Explaining Reading: A Resource for Teaching Concepts, Skills, and Strategies

by Gerald G. Duffy

Exemplary teacher research has established that explicit teaching plays a vital role in the K-8 classroom, with particular benefits for struggling readers. This book is a practical resource for explaining reading to students who do not learn to read easily. Identified are 22 major skills and strategies associated with vocabulary development, comprehension, word recognition, and fluency. Ways to explain each skill or strategy are illustrated with abundant concrete examples, which teachers can use as starting points for developing lessons tailored to the needs, strengths, and interests of their own students. The book also shows how to move from the teacher's explanation to the student's independent use of new concepts, and how to embed explicit teaching within a context of rich, engaging literacy experiences.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction

244 pages, Paperback

First published April 4, 2003

Reviews

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duffy presents some really simple, useful strategies to help struggling readers/students succeed. Even though he is focused on grade school children, he provides examples of how to adjust the techniques/scaffolding for middle and high school students. I have a feeling that I will be revisiting this book throughout the school year.

[Sharmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to help you teach basic grammar concepts such as looking for context clues or the main idea. It gives you detailed lesson plan ideas to scaffold students into becoming independent learners.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duffy pulls apart different components of explaining reading and makes teaching using different strategies make sense. The way he presented scaffolded approaches is exemplary. The short, sweet examples are quickly digestible and easily implemented.

[Amber Kuehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT book if you're looking for activities to do with your children or students learning to read. I loved how he explained things like they were "secrets" to kids. Definitely a book I will return to in the future.

[Laura Tortorelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is WRONG. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG about phonics, sight words, and word knowledge. Really good on the comprehension stuff, but so ignorant and WRONG about how kids learn to read in the first place! Teachers beware!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has some good strategies for teaching the students the "secrets" of reading.