Below are some general suggestions for teaching content reading, followed by strategies with specific instructions.

1.Carry out an interest survey to discover what topics students want to study. If a topic has already been selected, break the topic into its subtopics. Allow individual students or small groups to choose which subtopic they wish to research.

2.Begin with the concrete and move to the abstract. Be sure that students have adequate background information before introducing new and unfamiliar material.

3.Allow students to compare what they are studying to what they already know.

4.Use trade books along with content area textbooks. There are many young adult and children's books that present accurate, interesting information about content areas.

5.Use visual tools for constructing knowledge, i.e. concept maps, matrices, graphic organizers, models, brainstorming maps, visual symbols associated with words (see 10).

6.Make crossword puzzles and other word puzzles out of content vocabulary. Think of other games, such as "Go Fish," Word Bingo," and "Scrabble" which could be adapted to use content words.

7.Make much use of KWL charts. A KWL chart asks students to list what they know about a topic (K), what they want to know (W), and after the lesson, what they learned (L). The KWL chart should be placed where all students can see it.

8.Allow student research to branch out beyond simply reading reference materials. Interviewing, observing, and other creative research methods might gain good information while actively involving students.

9.Take advantage of technological tools.

10. Graphic organizers are great to see the overall organization of the text. Story maps are good. Try other kinds of organizers, too. For example, when studying a science lesson with the students, make a matrix to show how facts are related. The one below is about planets, but you can make them about almost anything.

Characteristics of Planets

	Hot	Cold	Big	Small	Rings	Moons	Life
Mercury	+	-	-	+	-	-
Venus	+	-	-	-	-	-
Earth	-	-	-	-	+	+
Mars	-	-	-	+	-	+

11. Try an options guide. You read the text and make a study guide concentrating on the main points made in the text. For example, if the student is reading about rain forests, the big categories might be: location, climate, plants, animals, kinds of people. Make a guide that looks something like the example below. Allow students to use the guides to present knowledge about the topic before and after reading.

Locations?

Before reading:







After reading:

Climates?

Before reading:




After reading:

12. Use highlighting to bring out main ideas. Have students to be responsible for short pieces of text (maybe two or three paragraphs). Read the text, highlighting the main ideas in each paragraph. Allow each student to present the main idea of his/her paragraph by joining the highlighted text with connecting words. After all students present, summarize the whole.

---

Many ideas above and below come from two excellent sources you might wish to purchase:

Readence, J., Bean, T., & Scott, B. (1995). CONTENT AREA LITERACY. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt.

Rasinski, T. & Padak, N. (1996). HOLISTIC READING STRATEGIES. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill.

An anticipation guide helps students learn to think critically by examining text in light of their own beliefs.

Population: Elementary through high school.
Resources: Text
Organization: Large or small groups or one-on-one tutoring.

Procedure:
1.Choose a piece of content text about which students often have misconceptions.

2.Identify two or three major points you want students to learn.

3.Consider students' background, knowledge, and beliefs about the topic, and write down what misunderstandings they might have about it.

4.Write three to six statements that encompass areas of misconception or doubt. Be sure that the students have some knowledge about the statements or they will not be able to respond. The best statements are those for which students have enough information for response but not so much they won't need to acquire more information from the text. Do not write statements that are really true-false, and don't require students to assess their knowledge, beliefs, and opinions.

5.Explain the purpose of the guide, and ask students to agree or disagree with the statements, explaining their reasoning. Encourage open-ended discussion which encourages students to consider and evaluate their beliefs.

6.Restate the gist of students' responses, and ask them to read the selection and evaluate their answers.

Extension:
Add a second part to the discussion and have readers indicate whether or not they found support in the text for their responses. Students might wish to read further on the topic if they need more information.

---

From: Gunning, T. (1995). ASSESSING AND CORRECTING READING AND WRITING DIFFICULTIES (In press). White Plains, NY: Longman.

Cloze exercises develop comprehension by helping students make sense within the context of the text. Cloze is also often used as an assessment tool to see whether or not students are reading for meaning.

Population: Elementary through high school.
Resources: An interesting piece of text.
Organization: Large or small groups or one-on-one tutoring.

Procedure:
1. Select an interesting text of 200 - 400 words.

2.Decide on the target words, such as nouns or verbs or targeted sight words.

3. Delete the words from the text and insert blanks for the deleted words.

4.Instruct students to read the entire passage to get a sense of the entire meaning.

5. Instruct students to fill in the blanks in the passage.

6.When the blanks are filled, evaluate answers as to the similarity of meaning between the deleted word and the supplied word.

7.Review the choices and talk about what strategies were used to decide on words to fill the blanks.

Extensions:
1.Use oral rather than written cloze.

2.Use language experience stories as the cloze text.

3.Allow pairs of students to work together, allowing for discussion of choices.

---

Further reading:
Jongsma, E.A. (1980). CLOZE INSTRUCTION RESEARCH: A SECOND LOOK. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Reutzel, D. R. & Cooter, R. B. (1992). TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ: FROM BASALS TO BOOKS. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

A gloss is designed to integrate content and process by allowing the instructor to provide information and pertinent questions in the text margin. It can also focus on a particular area such as difficult vocabulary or a particular strategy, such as organizing and summarizing a passage. A gloss can make a difficult passage more accessible for low-achieving readers.

Population: Elementary to high school.
Resources: Text, gloss.
Organization: Small or large groups or one-on-one tutoring.

Procedure:
1. Examine the text, and decide on two or three concepts you want students to learn. Note the difficult vocabulary that would be needed to understand the key concepts. Note how the passage is organized and the strategies that might be used to understand it.

2.Keep in mind the reader's prior knowledge and command of strategies; decide which elements you want to emphasize, and write the gloss accordingly. Focus on a few elements, so the text will not be too difficult for students.

3.Line up a sheet of paper with the text and print your gloss beside it. If the text is a duplicated sheet, create the gloss directly in the margin before photocopying. As you write, imagine that you are with your students as they study. Think of questions that might occur to them about the material, the words they might stumble over, and the elements they might find confusing. Imagine what you might say to them that would help them read purposefully, monitoring meaning as they progress.

4.Let the answers to the questions guide your construction of the gloss.


Extensions:
The concept of a gloss can be extended in a number of creative ways to include graphs, charts, or any area where students are having trouble.

---

From: Gunning, T. (1995). ASSESSING AND CORRECTING READING AND WRITING DIFFICULTIES (In press). White Plains, NY: Longman.

Circle stories capitalize on visual diagrams to guide students' comprehension, discussion, and writing or their own stories.

Population: Elementary and in some instances middle and high school.
Resources: A story and a circle drawn on a piece of paper or other surface.
Organization: Small or large groups or one-on-one tutoring.

Procedure:
1. Choose text in which a character or event starts at one point and after a series of changes or adventures or cycles, returns to the starting point, i.e., life cycle of a butterfly.

2.Draw a large circle on the board, butcher paper, or plain white paper, and divide it into as many pie shaped parts as there are changes or major events in the chosen text. In some way mark the beginning point on the chart.

3.Read the text aloud, and have the class identify the important events in the sequence to be represented in the diagram.

4. Have students draw a picture or other representation in each section of the pie, discussing what the picture represents.

Extensions:

1. Allow students to design their own number of pie sections according to what they believe are the important events in the text and discuss their design with other students.

2.Experiment with other shapes for representing text.

3.Allow the circle story idea to evolve into a time line for more complex stories.

---

For further reading:
Cook, D. (1986). A GUIDE TO CURRICULUM PLANNING IN READING. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

The Alternate Writing strategy helps students focus on sentence meaning as they read and elaborate on what others have written to create sense in a whole composition.

Population: Elementary through high school.
Organization:
Probably works best in small groups or can be used in a one-on-one tutoring situation. It could also be adapted to a writing center. As each student comes to the center, part of the story could be added. At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher should explain that each student must read the previous text and create text that keeps the theme and moves the story to a conclusion.
Resources: Paper, pencils, overhead and transparency (optional).

Procedure:
1.Select a topic of interest from a variety of text topics and subject areas.

2.Begin the story and continue to develop for two minutes. An overhead can be used if desired.

3.The story is passed to a student who writes for two minutes.

4.When the story is finished, read the whole text.

5.Go back to the first portion and revise (with help from students), thinking aloud as to how the story can be clarified for meaning.

6. Encourage the students to look at their work in the same way.

7.At a later time, type the whole story for each person in the group.

Extensions:
1.The lesson can begin with a story map, with each student adding information that will go into the story.

2.The group could do the activity on a word processor.

3.A cartoon format could be used for the story.

---

From: Harste, J., Short, K. & Burke, C. (1988). CREATING CLASSROOMS FOR AUTHORS. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

The purpose of this strategy is to engage students in higher-level thinking skills such as evaluative thinking, verification, and persuasive argument, by learning to support opinion with facts.

Population: Elementary through high school.
Organization: Large or small groups or one-on-one tutoring.
Resources: Text (preferably in the content area), paper, pencil.

Procedure:

1.A topic (probably a topic in the text) is discussed. Students are asked what their opinions are on the topic. A page of notebook paper is folded in half lengthwise, and during the discussion students are asked to write their opinions about the topic on the left side of the paper.

2.The students read the selected text.

3. After reading the students look at each opinion and find proof or disproof from the text read.

4.The students write an essay using their opinions, supported from proof derived directly from the text.

5.The teacher and class develop specific criteria for evaluating the essay. For example, "Is the evidence found in the text? " and "Does this evidence support my opinion?"

6. The students then divide into small groups and discuss their essays in light of the criteria.

Extension:
If the students have trouble writing essays, the teacher might want to provide some structure by introducing leading lines such as "In this story, I believe. . .. The reason I think this is . . . . In conclusion. . . ."

---

For further reading:
Manzo, A. & Manzo, U. (1990). CONTENT AREA READING: A HEURISTIC APPROACH. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Readers Theater is a dramatic interpretation of a script through oral interpretive reading. The focus of the strategy is gaining meaning and developing fluency. This strategy is especially good for weak readers with little self-confidence.

Population: Elementary through high school.
Resources: Scripts, props and costumes (optional).*
Organization: Large or small groups and in some instances one-on-one tutoring.

Procedure:
1.Select a narrative text at the appropriate level and construct a play script.

2.Present a brief description of the characters, setting, events, and the problem.

3.Assign parts.

4.After practice present the play to an audience.

Extensions:
1. The Readers Theater can be developed from a text the student is reading, providing additional reinforcement for word recognition.

2.Allow students to write a Readers Theater script from a story they are reading.

3.Write the script at different levels to accommodate a variety of students.

---

For further reading:
Bagert, B. (1991). ACT IT OUT: MAKING POETRY COME ALIVE. In B. Cullinan (Ed.), INVITATION TO READ: MORE CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN THE READING PROGRAM. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Sloyer, S. (1982). READERS THEATRE: STORY DRAMATIZATION IN THE CLASSROOM. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Walker, B.J. (1992). SUPPORTING STRUGGLING READERS. Markham, Ontario: Pippin Publishing Limited.

* Though some believe Readers Theater should not rely on props or include practice time, I have found that props are a motivational asset, and practice gives self-confidence to normally reticent readers.

This strategy encourages personal response to literature by having students say something at intervals during the reading. The focus of Say Something is gaining meaning from text through oral discussion.

Population: Elementary through high school.
Resources: An interesting text cut into sections.
Organization: Large or small groups or one-on-one tutoring.

Procedure:
1. Choose an engaging text.

2.Demonstrate reading with a partner and responding to the various sections of the text. At this point encourage students to challenge and extend their partner's ideas.

3. The students choose partners for reading and decide whether to read orally or silently.

4.The partners take turns reading the sections and saying something about what has been read.

5.After the students have finished, lead a discussion, beginning by putting the central topic on the chalkboard or overhead, and have students generate ideas about the topic telling how they fit with the author's ideas.

6.Students may, after reading several selections in this way, talk about how they use this strategy as they read.

Extension:
Rather than discussing each section as it is read, the students might do an artistic representation of the section.

---

From: Harste, J., Short, K. & Burke, C. (1988). CREATING CLASSROOMS FOR AUTHORS. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

For further reading:
Walker, B. (1992). SUPPORTING STRUGGLING READERS. Markham, Ontario: Pippin Publishing Limited.

This procedure for studying content area text allows students to monitor their comprehension and learning as they read. The focus is on meaning, elaboration and prediction, study skills, and oral discussion.

Population: Upper elementary through high school.
Resources: Expository text (preferably with paragraph headings), paper, pencil.
Organization: Large or small groups or one-on-one tutoring.

Procedure:
1.Select a content-area text at appropriate reading level.

2.Introduce the five steps: Survey, question, read, recite, and review.

3.Survey. Explain how to skim by looking at paragraph headings as key information in understanding the overall framework of the piece.

4.Question. Direct the students to develop questions that might be answered in the passage.

5.Read. Have students read the text, section by section, to answer the questions.

6.Recite. Ask the students to construct answers to the questions -- not word for word out of the text, but their own answers. These can be discussed or written.

7.If the text is long, the three steps (question, read, and recite) are repeated for each major section.

8.Review. After the last section is read, review the questions and answers for the whole text, and relate them to the overall framework that will facilitate recall.

---

For further reading:
Adams, A., Carnine, D., & Gersten, R. (1982). INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR STUDYING CONTENT AREA TEXTS IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES.. Reading Research Quarterly, 18, 27-55.

McKenna, M. & Robinson, R. (1993). TEACHING THROUGH TEXT: A CONTENT LITERACY APPROACH TO CONTENT AREA READING. New York: Longman.

Pauk. W. (1993). HOW TO STUDY IN COLLEGE (5th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

The beauty of this activity lies in the fact that it encourages the student to carefully read a piece of text for meaning and to creatively convey that meaning to others. It is fun, meaningful, generative, and can easily combine all language communication systems, plus other sign systems if so desired. The story box can be used with literature or content materials.

Population: Elementary through high school.
Resources: An interesting text.
Organization: Large or small groups or one-on-one tutoring.

Procedure:
1. Choose an interesting text or topic.

2.Choose a box. It should be big enough, so you have plenty of room to write; small enough, so you aren't overwhelmed with space. The box should be complete with no sides missing. You can make the box if you wish.

3.Prepare the box. Make one side into a lid that can be opened and closed. You can cover the box with paper, paint it, do anything you like!

4.On one side of the box print the research question, i.e., What plants live in the pond? On the other sides, include information gathered from various sources: interviews, observations, articles, pictures -- be creative! Place some artifact inside the box, i.e., a pressed pond plant.

5.Using the box present the research project to the class.