Look Inside

Bestseller!

Seven Strategies of Highly Effective Readers

Using Cognitive Research to Boost K-8 Achievement

By: Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins

When students learn to read strategically, they read to learn!

Unlocking the cognitive strategies of exceptional readers means finding ways to teach every student to read strategically. While theories come and go, conclusive research has shown that using these seven strategies will prove successful in the classroom—and beyond.

This reading instruction teaching tool offers insight geared toward helping teachers get the most out of their readers:

Teacher think-alouds
Templates to speed planning time
Activities to encourage use of the seven strategies
Forms, posters, props, and prompts for teachers and students

Full description

Seven Strategies of Highly Effective Readers - Book Cover

Look Inside

Add to Wish List

Product Details

Grade Level: K-8
ISBN: 9780761946212
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2004
Page Count: 224
Publication date: March 29, 2014

Select Format:

Review Copies

This book is not available as a review copy.

Author(s) Table of Contents Reviews

Description

"The strengths of this book are many. It translates theory into practice, showing how a solid theory can inform one's teaching."
Stevi Quate, Co-director of the Secondary Literacy Network
University of Colorado at Denver

"Very comprehensive! It contains everything a teacher needs to guide students in comprehension."
Aileen Carew, Marin Reading Council President & Reading Specialist
Bel Aire School, Tiburon, CA

When students learn to read strategically, they read to learn!

How do some students extract complex information from advanced reading materials while others struggle to find the meaning of even simple passages? What characteristics do strategic readers exhibit that others don't possess? Unlocking the cognitive strategies of exceptional readers means finding ways to teach every student to read strategically, and help them be successfull in the classroom and beyond. This essential reading instruction teaching tool offers hard evidence to show how effective readers use specific strategies to extract and comprehend information.

Seven Strategies of Highly Effective Readers melds scientific research with hands-on experience to offer a comprehensive look at reading instruction. Instructors will discover that they can use the seven strategies no matter what their teaching style, and students will discover how to read to learn. McEwan has developed easily reproducible tools geared toward helping teachers get the most out of their readers:

Teacher Think-Alouds to facilitate modeling the seven strategies for your students
Templates to speed planning time
Activities to encourage use of the seven strategies
Forms, posters, props, and prompts to assist both students and teachers

While theories come and go, research has shown that using these seven strategies will prove successful in the classroom-and beyond.

Author(s)

Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins

Elaine K. McEwan is an educational consultant with The McEwan-Adkins Group, offering professional development for educators to assist them in meeting the challenges of literacy learning in Grades Pre K-6. A former teacher, librarian, principal, and assistant superintendent for instruction in several suburban Chicago school districts, Elaine is the award-winning and best-selling author of more than three dozen books for educators. Her Corwin Press titles include Raising Reading Achievement in Middle and High Schools: Five Simple-to-Follow Strategies for Principals, Second Edition (2006), Seven Strategies of Highly Effective Readers: Using Cognitive Research to Boost K-8 Achievement (2004), Ten Traits of Highly Effective Principals: From Good to Great Performance (2003), Making Sense of Research: What’s Good, What’s Not, and How to Tell the Difference (2003), Seven Steps to Effective Instructional Leadership, Second Edition (2003), Teach Them ALL to Read: Catching the Kids Who Fall through the Cracks (2002), and Ten Traits of Highly Effective Teachers: How to Hire, Mentor, and Coach Successful Teachers (2001).

McEwan was honored by the Illinois Principals Association as an outstanding instructional leader, by the Illinois State Board of Education with an Award of Excellence in the Those Who Excel Program, and by the National Association of Elementary School Principals as the National Distinguished Principal from Illinois for 1991. She received her undergraduate degree in education from Wheaton College and advanced degrees in library science (MA) and educational administration (EdD) from Northern Illinois University.

Preface

About the Author

The Goals of the Book

Special Features of the Book

Who the Book is for

Overview of the Contents

Acknowledgments

1. The Power of Strategic Reading Instruction

What is Strategic Reading?

What is Strategic Reading Instruction (SRI)

What are the Seven Strategies of Highly Effective Readers?

What are the Prerequisites for Strategic Reading Instruction?

When is a Strategy not a Strategy?

What's Ahead?

2. Becoming a Strategic Teacher

What Does a Strategic Teacher Look Like?

The Teaching Moves of a Strategic Teacher

The Challenges of Strategic Reading Instruction

The Benefits of SRI

What's Ahead?

3. Understanding the Seven Strategies

Cognitive Strategy #1: Activating

Cognitive Strategy #2: Inferring

Cognitive Strategy #3: Monitoring-Clarifying

Cognitive Strategy #4: Questioning

Cognitive Strategy #5: Searching-Selecting

Cognitive Strategy #6: Summarizing

Cognitive Strategy #7: Visualizing-Organizing

What's Ahead?

4. Instructional Activities to Engage Your Students

Turn on Your CPU (Central Processing Unit): Grades 1-8

Turn on Your Math CPU (Central Processing Unit): Grades 4-8

Add it up: Grades 3-8

A Dozen Ways to Infer: Grades 3-8

A Dozen Ways to Say Infer: Grades 4-8

Fix-up Your Mix-ups: Grades 1-8

Do You Have Any Questions? Grades 4-8

The Prospector: Grades 4-8

The Summarizers Five C's: Grades 3-8

Visualize a Video: Grades K-2

It Pays to Increase Your Word Power: Grades 2-8

Organize it: Grades 3-8

What's Ahead?

5. Organizing for Strategic Reading Instruction (SRI) in Your Classroom

When Should Strategy Instruction Begin?

How Should I Introduce SRI to My Students?

Do I Have to Think Aloud?

How Should SRI Be Paced and Sequenced?

What if an Instructional Activity Doesn't Work?

How Will I Know if My Students are Using the Strategies?

Where Will I Find Time for SRI?

How Can I Juggle It All?

What Does a Lesson Look Like?

What's Ahead?

6. Implementing Schoolwide Strategic Reading Instruction

SRI Requires a Pervasive and Persuasive Reading Culture

SRI Requires Balanced Instruction

SRI Requires a Research-based Curriculum

Is Your School or District Ready for SRI?

Conclusion

References

Index

Reviews

"The strengths of this book are many. It translates theory into practice, showing how a solid theory can inform one's teaching."

Stevi Quate, Co-director of the Secondary Literacy Network
University of Colorado at Denver

"Very comprehensive! It contains everything a teacher needs to guide students in comprehension."

Aileen Carew, Marin Reading Council President & Reading Specialist
Bel Aire School, Tiburon, CA

"With a veteran teacher’s insight, Elaine McEwan presents practical instructional activities to which all of my students have responded, even my most reluctant readers. I would recommend this book to both reading and content area teachers."

Larry Snyder, 8th Grade Language Arts Teacher
Taft Middle School, Canton, OH

Other Titles in: Instructional Leadership | Elementary Teaching Methods | Literacy, K-12

Select Format:

Review Copies

This book is not available as a review copy.