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

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.

Gerald G. Duffy, EdD, is William E. Moran Distinguished Professor in Reading and Literacy at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Previously, he spent 25 years at Michigan State University as a reading educator and researcher in classroom reading instruction. A former classroom teacher, past president of the National Reading Conference, and a member of the Reading Hall of Fame, he has written and edited a number of books on reading instruction. He has published well over 100 articles and research studies on reading strategy instruction and reading teacher effectiveness.