William Dee Nichols

The Effective Teacher of Reading: Considering the “What” and “How” of Instruction

What teaching strategies must teachers of reading be able to perform and how are these strategies applied effectively in teaching children to read? This article attempts to answer these two important questions. n nOne key element of a successful reading program focuses on the teacher. A brief review of the teacher effectiveness literature, including the International Reading Associations position statement on excellent reading teachers, is followed by a description of common instructional features associated with the effective teaching of reading: n n nAssessing students strengths and weaknesses n n nStructuring reading activities around an explicit instructional model n n nProviding students with opportunities to learn and apply skills and strategies in authentic reading tasks n n nEnsuring that students attend to the learning tasks n n nBelieving in ones teaching abilities and expecting students to be successful

Vocabulary Instruction for the Struggling Reader

ABSTRACT Childrens acquisition of vocabulary is essential for gains in reading comprehension and reading development. Struggling readers often do not make gains in their reading comprehension because they have a limited reading vocabulary. Enhancing the vocabulary development and growth for children who are experiencing reading difficulties enables them to better identify key concepts in text that they read, make inferences within and between texts, and increase their abilities to comprehend. Teaching vocabulary and the incidental learning of words should not be viewed as competitive forces that create a good/bad dichotomy. Instead, it should be acknowledged that learners develop vocabularies through both approaches, and that teachers need to know when students would benefit from explicit instruction that initially teaches word meaning by application in meaningful narrative and expository text (McKeown, 1993).

Improving Middle School Professional Development by Examining Middle School Teachers' Application of Literacy Strategies and Instructional Design

The goal of this article is to explore the effects of professional development on middle school teachers understanding and application of literacy strategies supporting and enhancing instruction across the curriculum. This study investigated the extent to which reading and writing strategies, along with sound instructional design, were implemented by middle school teachers in their content areas based on data collected from self-reports (i.e., strategy and design checklists) and authors classroom observations. Results from the analysis of the data collected suggest that the sampled middle school teachers used a wide variety of instructional strategies and instructional designs throughout their teaching. While certain instructional designs (whole-class discussion) and strategies (note-taking and graphic organizers) were used universally throughout the school, perhaps more important was the fact that others were selected dependent upon the unique content area they taught.

TEACHERS INFLUENCE ON GOAL ORIENTATION: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EIGHTH GRADERS GOAL ORIENTATION, THEIR EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNING, AND THEIR TEACHERS INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES WILLIAM DEE NICHOLS

Address correspondence to William Dee Nichols, Department of Teaching and Learning, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 226 War Memorial Hall (Office # 305), Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0313. E-mail: wnichols@vt.edu TEACHERS’ INFLUENCE ON GOAL ORIENTATION: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EIGHTH GRADERS’ GOAL ORIENTATION, THEIR EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNING, AND THEIR TEACHERS’ INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Examining phonemic awareness and concepts of print patterns of kindergarten students

Abstract Necessary prerequisites for and at the same time powerful predictors of childrens success in beginning reading are the development of phonemic awareness and concepts of print. Students who are learning to read need to be taught how to consciously attend to phonemes and to develop an understanding regarding concepts about print. This study was two‐fold. First, we examined demographic characteristics that included gender, socioeconomics, preschool experience, and race to determine how these factors related to phonemic awareness and concepts of print development for kindergarten students. It was concluded that low SES children and Latino children were at greater risk of not developing phonemic awareness and concepts of print in kindergarten. Further data were collected and analyzed to examine low SES and Latino childrens knowledge of phonemic awareness and concepts of print development. The study found that, along with maturation, a diagnostic approach that guides phonemic awareness instruction and concepts about print enhances kindergarten students’ phonemic awareness and concepts of print development.

What Affects Instructional Choice? Profiles of K-2 Teachers' Use of Reading Instructional Strategies and Methods

This study examined kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade teachers intended and reported classroom use, as well as perceptions and knowledge of reading strategies and methods, before and after their participation in a 120-hour professional development workshop. A cluster analysis was conducted on the teachers (N = 33) responses to a reading strategies/methods measure, followed by discriminant analysis on the three predominant types of teachers: (a) those using a structured approach to reading, (b) those using an integrated approach, and (c) those using an eclectic approach—to determine the most important strategies and methods characterizing the different groups. Analysis of variance and qualitative analysis of written evaluations revealed that teachers involved in the professional development experience made significant gains in their use of several reading strategies and methods. Three years after initial training, follow-up interviews with selected teachers from each of the three cluster groups provided an understanding of the long-term effects of the professional development activities. Overall results showed that the teachers reported use of selected reading instructional strategies and methods was influenced by several factors: (a) the workshop, (b) the district curriculum policy, (c) teacher implementation of targeted reading strategies, (d) teachers perceptions of their own instructional efficacy, and (e) teachers perceptions of students academic needs and performance.

Preservice and Inservice Reading Teachers' Knowledge of Literary Concepts and Literary Analysis.

Abstract Preservice and inservice reading teachers’ knowledge about literature and their skill in analyzing literature appropriate for middle and upper grades was assessed. Twenty‐two undergraduate preservice teachers and 11 graduate inservice teachers were tested on the definitions of 45 common literary terms, their ability to state and explain the theme of a short story, their ability to interpret and explain a common poem, and their ability to answer inferential questions on the poem. Results indicated that on average the undergraduates knew about half of the literary terms and were unable to analyze either the story or poem adequately despite their relative simplicity. The graduate students fared predictably better, but few achieved the highest scores on any of the measures. Correlational analyses suggested that literary ability occurs in levels from basic definitional knowledge through inferential ability to analytical ability. This study contributes to a growing body of research indicating that teac...

Effects of structural features on word recognition development of hispanic and non-hispanic second graders

Do Hispanic and non-Hispanic second graders acquire knowledge ofstructural features of words in the same order and at the same rate? Doesthe order and rate of acquisition of structural features produce differentialeffects on their word recognition performance? An analysis of these effectswas the focus of our research. The subjects studied were 36 Hispanic and 39non-Hispanic second grade students in a rural West Texas School District.The effects of ten structural features of words on Hispanic and non-Hispanicsecond graders word recognition performance were examined. The resultsrevealed an interesting phenomenon: both groups appear to be acquiringknowledge of the structural features of words at different rates, but in aroughly similar order with Hispanic learners lagging behind the non-Hispanic counterparts.

BOOK REVIEW: READING AND MATH COMING TOGETHER IN THE CLASSROOM

In the public schools, especially at the middle and secondary levels, teachers of reading and mathematics often live in separate worlds. They typically have different planning periods and, if asked, will admittedly acknowledge that, with the exception of reading math word problems, there seem to be very few links between the two subject areas. We, the reviewers, both teach a required content reading course for undergraduates who plan to teach in the middle and secondary schools. In addition, we have both conducted research centered on content literacy issues and teachers perceptions of literacy strategies in the content areas. Through our teaching and research, we have come to understand that mathematics majors generally have the most difficult time connecting their content to literacy issues, and it is not uncommon to hear them complain that This is