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.

What's More Important — Oral or Silent Reading?

October 29, 2014

Is oral or silent reading more important in middle school?

Would you rather have $50,000 or $25,000? Explaining the impact of full-day kindergarten

October 20, 2014

Lots of interest, all of a sudden, in full-day kindergarten … I’ve had several questions about that scheme during the past few days. I’m not sure why, but it is well worth discussing yet again.

Guided Reading and the Common Core

October 16, 2014

The term "guided reading" is causing a lot of confusion. Most of us now use it as shorthand to refer to those instructional procedures recommended by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell in their book, Guided Reading (1996).

Final Notes on Complex Text Requirements

October 7, 2014

Last week I replied to some of the remarks about text complexity that were made on the Valerie Strauss’s Washington Post column. Here are a couple more.

Snappy Responses on Challenging Text Debate

September 28, 2014

Last week, Valerie Strauss devoted her Washington Post space to an article challenging the idea of teaching with challenging text, including my articles.

Handwriting in the Time of Common Core

September 21, 2014

My father, who had no more than an eighth grade education, wrote in a beautiful Palmer hand. His oneroom schoolhouse education did not promise to take him far, but it did allow him to place words on paper in an elegant and readable manner. And, this skill had practical utility beyond its aesthetic beauty, since he worked for many years as a bookkeeper.