Explaining Reading, Fourth Edition

Now in a revised and updated fourth edition with 50% new material, this highly practical book guides teachers to demystify the reading process for K–8 students who are struggling. Thirty detailed lesson examples illustrate ways to explain and scaffold skills and strategies as an integral part of purposeful, motivating reading tasks. Teachers can use these examples as starting points for explicit instruction that meets their own students' particular needs. The book shows how to give students the "secrets" of understanding--and appreciating--both literature and informational texts. Numerous text boxes clarify key concepts and share adaptations for different grade levels.

New to This Edition

• Many of the 30 examples are new or revised, and give increased attention to reading/n-/writing integration.
• Chapter on classroom experiences that promote reading for meaning.
• Chapter on organizing and managing differentiated instruction, including for English learners. 
• New discussions of student motivation and agency. 

Gerald G. Duffy, EdD, is the former William E. Moran Distinguished Professor of Literacy and Reading at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University. Now retired and living in Bellingham, Washington, he was an elementary and middle school teacher, researcher, and teacher educator for over 50 years. His teaching and research focused on the explicit teaching of reading, on comprehension, and on the development of adaptive teachers. A past president of the Literacy Research Association and a member of the Reading Hall of Fame, Dr. Duffy has worked with teachers and children across the United States and internationally. He has written and edited several books on reading instruction and has published over 150 articles and research studies.

Roya Q. Scales, PhD, is Professor of Literacy Education at Western Carolina University. An educator for more than 30 years (11 as a K–2 classroom teacher), she is noted for her research on thoughtfully adaptive teaching, enactment of teachers’ visions, literacy teacher education, and effective teaching of literacy. She is currently Editor of Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties. Dr. Scales is the recipient of the 2022 Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers A. B. Herr Award for outstanding contributions to literacy education. With 50 peer-reviewed publications, she has coauthored several books on reading instruction and teachers’ professional development.