Upper Elementary Reading Lessons

Engaging students in worthwhile learning requires more than a knowledge of underlying principles of good teaching. It demands considerable practice as well as images of what good teaching in particular situations and for particular purposes might look like. This volume provides these images. These cases were written from authentic, unrehearsed lessons taught by upper-elementary classroom teachers to diverse groups of real students in intact classrooms. Each lesson contains elements of sound instructional practice from which both preservice and in-service teachers can benefit. Cases are not meant to be ideal, but rather to evoke ways of seeing and thinking about good classroom instruction for all learners. Accompanied by analytic commentaries from experts representing a particular perspective, such as special education and ESOL, these unrehearsed cases are written with the understanding that teaching is complex and multi-dimensional. The cases are drawn from a four-year study of 4th and 5th grade mathematics instruction of culturally diverse classrooms with relatively high rates of students from low-income families.

Marilyn Chambliss is Associate Professor Emerita in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Maryland. An educational psychologist with a Ph.D. from Stanford, she is interested in how reading instruction and written materials can be designed to enhance the reading comprehension of all children. Her work includes describing comprehension processes that students use when they read different types of text and developing a system for analyzing the comprehensibility and learnability of textbooks.

Part 1 Preface
Part 2 Alternative Thematic Frameworks
Part 3 Introduction
Part 4 Part I: The Teaching of Reading
Chapter 5 Case 1: Word Study that Supports Reading and Writing
Chapter 6 Case 2: Performing Poetry: Explicit Modeling of Fluency
Chapter 7 Commentary: A Teacher Educator Perspective
Chapter 8 Case 3: Developing Vocabulary Knowledge through Explanation of Words in Context
Chapter 9 Case 4: Reading Strategies that Support Comprehension
Chapter 10 Commentary: A Teacher's Perspective
Chapter 11 Commentary: A Teacher Educator Perspective
Chapter 12 Case 5: Developing Personal Connections to Comprehend Text
Chapter 13 Case 6: Modeling Reading Comprehension Strategies Across Three Genres
Chapter 14 Commentary: A Teacher Educator Perspective
Chapter 15 Commentary: An English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Perspective
Chapter 16 Case 7: Coordinating and Employing Multiple Strategies To Comprehend Science Fiction
Chapter 17 Case 8: Preparing Students to Comprehend and Learn from an Expository Text
Part 18 Part II: Perspectives on Teaching
Chapter 19 A Matter of Principle: Evidence of Learner-Centered Psychological Practices among Effective Teachers
Chapter 20 Moral Perspectives on Teaching Reading
Chapter 21 Accessing the General Education Curriculum: Ideas for Including Students with Disabilities
Chapter 22 A Principal's Perspective
Part 23 References
Part 24 List of Contributors