Guiding Readers - Layers of Meaning: A handbook for teaching reading comprehension to 7-11-year-olds

How can teachers foster good reading in pupils aged 7 – 11? This book explains the way to do it.

* What is this book about? Reading comprehension is so much more than just reading words, and this book explains how to develop all aspects of it for pupils aged 7–11. Written by top experts in the field, it includes eleven in-depth case studies – taken from real-life classrooms – of lessons on fiction and non-fiction, poetry and picture books, advertising and film.

* Why is it needed? Guided reading, widely used in English lessons, has never been satisfactorily examined for children in this age range. Once they have learned how to read, pupils need support to develop strategies to extend their comprehension: What does the text say? What does it mean? What do I feel about it?

* What is special about guiding readers? We can guide readers whenever we open discussions by exploring their understanding rather than telling them. This book shows teachers how it can be done with real classroom examples.

* Who is it for? All teachers of children aged 7–11, English subject leaders, literacy coordinators, student teachers, teacher-educators, librarians, tutors, reading specialists.

Wayne Tennent is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of East London.

David Reedy is General Secretary of the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) and Co-Director of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust (CPRT).

Angela Hobsbaum now retired, was a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Education, University of London, and a national director for Reading Recovery.

Nikki Gamble is Director of Just Imagine, and a former Head of English in the Faculty of Education at Anglia Ruskin University.