Educational Reading This Bibliography Reviews

Educational Reading

This bibliography reviews 10 trade books that teachers can use in the classroom for a reader at or below grade level. Each work listed contains a review and description of how each book can be used for the beginning reader and advanced reader.

Beers, S. (2003) Reading strategies for the content area. ASCD, 386 pages.

In this work the author provides information that will assist teachers that attempt to structure their students' thinking when reading simple or complex materials. The objective of the book is to provide educators with the information they need to teach students how to process information they are given in a contextual manner. Students are encouraged to utilize information and reading assignments given by the teacher by applying the concepts and various reading tools presented in the book which help organize students' thinking and allow them to understand or comprehend the meaning of the reading assignments from an objective and a subjective vantage.

This work is important because it stimulates the students' interest in attempting to process information and subsequently apply it in a real life setting. The author designed the material in an easy-to-use manner, so teachers can select one or all of the tool selected to train students when they are tackling reading comprehension questions or assignments. The work also encouraged the teacher to challenge students when providing them with reading assignments. Each reading assignment should contain content the reader can understand. Reading assignments should focus on reading comprehension and fluency, as these are skills that will benefit the beginning reader and the advanced reader. The more complicated the information provided in the reading assignments, the more challenged the student will be to formulate their conclusions or solutions to any problems presented to them in the reading.

Harrison, C. & Coles, M. (2001) the reading for real handbook. London: Routledge

Farmer.

In this guide, the author discusses current debates about the way teachers should approach and teach reading to beginning and advanced learners. It discusses literacy in the content areas and suggests that the book and the issues presented in it are provided not to inspire debate about the best methods in reading, but rather to encourage educators to adopt a single view of the way reading can be best utilized in the classroom. The authors note they want to promote "a balanced approach to methodology" by doing away with ideas like "good" and "bad" and instead focusing on what is "useful" in the classroom (p. 4). The authors note how important it is for teachers in the literacy content area to build strong relationships with their students, because it is these relationships that they cultivate that will allow them to better understand each child's unique learning needs and address them appropriately. The work is not "a storybook approach" or a book "solely for those who make use of schemes or a scheme" but rather a book that emphasizes literature, "meaning-making" and encourages the teacher to create an environment where children enjoy reading and learning to read. It suggests teachers address the reading process, the "place of good books" in any reading program, "hearing children read" and even addresses strategies that involve having parents take part in children's learning.

The authors are also among the first to bring into focus the "reading-writing connection" and discuss reading across many curriculums suggesting bilingual readers could benefit as could ordinary readers that find learning difficult to comprehend (p. 3). The goals of the work include to provide authoritatively as assessment of theories that "underpin reading" and the "teaching of reading" and to provide "practical guidance" that will allow teachers to implement these theories in the classroom, regardless of the skill level of the students they teach (p. 3). The authors want to provide details as to "why" certain theories do work and others do not, so that readers using the book will "reflect on their own classroom practice" suggesting this work will help each teacher reflect on what is and what is not working in the classroom. There are self-reflection questions added in the book to encourage the teacher to think about his or her attitudes and what would not work for them as individuals in the classroom trying to promote reading to children that have difficulty with reading, those that are just starting reading and those that are advanced in their learning or comprehension of reading.

Kamil, M.L., Mosenthal, P.B., Pearson, D. & Barr, R. (2000) Handbook of reading research, vol. 3. Mahwah, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

This is a modern day trade book for educators interested in learning about diversity and global changes that have affected the reading strategies educational institutions are using across the world. The work starts with a lengthy discourse on the historical foundations of reading. A discussion of reading among the early colonial settlements in the United States as well as hypothesis on the reading styles of people living during the stone-age provide the educator with a better understanding of how primary research and reading theories that are used today came about. The authors note while they wanted to provide continuity to previous books written regarding reading methodologies and strategies for beginning readers and to promote literacy in content areas, they highlight theories from the past that teachers or educators can still use in the modern classroom to enable students to achieve their best. The authors encourage educators to teach beginning and advanced readers how to stop, pause and contemplate issues including "how do we think" and "what do we value" when reading (p.x). When readers do this, according to the authors, they are more likely to apply what they learn in the classroom to their real life situations, making reading comprehension less of a chore and more of a journey toward discovery. The authors also talk about how important it is to develop diverse strategies in the classroom. They believe educators should at the very least attempt to change the strategies and approaches they use to engage beginning readers daily or weekly, so students retain more information and the desire and motivation for learning remains fresh.

Such strategies would also promote continuing education for the teacher, for the teacher would be the primary person involved with promoting excellence in reading and reading comprehension within the classroom. Students are encouraged to think in terms of "what is possible" (p. x) instead of thinking about how difficult reading is or what shortcomings they may have that may prohibit them from fully learning in the classroom. The guidebook also calls on teachers to encourage students to tap into their imaginations so they can work with their teachers to come up with new options that will enable better learning comprehension, options that "never before existed" (p. x). The information and research in this guide can best be described as cutting edge.

Mooney, M. (2000) Read it again! Revisiting shared reading. Stenhouse Publishers.

This book talks about how teachers can use shared reading to help students come up with their own unique strategies that assist with reading and reading comprehension. There are multiple reading comprehension examples and shared reading strategies shared with the reader, all promote learning how to improve reading in a group format. Often children that are having difficulty reading enjoy working with other children who are at or below their skill level. In a classroom of children that are at or just below the reading level, this book encourages collaboration to meet classroom goals.

Children can select the groups they want to be in, or better, teachers can assign students to different groups each week. A text can be selected from a list by the teacher. Each group can then select the text they want to read and review, and read it in a shared environment. Each student's job is to take turns reading the text, and then providing the other members of the group their synopsis of how the reading pertains to their life or to life generally. Other members of the group can then participate, drawing on the information provided by the student, to come up with other meanings the book has. Advanced learners can also participate and benefit from shared reading. The selection of material they choose to review may be more advanced in nature. However, teachers can use this book to demonstrate how it would be useful to create "mixed" groups, where advanced learners and those at or below the average reading level come together in a shared group setting. The advanced learner can help the beginning readers by providing his or her own insights about the many ways he or she goes about or the tools he or she uses when trying to comprehend sentences and formulate meaning from a textbook. This concept is a novel concept that has become increasingly popular as more and more educators look to innovative ways to make reading fun and interesting in the classroom. Students may find one or more strategies work best for them when they try to read and comprehend material. They can then use this information when not in a group setting and apply it to other courses or experiences in life where they are charged with the task of comprehending reading materials.

Pearson, David. (2002) Handbook of reading research Vol 1. Westport: Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates.

The authors created this book as a reference trade book that provides educators with information on the history of reading as well as information on reading research. The objective is to provide the classroom teacher with multiple strategies and methods they can use to promote reading for beginning readers that are at grade level, below grade level and beyond grade level. The first part of the work provides "how to" advice according to the authors, noting specific elements educators must consider while they plan to implement various reading strategies in the classroom. The next section of the work talks about basic processes in reading, which include reading comprehension, phonetics, language acquisition and related issues. The objective here is to provide the teacher with a better understanding of what it takes to teach early readers not just how to read, but also how to apply what they read to the real world and to their personal experiences. The last portion of the material introduced the educator to specific instructional practices related to reading. Here the reader will find reviews of research that focus on instructional methods in reading. The goal is to provide as the authors state, teachers with "landing areas" (p.xxi) they can use when under time constraints that contain a wealth of strategies one can easily compile into a reading lesson plan for the day. The book provides many "jump off" or starting points an educator can use to initiate conversation on the subject of reading. Features that are helpful in the trade book include information on the different styles of writing adopted by many popular authors often used in reading assignments for the beginning and the advanced reader. A discourse on creating what the author refers to "consistent structure" is also included at the start of every chapter to provide the educator with a solid theoretical framework from which they can direct and guide their reading education. Complicated methods including a discourse on metacognition are included to encourage the teacher to think outside of the box when approaching learning. The goal is as most of the books so far, to promote literacy in content rich areas.

Paris, S. & Steven, Stahl. (2004) Current issues in reading comprehension and assessment. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

This trade work encourages literacy in content areas by focusing on contributions various researchers have made to the field of reading research. The objective of the work is to convince educators that reading comprehension should be "at the top of scholarly agenda" for all people interested in reading research (p. 1). Further, the volume provides a wealth of information on classic reading methods championed in the late 1980s through the present. Many consider this trade book a "classic" that is critical for any educator interested in updating their theoretical and "empirical knowledge of the essential cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension" (p. 1). The work also provides many well-developed activities teachers can use as instructional activities when promoting reading comprehension in the classroom. Basic processes in reading comprehension are talked about, as are instructional practices. Finally, the authors focus on reading comprehension assessment, talking about how teachers can go about decoding basic reading skills and what strategies or tools they can use to assess reading "fluency" in the classroom. This is followed by a discourse on what steps teachers can make to address problems that may contribute to poor reading comprehension following assessment.

The individual using this guidebook will have no trouble using it for the beginning or advanced reader, and may even apply many of the strategies contained in this work to special needs students or students that need extra help with reading comprehension. The book leads with a brief synopsis of historical and theoretical foundations of reading and reading comprehension.

Rasinski, T. (2000) Effective reading strategies, 2nd edition: Teaching children who find reading difficult. Merrill Publishing Company.

In this text, the authors encourage teachers to actively search for students that are having trouble reading. The strategies adopted suggest teachers should identify the individual needs of students. This will require teachers to single out students that have trouble reading and find out what is necessary to motivate them. The authors suggest teacher's can then translate this information into strategies that will improve literacy. Teachers should according to the authors, also look at the many reasons successful students are successful, and consider adopting the tactics successful students use and apply them to students that have difficulty with reading, whether that trouble is related to motivation, poor literacy skills or reading comprehension.

Smith, F. (2003) Unspeakable acts, unnatural practices: Flaws and fallacies in Scientific" reading instruction. New York, Heinemann.

In this book the author discusses many beginning and advanced reader concepts. These include a discourse on basic phonics and pronunciation, a discussion of phonemes and their prevalence as well as meaning, and encourages the teacher to promote "balanced reading" so the students in the classroom can understand language as a "whole language" rather than understand language in bits and pieces. The author wars against instituting reading skills tests or evaluations on the basis of potentially "imbalanced" scientific research. According to the author, much of the information presented in empirical research on children's reading comprehension and acquisition may be faulty or incorrect. For this reason the author encourages a balanced reading approach, so the student has an opportunity to explore many different types and kinds of reading. The student should also be encouraged according to Smith, to adopt multiple reading strategies so they may find the strategy most likely to help them comprehend complex assignments. The student also must according to the author, learn about phonology to understand and comprehend the study of phonemes. Phonology per the author has to do with studying speech sounds, and the patterned interactions used to create specific sounds. For example, the letter C. may be hard or soft depending on the context in which it is used as well as the letters before or after the letter C. The author encouraged diverse learning that considers foreign languages and the complex possible sounds other languages use to create words and meaning. The phoneme is described as the way our minds comprehend and then interpret sound in a predictable way, based on multiple different possibilities. Phonemes derive from the allophone which is a variant or different mental representation of sound for a specific letter, like the letter C. The study of phonemes as described by the author is critical to the beginning learner because it teaches him or her how to create complex words and meaning by combining single letters. Most early learners do not learn how to create sound in quite this way. Rather, they attempt to discern meaning by looking at more than one unit of sound, which can become tedious and complicated.