James Flood

Interactive read-alouds: Is there a common set of implementation practices?

Read-alouds are a common component of literacy instruction. However, research on the method for providing read-alouds is limited. To determine if there was a common set of implementation practices, the authors examined the read-aloud practices of 25 teachers who were nominated by their administrators as experts. From these data, the authors identified several factors common to read-alouds. The authors then observed 100 additional teachers to determine how common each of these factors were in read-alouds.

USING MULTIPLE TEXT FORMATS TO EXPLORE SCIENTIFIC PHENOMENA IN MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASSROOMS

Knowledge of science and technology has become increasingly important in American society. As the need for technical and scientific information increases, educators must examine a variety of curriculum practices that will enhance student learning. How tradebooks, newspapers, magazines, and other supplemental reading materials can be used to enhance textbook reading in the middle school science classroom is examined. An integrated literature and science curriculum is proposed that expands the definition of literature to include all narrative and nonnarrative materials that support textbook reading. The tenets of an integrated literature and science curriculum are outlined, and several examples of them are provided.

Forms of Discourse in Basal Readers

Although claims have been made that contemporary basals include a variety of types of writing, a thorough analysis of eight reading basals shows that their content is almost exclusively literary. 65% of the selections and 72% of the pages in these eight programs are either narratives or poems. Expository and nonfiction selections are rarely included. Basal readers of the future need to include more varied discourse forms to ensure exposure to and instruction in various writing types before students are asked to read complex content-area textbooks. Furthermore, the designers of content-area texts need to include provisions in their texts for helping students to develop and extend the reading skills they learned in their basal reading programs.

Consensus Scoring and Peer Planning: Meeting Literacy Accountability Demands One School at a Time

To improve literacy achievement, the authors developed consensus scoring and peer planning as a process of professional development and school improvement. This process allows teachers to (1) gain an increased understanding of the content and performance standards that guide their instruction; (2) work together to assess student work; (3) work together to plan, understand, and provide quality instruction; and (4) reteach content as necessary to ensure student mastery. Two school examples of the use of this process to improve achievement are presented.

Reading comprehension performance: The effects of teacher presentations and text features

Abstract The role of the teacher in enhancing students’ reading comprehension was examined in this study. Forty‐four graduate students were asked to read either a natural or degraded version of two difficult texts and to complete a 37‐item multiple‐choice test. Half of the students received a 30‐minute teacher presentation prior to the reading of each text, and the other half of the group was asked only to read, study, take notes from the text and answer the questions. Each group was given 90 minutes for the task. Results indicated a significant main effect for the teacher presentation group. Students who received the teacher presentation outperformed students who did not receive the teacher presentation on measures of vocabulary and comprehension. No significant differences were found for the students’ performance on the natural text versus the degraded text or for the combined treatment of teacher presentation and text. The results of this study suggest that the teacher is a more significant factor in t...

A Seven-Step Instructional Plan for Teaching English-Language Learners to Comprehend and Use Homonyms, Homophones, and Homographs.

The instructional process described in this article can be used to teach all students, but it especially accommodates the challenges encountered by English-language learners.

Improving Young Adolescent Literacy through Collaborative Learning.

Given the social nature of adolescents, the growing emphasis on grouping and pairing students for instructional purposes is a welcome match. Schools across the nation are dis couraging the lecture approach wherein the teacher is the sole purveyor of information in favor of collaborative learning where students get in groups to share their thinking, engage in discussions, and solve various problems. Increasing interest in collaborative learning has led to numerous questions regarding its origin, research based benefits, and strategies and procedures for class room implementation. In this article, we address some of the most frequently asked questions and offer practical suggestions to help ensure successful use.

Types of writings found in the early levels of basal reading programs: Preprimers through second grade readers

Eight leading basal reading programs, approved for adoption in California public schools in 1983, were analyzed to determine the array of the types of writing included in the program from preprimers to second grade readers. The Teacher’s Manuals were examined to determine whether provision was included for teaching children how to read a wide variety of discourse types. A third investigation was undertaken in this study to determine the array of discourse types in standardized reading tests and assessment tests included in the basal program.Data indicated that the majority of selections in all of the readers were narrative materials (56%), poems accounted for 25% of the total selections, and exposition accounted for 15% of the total selections. A second analysis of page allocation indicated narrative writings accounted for more than 80% of the total page allocation. Few differences by grade level or by individual programs were found.The Teacher’s Manual of each of these programs provided instruction for teaching children how to read various types of writing. Suggestions for reading narrative writing constituted the greatest percentage.An analysis of discourse types in standardized tests indicated two discrepancies between reading programs and standardized tests: (1) few “whole” texts were included in tests before the end of second grade; and (2) most texts were narrative. The analysis of the assessment tests within each of the programs indicated narrative materials were most often used for testing and poetry was not assessed in any program.

The Effect of the Weekly Reader on Children'S Knowledge of Current Events

Analyses of data drawn from 2,331 urban and suburban elementary students ages 8 to 12 in Chicago, Houston, Boston, and San Francisco suggest that children who have higher reading levels and greater exposure to current events through communication media (television, newspapers, newsmagazines, discussions) have more knowledge and greater understanding of current events within classrooms, as measured by a 29-item current events knowledge test. Children in lower elementary classrooms (Grades 2 and 3) with the Weekly Reader periodical present appeared to have higher levels of current events knowledge, even after controlling for key classroom variables. The effect of the Weekly Reader is less for children in upper elementary classrooms (Grades 4 through 6) because they tend to receive more current events information from other communication materials.