Blogs About Reading

Shanahan on Literacy

Timothy Shanahan

Literacy expert Timothy Shanahan shares best practices for teaching reading and writing. Dr. Shanahan is an internationally recognized professor of urban education and reading researcher who has extensive experience with children in inner-city schools and children with special needs. All posts are reprinted with permission from Shanahan on Literacy.

Writing as a Response to Reading

February 26, 2016

Teacher question: My students talk about the stories through collaborative conversations and class discussions, but I hardly allow time for students to write written responses. How often should I have students write a written response and should students be taking notes on the story? Shanahan's response:

Culturally Responsive Literacy Instruction

February 9, 2016

Teacher question: I am a Reading Coach at a Title I middle school serving a student population of 95% African American. Less than 40% of our students read at/or above grade level. My goal is to increase the amount of individual time that our students spend reading novels.

Are Oral Reading Norms Accurate with Complex Text?

February 2, 2016

Teacher Question: A question has come up that I don't know how to address and I would love your input. For years, we have used the Hasbrouck/Tindal fluency norms as one of the ways we measure our student's reading progress. For example, the 4th grade midyear 50th percentile is 112 CWPM.

What Reading French Taught Me About Vocabulary

January 29, 2016

Bonjour, cher lecteurs. Oops ... Hello, dear readers. Awhile back I set out to teach myself to read French, with neither teacher nor class. My goal was to be able to read the news from a different culture (or maybe I was trying to make up for being Mrs. Benstein’s worst French I student in high school).

Teaching Reading Comprehension and Comprehension Strategies

January 20, 2016

Teacher question: In terms of teaching comprehension to grade 3-5 students, what is the best way to help the readers transfer the strategies they are taught so they can be independent, self-regulated readers?

Close Reading and the Reading of Complex Text Are Not the Same Thing

January 11, 2016

Recently, I was asked to make some presentations. I suggested a session on close reading and another on teaching with complex text. The person who invited me said, “But that’s just one subject… the close reading of complex text. What else will you talk about?”