Effective Instruction for Middle School Students with Reading Difficulties

Authors: Carolyn A. Denton, Ph.D., Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D., Jade Wexler, Ph.D., Deanna Bryan, Deborah S. Reed, Ed.D.

This book arms language arts teachers with the lessons, strategies, and foundational knowledge they need to resolve older students' reading difficulties and increase their chances for academic success.

Ideal for use with struggling readers in Grades 6-8, this book clearly lays out the fundamentals of effective teaching for adolescents with reading difficulties.

Reading problems don't disappear when students enter middle school - recent studies show that nearly a quarter of today's eighth graders aren't able to read at a basic level.* This book arms language arts teachers with the lessons, strategies, and foundational knowledge they need to resolve older students' reading difficulties and increase their chances for academic success.

Ideal for use with struggling readers in Grades 6-8, this book clearly lays out the fundamentals of effective teaching for adolescents with reading difficulties. Teachers will discover how to:

• select and administer assessments for comprehension, fluency, and word recognition
• use assessment results to plan individualized instruction
• apply research-supported instructional practices
• develop flexible grouping systems so students get the targeted instruction they need
• set manageable short-term learning goals with students
• keep the pacing of instruction quick and energetic so students stay engaged
• give appropriate positive and corrective feedback
• monitor student progress over time
• promote generalization of new reading skills
• provide effective interventions within a school-wide Response to Intervention framework

To help teachers incorporate evidence-based practices into their classroom instruction, they'll get more than 20 complete, step-by-step sample lessons for strengthening adolescents' reading skills. Easy to adapt for use across any curriculum, the sample lessons provide explicit models of successful instruction, with suggested teacher scripts, checklists for planning instruction, key terms and objectives, strategies for guided and independent practice, tips on promoting generalization, and more.

With this practical guide to high-quality instruction, middle school teachers will help struggling readers develop the skills they need to master complex academic content and succeed inside and outside the classroom.

With 20+ step-by-step sample lessons that improve:

• Fluency
• Comprehension
• Word recognition
• Vocabulary

*National Center for Education Statistics, 2011

Reviews

Linda Mason, Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education, The Pennsylvania State University – June 20, 2012
“This timely evidence-based book will be a valuable resource for middle schools striving to meet reading standards.”

Robert Reid, Professor Special Education University of Nebraska – June 20, 2012
“An outstanding book that every reading teacher should have . . . written in an approachable manner and chock full of practical tips and critical information.”

Jessica Hagaman, University of Nebraska - Omaha – June 20, 2012
“An outstanding resource for both preservice and practicing middle school teachers . . . provides user-friendly, research-based information on assessment, progress monitoring, and instructional grouping to support students with reading difficulties.”

Virginia Berninger, Professor and Director of the NICHD-funded Center for OWLs – June 19, 2012
“A practical, evidence-based way to bring out improved student learning outcomes . . . should be required reading in all preservice and inservice teacher education programs.”

Joan Sedita, Founder of Keys to Literacy – June 4, 2012
“A great sourcebook that provides detailed sample lessons that can be used immediately to teach research-based reading strategies across several tiers of instruction.”