Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12

Do your students often struggle with difficult novels and other challenging texts? Do you feel that you are doing more work teaching the novel than they are reading it? Building on twenty years of teaching language arts, Kelly Gallagher shows how students can be taught to successfully read a broad range of challenging and difficult texts with deeper levels of comprehension. In Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12 , he shares effective, classroom-tested strategies that enable your students to:

Accept the challenge of reading difficult books and move beyond a "first draft" understanding Consciously monitor their comprehension as they read and employ effective "fix-it" strategies when comprehension starts to falter Use meaningful collaboration and metaphorical thinking to achieve deeper understanding of texts Reflect on the relevance the book holds for themselves and their peers by using critical thinking skills to analyze real-world issues

Gallagher also provides guidance on effective lesson planning that incorporates strategies for deeper reading. Funny, poignant, and packed with practical ideas that work in real classrooms, Deeper Reading is a valuable resource for any teacher whose students need new tools to uncover the riches found in complex texts.

Kelly, a baseballoholic and a self-described expert at negotiating airports, is in his 33rd year of teaching at the high school level. He currently teaches at Magnolia High School in Anaheim, California. He believes that there is no greater pleasure than teaching someone something. Teaching is artistic, it matters a great deal, and I can never get the job down perfectly. Kelly thinks that professional development should treat teachers as such - professionals. I know in the classroom that good things happen when my students have meaningful discussions. I know as a teacher myself that my craft sharpens when I am given the opportunity to have meaningful discussions with my peers. And let's have a laugh or two while we are at it. Writing his six books for Stenhouse was a solitary experience. Though I have written outlines prior to each of my books, I have yet to follow any of them step-by-step. That is why I find writing rewarding - because the act of writing itself generates new thinking, and new thinking is always exciting.