Identifying the best way to help students who struggle with reading--whether they have learning disabilities, are English language learners, lack rich early language experiences, or just need extra support--is a challenge for any teacher. Approaching literacy development as a complex process that unfolds over time, this book gives educators the guidance they need to help students continuously advance and deepen their reading skills, both in early and upper grades. Readers of this book will learn how to:

• teach the skills identified in the Reading First Initiative: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
• guide students in learning literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension skills along with thinking skills
• improve students' comprehension skills for narrative, expository, and electronic text
• facilitate mastery of reading skills by using strategic explicit teaching
• make teaching more effective and engaging through practical suggestions, model lessons, and sample activities for both younger and older students
• monitor the effectiveness of instruction