Description
Book SynopsisHelp! My College Students Can't Read: Teaching Vital Reading Strategies in the Content Areas is designed as a resource guide for content area instructors who have no specific training in the field of literacy but want to help the struggling readers in their classrooms. This book provides simple, step-by-step ideas for introducing and embedding reading strategies within all content areas without sacrificing a lot of valuable class time. This easy-to-use resource will equip instructors to not only help their students be stronger readers in general, but to be stronger readers of content-area academic texts.
Trade ReviewOur students today are not only distracted by the same things that distracted us, they are bombarded by a constant stream of information via their technological devices. This coupled with the practice of reading excerpt and information in short bursts rather than entire books, compounds the inability to concentrate and read for meaning. This book contains great suggestions to approach key issues in reading that can be addressed by faculty in any content area. It gives college faculty the tools and strategies to help a generation of digital learners focus and read with purpose. -- Terri Mulkins Manning, Generational Speaker/Trainer, Associate Vice President, Central Piedmont Community College
This unique guidebook needs to be in the hands of every college instructor. The author reminds us that ANY teacher who puts a book in front of a student is a reading teacher. This timely text is a tool kit of practical techniques to engage even the most reluctant reader. The author describes successful approaches to helping college-age students improve their literacy across all subject areas. Many college instructors have little or no training in teaching reading. This book proves that it is never too late for a great start in literacy! -- Kathy Perez, professor emerita, Saint Mary’s College of California, consultant, and author
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 Active Reading Modeling Active Reading in the Classroom The Bottom Line Toolbox Putting It to Work Professional Spotlight Reading Interview Appendix 2 Determining a Purpose Getting Students to Buy In Applying Their New Skills to Reading Pre-reading Strategies to Determine Purpose Pause and Sum Up Making Predictions Being Savvy Readers More Help to Stay Engaged The Bottom Line Toolbox Putting It to Work Professional Spotlight Reading Interview Appendix 3 Determining What’s Important Focused Reading Assignments Intentional Focus Read, Scan, or Skip? Annotating a Text Intentional Reading Demonstration The Bottom Line Toolbox Putting It to Work Professional Spotlight Reading Interview Appendix 4 Developing Higher-Level Questions Using Focus Quadrants to Teach Questioning Strategies Teaching Students to Apply Questioning Strategies to Reading The Bottom Line Toolbox Putting It to Work Professional Spotlight Reading Interview Appendix 5 Making Connections Using Comparisons to Aid Understanding Using Learned Information to Understand New Information Drawing Inferences Building Background Knowledge The Bottom Line Toolbox Putting It to Work Professional Spotlight Reading Interview 6 Navigating Unknown Words Typical Student Default Strategy Getting Students to Buy In Vocabulary Resources Prefixes, Root Words, and Suffixes Using Familiar Words to Understand Unfamiliar Words Swapping Words Context Clues Vocabulary Prompts Vocabulary Lists The Bottom Line Toolbox Putting It to Work Professional Spotlight Reading Interview Appendix 7 Creating Visuals to Enhance Comprehension and Recall Getting Instructors to Buy In Teaching Students to Create Visuals as They Read The Bottom Line Toolbox Putting It to Work Professional Spotlight Reading Interview Appendix 8 Keeping It Real Does Teaching Reading Strategies Really Change Anything? How Much Time Does It Really Take? Making the Most of Your Time The Bottom Line Professional Spotlight Reading Interview Appendix References
