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Increasing awareness about screening and instructional interventions for students with dyslexia is a necessary component of P-12 teacher preparation. Disparities in reading achievement for students with disabilities, including those with dyslexia, is evidenced in lower literacy testing scores as well as lower high school graduation rates for those with documented disabilities when compared to typical developing peers. Preservice teachers, however, continue to struggle with understanding, identifying, and providing targeted literacy instruction to remediate reading challenges for students with dyslexia. Emerging data on the impact of the COVID-19 school closures on lags in student's reading attainment, further solidifies the need for teacher preparation programs to prepare preservice teachers to implement best practices for supporting students with dyslexia. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine the impact of asynchronous online learning modules on preservice teacher's knowledge of dyslexia. Results indicate that preservice teachers who learn via online sources such as podcasts, infographics, and educational games, statistically increase their knowledge of dyslexia and confidence to work with students. Recommendations for programmatic change and inclusion of online learning about dyslexia for teacher preparation programs are suggested.

An experiment examined orthographic facilitation of vocabulary learning, that is, whether showing students spellings of novel words during learning helps them remember the words when spellings are no longer present. The purpose was to determine whether having students decode the spellings of vocabulary words improves word learning over passive exposure to spellings, and whether both treatments boost word memory compared to no spelling exposure. Low SES, urban first graders (N = 55) were randomly assigned to one of two word learning conditions: a decoding condition (printed words sounded out and blended) or an exposure without decoding condition (print present but no attention drawn to it). Students were taught the pronunciations and meanings of unfamiliar words over several test trials with feedback, one set with spellings present during learning but not when recall was tested, and one set with no spellings present. Results revealed that students remembered words better when spellings were seen than not seen during learning and on delayed posttests. Students who decoded spellings learned pronunciations and meanings better during the learning trials compared to students who only viewed spellings, but the advantage of decoding declined one and 7 days later. The favored explanation is that exposure to spellings activated grapho-phonemic connections to better secure spellings to pronunciations in memory, especially when students' had decoded them. This was supported by a posttest showing that spellings were written more accurately when students had seen them than when they had not, with decoding producing better recall than exposure. Results suggest that teachers should incorporate spellings into their vocabulary instruction, and they should direct students to decode them to enhance learning.

In recent decades, researchers have indicated that U.S. schools have underexposed elementary grade students to informational text. The increased exposure to this genre should be a top instructional priority. In the present study, we explored 46 third-grade students' attitudes toward and perceptions of informational text. Using three data sources (a student survey, individual interviews, and logs of independent reading time), we found that students read nonfiction text less frequently than fictional texts and preferred fictional to nonfiction text. Based on these findings, we provided suggestions on how teachers can help young readers diversify their text preferences.

In this article, we investigate what happened when, contrary to the typical isolation of faculty in higher education, a group of higher educators from various disciplines in a graduate school of education met regularly to discuss issues related to our teaching and social justice. More specifically, we explored the following research question: How does collaboration among higher educators from various disciplines shape their beliefs and practices of teaching for social justice? Over three years of collaboration and conversation, not only did we expand our own knowledge and understandings of notions of social justice, but we began to take important steps towards increasing our social justice actions in our teaching. This article explores our efforts to create a self-directed professional development group of higher educators and provides suggestions for similarly interested higher educators.

Many preservice and early career teachers in the United States are White, middle class, and female and as such have little firsthand experience working with or growing up in the increasingly diverse population of U.S. schools. As a part of a graduate course in children's literature, the objective of this study was to understand teacher candidates' perceptions of what elements of their personal narratives and background were under-represented in children's literature. Through course experiences and assignments, participants expanded their understanding of diversity, gained new resources for locating books, and developed empathy for their K-5 students.

The study assessed the clinical utility of an invented spelling tool and determined whether invented spelling with linguistic manipulation at segmental and supra-segmental levels can be used to better identify reading difficulties. We conducted linguistic manipulation by using real and nonreal words, incorporating word stress, alternating the order of consonants and vowels, and alternating the number of syllables. We recruited 60 third-grade students, of which half were typical readers and half were poor readers. The invented spelling task consistently differentiated those with reading difficulties from typical readers. It explained unique variance in conventional spelling, but not in word reading. Word stress explained unique variance in both word reading and conventional spelling, highlighting the importance of addressing phonological awareness at the supra-segmental level. Poor readers had poorer performance when spelling both real and nonreal words and demonstrated substantial difficulty in detecting word stress. Poor readers struggled with spelling words with double consonants at the beginning and ending of words, and performed worse on spelling two- and three-syllable words than typical readers. Practical implications for early identification and instruction are discussed.

This article presents research on the frequency of reading comprehension instruction in secondary content-area classrooms. In 2,400 minutes of direct classroom observation, only 3% of instructional time was allotted to coaching middle and high school readers on the reading comprehension strategies essential to understanding informational text. Finally, suggestions for increasing reading comprehension in such classrooms are provided.

The purpose of this article is to explore the use of picture walks in narrative and informational text as a method to encourage question generation. This article overviews the instructional benefits of having students generate their own questions before, during, and after reading. Featured are two classrooms where students pose questions through narrative and informational text features.

Orthographic facilitation refers to the boost in vocabulary learning that is provided when spellings are shown during study periods, but not during testing. The current study examined orthographic facilitation in beginning readers and whether directing their attention to print enhances the effect. In an experiment, first graders (N = 45) were randomly assigned to either an attention or no attention condition. They studied two sets of novel spoken words paired with pictures and spoken definitions, one set displaying spellings of the words beneath pictures, and one set with no spellings. Tests with no spellings present revealed that children learned pronunciations of words significantly better when spellings had been seen than not seen, and the benefit was still evident 2 weeks after training ended. Superior ability to spell the words by children who saw them showed that spellings were retained in memory to support learning. More advanced readers gained more benefit from spellings over no spellings in learning the words. However, drawing children's attention to print did not boost memory for the words, suggesting that simple exposure was sufficient to activate grapheme-phoneme connections automatically and bond spellings to pronunciations of words in memory, even in beginning readers. Memory for the meanings of words was not improved by spelling exposure, possibly because children possessed no grapho-semantic mapping system comparable to the grapho-phonemic system to enhance the formation of connections between spellings and meanings in memory.

This teaching tip showcases how students use iPads to video record themselves orally reading. In the Record, Listen, Reflect process, students conduct repeated readings with a familiar text, watch the recorded video, and conduct running records on themselves. Having an opportunity to watch videos of their own reading gives students a glimpse of their delivery and makes them wonder, "Do I really sound like that?"

As they are naturally curious about the world around them, young children ask lots and lots of questions. In classrooms today, however, there seems to be little space for these student-generated questions as teachers are more likely to pose the questions. Research indicates that question generation is an effective strategy to motivate young readers, to build reading comprehension, and to foster higher-level thinking skills. In addition to exploring the cognitive and motivational benefits of questioning, this article showcases how students can generate complex, juicy question from simple texts--in this case, nursery rhymes.

This study examined the effects of reading mode (oral and silent) and text genre (narrative and expository) on fourth graders' reading comprehension. While controlling for prior reading ability of 48 participants, we measured comprehension. Using a repeated measured design, data were analyzed using analysis of covariance, paired t-tests, and correlational statistics. Results revealed that silent reading was stronger for narrative passages in retell measures, but there was no difference for comprehension questions. The expository passages revealed no difference between the reading modes. Comprehension of narrative texts was consistently stronger than expository texts in both silent and oral reading.

When literacy instruction is driven by student-generated questions, students are able to dive deeper into text. This article explores the cognitive and motivational benefits of question generation to foster reading comprehension. The author presents classroom vignettes where students become inquisitive readers by posing their own questions. As they generate questions within and beyond the text, these authentic student inquiries promote reading comprehension and text engagement.

An essential element in teaching children to effectively comprehend text is the use of teacher-led think-alouds. The overarching objective of this study was to explore how to better prepare early career teachers to conduct think-alouds in their classrooms. Data from 31 teachers consisted of (1) questionnaires, (2) lesson plans, (3) lesson transcripts, and (4) written reflections. Teachers made significant growth in the quantity and quality of reading comprehension strategies they incorporated. Discussion focuses on the challenges the participants encountered when thinking aloud. Finally, suggestions for supporting teachers in effectively thinking aloud are provided.

An essential element in teaching children to effectively comprehend text is the use of teacher-led think alouds. This article presents a three-step model to improve the quality and quantity of think alouds in K-6 classrooms. The article follows elementary teachers who planned, implemented, transcribed, and reflected upon think aloud lessons to build student comprehension. Also included is a sample think aloud to demonstrate the three-step approach in an explicit manner.

Using a case study design, our research explored question generation as a reading comprehension strategy, focusing on the types of questions 4th- and 5th-grade students posed before, during, and after reading narrative text. The authors aimed to determine whether their participants are ready to pose the higher-level questions expected of them by the U.S. Common Core State Standards (2010). The results indicated that students asked mainly memory-based and convergent thinking questions, with far fewer divergent thinking and evaluative thinking questions. Instructional implications for classroom teachers include teacher modeling and demonstration of how to ask divergent and evaluative thinking questions through explicit instruction, mentorship, and more teacher use of language related to deeper thinking comprehension questions. These findings are explained in connection to the Common Core State Standards.

This article provides teachers with ideas on how to address students' self-generated questions. Following a third-grade classroom, the article explores the use of a "parking lot" -- a repository for the seemingly off-task questions which curious students naturally pose. As students encounter informational text with genuine purposes, they purposefully seek out the answers to their own questions and continue to generate additional questions.

An essential element in teaching children to effectively comprehend text is the use of teacher-led think alouds. The article follows a semester-long project with 31 inservice teachers, who planned, implemented, transcribed, and reflected upon think aloud lessons to build student comprehension. Through multiple exposures to think alouds, teachers made significant growth in the quantity and quality of reading comprehension strategies they incorporated. Discussion focuses on the successes and struggles that teachers encountered when thinking aloud. Finally, suggestions for supporting teachers in effectively thinking aloud are provided.

The purposes of this research were (a) to understand the frequency with which K-5 teachers use informational text in their routine classroom instruction, (b) to understand the percentage of informational text in classroom libraries, and (c) to explore teachers' attitudes about informational text. Survey data of 318 participants indicated that K-5 teachers used an average of 31.55 minutes (SD = 22.24) of informational text per day and that classroom libraries consisted of an average of 32.77% (SD = 14.16) of informational text. Participants were overwhelmingly positive about the instructional value of informational text but also reported that a lack of time, a lack of resources, and curricular limitations restricted their use of informational text. Implications on how to increase the use of informational text in K-5 classrooms are provided. (Contains 3 tables.)

The purpose of this observational study was to identify the frequency of reading comprehension instruction in elementary classrooms. Additional objectives were to determine which reading comprehension instructional strategies were most employed by teachers in elementary classrooms. In 3,000 minutes of direct classroom observation in 20 first- through fifth-grade classrooms, a total of 751 minutes (or 25% of instructional time) was allotted for reading comprehension instruction. The highest amount of reading comprehension instruction occurred in 4th-grade classrooms, with the least amount occurring in 3rd grade. Question answering, summarization, and predicting/prior knowledge were the most frequently occurring reading comprehension strategies. Finally, implications for teachers' professional development and training are provided. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact that a community literacy project had on the reading habits of young children and their families. This year-long study focuses on a public library-run program titled Books in Motion, in which community members read children's chapter book and meet monthly to watch the book's film translation. Using a case study approach in which I followed six groups of participants over several months, data sources included small-group structured interviews, individual open-ended interviews, written surveys, and field notes and a reflective journal from monthly film nights. The constant comparative model yielded three major themes, including the following (1) Books in Motion impacted community literacy interactions, (2) the program motivated participants in innovative ways, and (3) the program offered participants new literacy resources. Thus, children's reading continues in engaging and creative formats through programs like Books in Motion. As public libraries seek to influence children's reading today, Books in Motion exemplifies how diverse community members can benefit from a low-cost community literacy program.

The purpose of this article is to examine the developmental spelling levels of one class of 17 third-grade students. In analyzing over 600 student spelling samples, results indicate that these students spanned four spelling stages: (1) letter name, (2) within word pattern, (3) syllables and affixes, and (4) derivational relations (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2008; Henderson, 1981). The article provides convincing evidence of the diagnostic potential of spelling analysis as a means to comprehending students' orthographic understandings. Implications for small-group word study instruction are provided. (Contains 6 tables.)

Reading teacher education, as is true with much of higher education, is plagued with pressures of providing "here and now" answers to very complex, entangled issues. The reading methods course becomes the site of many of these pressures, despite considerable insights provided by scholars such as Kumaravadivelu (2001) that "methods" may be more of the problem than the solution. In this article, we explore an emergent conceptualization of the reading teacher educator as "customer service provider" and discuss how this approach threatens reading teacher education. We voice our concerns that the pressure on reading teacher educators to deliver content in the "customer service" model denies preservice teachers access to critical pedagogies. (Contains 1 footnote.)

The author explores how the use of joke books can promote fluency in young readers. One young girl's fluency improved measurably, and her engagement and motivation to read the particular kind of text involved played a significant role. (Contains 2 tables.)

The purpose of this mixed methodology study was to identify the frequency of reading comprehension instruction in middle and high school social studies and science classrooms. An additional purpose was to explore teachers' perceptions of and beliefs about the need for reading comprehension instruction. In 2,400 minutes of direct classroom observation, a total of 82 minutes (3%) of reading comprehension instruction was observed. The qualitative findings reveal that teachers did not feel qualified or responsible for providing explicit instruction on reading comprehension. Teachers pointed to the pressure to cover content in preparation for state standardized tests as barriers to providing reading instruction. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the instructional strategies that middle and high school teachers used to support struggling readers. Data from 2,400 minutes of direct classroom observation and interviews of secondary content-area teachers revealed that explicit reading comprehension instruction was not a significant way in which teachers assisted struggling readers. In order to provide struggling readers with necessary content information, teachers relied on several compensatory strategies including didactic instruction, multiple presentations of information through multiple modalities, alternate sources of texts, and heterogeneous grouping. Implications about secondary content-area teachers' understanding of the benefits of reading comprehension instruction and about teachers' instructional priorities and responsibilities are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)

Whenever Mr. Henderson's 3rd grade students had a question that he couldn't immediately answer or that seemed off-topic, he asked them to write the question on a sticky note and place it on a poster dubbed the "Parking Lot." His intention was to find time later to answer those questions, but too often, he said, the parking lot became "the place my kids' questions go to die." Article author Molly Ness Hill and Mr. Henderson decided to move those questions out of the parking lot by having students find answers in informational texts. They planned 15-minute weekly sessions in which small groups of students were given a question from the parking lot and a book that included the answer. Students worked in their leveled reading groups, which enable Mr. Henderson to differentiate by reading level. The most skilled students were given more complex texts, and later, multiple texts. English language learners used books with simpler text and more pictures. As students discovered answers, they eagerly shared them on a new poster, called the "Freeway." Despite their progress, the parking lot of questions never emptied because once students realized the questions would be answered, they added even more. Students also became more interested in informational texts, choosing them more frequently during independent reading time than they had before.

As students move up through the grades, the academic demands on them increase, and a great many of those increases come in the form of reading. The academic tasks students encounter in the upper elementary grades, and even more so in secondary school, involve a great deal of reading in support of learning new and complicated content. As the academic demands on secondary students become more complicated, explicit reading instruction diminishes. The academic importance of instruction in reading comprehension is clear. It is also clear that secondary teachers can help students become proficient readers of academic texts if they arm them with a variety of comprehension strategies. However, many secondary teachers have only limited knowledge of how to go about doing it. The author offers three suggestions for secondary schools to help teachers include reading comprehension strategies in content-area classrooms. These include: (1) providing explicit professional development opportunities that show the instructional value of literacy integration; (2) creating an inquiry-based school environment where teachers critically reflect on their instructional goals and priorities; and (3) making use of literacy coaches and curriculum specialists. (Contains 6 endnotes.)

When school bells ring to mark the start of the 2005-2006 academic year, the District of Columbia's Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School will welcome more than 200 elementary students, as well as a new teacher: First Daughter Jenna Bush. Statements released by the White House announced Jenna's decision to put her college degree to work in one of the nation's neediest school districts. This article describes the challenges; environment; politics; alternative routes; and expectations of this new experience.

Given most AmeriCorps members' passion and dedication, a recent college graduate assigned to an overcrowded Oakland middle school felt guilty about her half-hearted commitment to Teach for America. She gradually realized her situation was all too realistic and typical of teachers serving in underresourced schools across the nation. (MLH)