Teaching Reading Comprehension in the Middle School

Timothy Shanahan

University of Illinois at Chicago

shanahan@uic.edu

Why teach reading in the middle school?

REASON # 1:

Full social participation requires a high level of reading—higher than can be accomplished in the lower grades.

Why teach reading in the middle school?

REASON # 2:

Reading is developmental and individuals acquire it at different speeds—necessitating later instruction for at least some students.

Why teach reading in the middle school?

REASON # 3:

Often early reading instruction is not very good or there is something wrong in learning.

Why teach reading in the middle school?

REASON # 4:

At advanced levels, reading is particularized and these specialized reading routines have to be learned.

How can we improve middle school reading comprehension?

Answer # 1:

Increase the amount instruction.

Increasing Literacy Time

1. Teach students how to read math, science, and social studies.

2. Give strugglers an extra literacy period.3. Even more instruction for those who still struggle.

How can we improve middle school reading comprehension?

SOLUTION # 2:

Teach essential skills and strategies.

Teaching Essential Skills andStrategies

• Reading comprehension • Vocabulary• Oral reading fluency• Decoding (for some)

Teaching Comprehension

• Greater focus on expository text.

• Teach multiple major thinking strategies:

--summarization --questioning --previewing/predicting --text structure --visualizing --inferring --monitoring

• Teach strategies as strategies.

Teaching Comprehension(cont.)

• Modeling

• Clear explanation

--what, when, how, why

• Guided doing

• Independent practice

Teaching Vocabulary

• Teach deep definitions.

• Build networks of meaning.

• Provide lots of repetition and review.

Teaching Fluency

• Oral reading

• Guidance and coaching

• Repetition

• Emphasize both decoding and prosody.

Teaching Decoding

• Only for very lowest students

• Systematic instruction

• More than individual sounds

--complex spelling patterns

--decoding

How can we improve middle school reading comprehension?

SOLUTION # 3:

Improve quality of

teaching.

Improving Quality of Teaching

• Thorough, coherent, systematic instruction

• Appropriate teaching level

• Motivation and engagement

• Teacher knowledge

Thorough, coherent, systematic instruction

• Enough lessons to ensure success.

• Well organized—so the intention is obvious.

• Clear day-to-day plans.

Appropriate Teaching Level

• Instructional materials can be too easy to learn from.

• Instructional materials can be too hard to learn from.

• Materials at or near student reading levels allows optimum progress.

Motivation and Engagement

• Curiosity: content should interest students

• Competence: students should be successful

• Challenge: students should feel like they are learning something worth learning

Teacher knowledge

• Teachers need to know how to model, explain, re-teach

• Teachers must be able to recognize learning

• Professional development matters

In summation,

Why should we improve middle school reading instruction?

Because we care about kids

Because they need for us to do it

Because we can

How can we improve middle school literacy?

1. Increasing amount of instruction

2. Focusing instruction on key learning

3. Improving quality of teaching

When should we improve middle school reading?

The time is now

We know how

And, the kids are here now

Thank you very much!

Teaching Reading in the Middle School

Timothy ShanahanUniversity of Illinois at Chicago

shanahan@uic.edu

http://www.reading.org/presentations/