Creating Strategic Readers: Techniques for Developing Competency in Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension

The days of stressing the acquisition of reading skills in isolation are in the past. To develop lifelong readers, it is vital for teachers to also show students how to apply these reading skills strategically to acquire meaning from text. This book is a comprehensive resource you can use to better equip yourself in the craft of teaching reading. Author Valerie Ellery first lays the groundwork for a comprehensive literacy classroom, detailing appropriate curriculum, assessment, and instruction. She then focuses on the five essential components of reading instruction identified in the 2000 National Reading Panel report—phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension—to align instruction with current standards. You will learn how to implement the components into your instruction with techniques that foster active, strategic reading. Each technique identifies corresponding multiple intelligences and developmental levels of reading so you can determine which approach is best suited for each student’s specific learning style and reading need. Because scaffolding and teacher talk are essential to successful instruction, procedures for modeling the techniques and examples of teacher talk are provided throughout the book. Ultimately, you will learn how to gradually release responsibility for learning to students and guide them in becoming strategic, independent readers.