1. Teaching Reading Comprehension in the Middle School
Timothy Shanahan
University of Illinois at Chicago

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Why teach reading in the middle school?
REASON # 3:
Often early reading instruction is not very good or there is something wrong in learning.

5. Why teach reading in the middle school?
REASON # 4:
At advanced levels, reading is particularized and these specialized reading routines have to be learned.

6. How can we improve middle school reading comprehension?
Answer # 1:
Increase the
amount instruction.

7. Increasing Literacy Time
Teach students how to read math, science, and social studies.
Give strugglers an extra literacy
period.
Even more instruction for
those who still struggle.

8. How can we improve middle school reading comprehension?
SOLUTION # 2:
Teach essential
skills and strategies.

9. Teaching Essential Skills and Strategies
Reading comprehension
Vocabulary
Oral reading fluency
Decoding (for some)

10. 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.

11. Teaching Comprehension (cont.)
Modeling
Clear explanation
--what, when, how, why
Guided doing
Independent practice

12. Teaching Vocabulary Teach deep definitions. Build networks of meaning.
Provide lots of repetition and review.

13. Teaching Fluency Oral reading Guidance and coaching Repetition
Emphasize both decoding and prosody.

14. Teaching Decoding Only for very lowest students Systematic instruction
More than individual sounds
--complex spelling patterns
--decoding

15. How can we improve middle school reading comprehension?
SOLUTION # 3:
Improve quality of
teaching.

16. Improving Quality of Teaching
Thorough, coherent, systematic instruction
Appropriate teaching level
Motivation and engagement
Teacher knowledge

17. Thorough, coherent, systematic instruction
Enough lessons to ensure success.
Well organized—so the intention is obvious.
Clear day-to-day plans.

18. 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.

19. Motivation and Engagement
Curiosity: content should interest students
Competence: students should be successful
Challenge: students should feel like they are learning something worth learning

20. Teacher knowledge
Teachers need to know how to model, explain, re-teach
Teachers must be able to recognize learning
Professional development matters

21. In summation,

22. Why should we improve middle school reading instruction?
Because we care about kids
Because they need for us to do it
Because we can

23. How can we improve middle school literacy?
Increasing amount of instruction
Focusing instruction on key learning
Improving quality of teaching

24. When should we improve middle school reading?
The time is now
We know how
And, the kids are here now

25. Thank you very much!

26. Teaching Reading in the Middle School
Timothy Shanahan
University of Illinois at Chicago