Rubric generator.  Fantastic!

Bloom’s Taxonomy Model Questions and Key Words:  http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/handouts/1414.html

Theory, Identity, and Practice: A Study of Two High School English Teachers' Literature Instruction http://cela.albany.edu/reports/Agee2/index.html

Top Reading Resources:  http://www.topteachingresources.com/resources.php?subject=3

Content Area Reading:  Textbook Strategies (click here for PPT)

The Literacy Web:  http://www.literacy.uconn.edu/

Adult Learning Activities:  http://www.cdlponline.org/ - stories to read that are of interest to adults and older students

Ice Breakers:  http://www.susan-boyd.com/tenways.htm

                      http://www.dyzone.org.za/Ice-Breakers.cfm

Eleven Techniques for Better Classroom Discipline:  http://www.honorlevel.com/x47.xml

New Teachers Survival Guide:  http://hannahmeans.bizland.com/

Planning Standards-Based Instruction:  http://www.englishcompanion.com/pdfDocs/irvineplanner.pdf