Engage students in complex literary strategies as they dive into exploring rich pairs of fiction and nonfiction texts. Written by Lori Oczkus and Timothy Rasinski, this resource brings together two key strategies from the Common Core State Standards: close reading of paired texts. It provides teachers with the opportunity to use close reading strategies, reciprocal teaching, paired fiction/nonfiction texts, text sets, text-dependent questions, and hands-on activities. It includes 12 units across 4 content areas: language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Key differentiation strategies used in today's classrooms are provided including open-ended tasks and activities strong for multiple intelligences, and each unit includes text-dependent assessment for each text type. Aligned to McREL and Common Core State Standards, this resource prepares students for college and career.

Teach kindergarten students close reading strategies that strengthen their fluency and comprehension skills! Students will read and analyze various types of texts to get the most out of the rich content. Their reading skills will improve as they answer text-dependent questions, compare and contrast texts, and learn to use close reading strategies on their own! The lessons are designed to make close reading strategies accessible, interactive, grade appropriate, and fun. The lesson plans are easy to follow, and offer a practical model built on research-based comprehension and fluency strategies.

TEACH YOUR STUDENTS TO READ WITH PRECISION AND INSIGHT The world we are preparing our students to succeed in is one bound together by words and phrases. Our students learn their literature, history, math, science, or art via a firm foundation of strong reading skills. When we teach students to read with precision, rigor, and insight, we are truly handing over the key to the kingdom. Of all the subjects we teach reading is first among equals. Grounded in advice from effective classrooms nationwide, enhanced with more than 40 video clips, Reading Reconsidered takes you into the trenches with actionable guidance from real-life educators and instructional champions. The authors address the anxiety-inducing world of Common Core State Standards, distilling from those standards four key ideas that help hone teaching practices both generally and in preparation for assessments. This 'Core of the Core' comprises the first half of the book and instructs educators on how to teach students to: read harder texts, 'closely read' texts rigorously and intentionally, read nonfiction more effectively, and write more effectively in direct response to texts. The second half of Reading Reconsidered reinforces these principles, coupling them with the 'fundamentals' of reading instruction—a host of techniques and subject specific tools to reconsider how teachers approach such essential topics as vocabulary, interactive reading, and student autonomy. Reading Reconsidered breaks an overly broad issue into clear, easy-to-implement approaches. Filled with practical tools, including: 44 video clips of exemplar teachers demonstrating the techniques and principles in their classrooms (note: for online access of this content, please visit my.teachlikeachampion.com) Recommended book lists Downloadable tips and templates on key topics like reading nonfiction, vocabulary instruction, and literary terms and definitions. Reading Reconsidered provides the framework necessary for teachers to ensure that students forge futures as lifelong readers.

Prepare fourth grade students for college and career readiness with this content-packed resource. Authored by Lori Oczkus and Timothy Rasinski, this resource includes 12 units across the four content areas of language arts, science, social studies, and mathematics. Each unit incorporates close reading, paired fiction and nonfiction text passages, text-dependent questions, comparing and contrasting text, and hands-on activities to unify each week's worth of lessons. Differentiation and reciprocal teaching strategies and assessment options are also included within each unit to tailor to multiple intelligences and monitor students' progress.

Teaching students to make connections across related texts promotes engagement and improves reading comprehension and content learning. This practical guide explains how to select and teach a wide range of picture books as paired text--two books related by topic, theme, or genre--in grades K-8. The author provides mini-lessons across the content areas, along with hundreds of recommendations for paired text, each linked to specific Common Core standards for reading literature and informational texts. In a large-size format for easy photocopying, the book includes 22 reproducible graphic organizers and other useful tools. Purchasers also get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials.

Prompt students to become the sophisticated readers, writers, and thinkers they need to be to achieve higher learning. The authors explore the important relationship between text, learner, and learning. With an array of methods and assignments to establish critical literacy in a discussion-based and reflective classroom, you’ll encourage students to find meaning and cultivate thinking from even the most challenging expository texts.

In this fully revised and expanded third edition of the bestselling Reciprocal Teaching at Work, Lori D. Oczkus provides both tried-and-true and fresh solutions for teaching reading comprehension. Reciprocal teaching is a scaffolded discussion technique that builds on the Fab Four strategies that good readers use to understand text: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing. With a focus on these four evidence-based and classroom-tested strategies, Oczkus presents new ways to use reciprocal teaching to improve students' comprehension while actively engaging them in learning and encouraging independence. Appealing to students and teachers alike, reciprocal teaching encompasses social aspects of teaching and learning with modeling, think-alouds, and discussion. This helpful guide is packed with fresh material, including * More than 40 new and updated step-by-step lessons and minilessons that reflect current thinking and best practice. * Dozens of rich suggestions for diving into informational texts. * Updated research and relevant results that show the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching. * Creative and targeted tips that capitalize on the specific benefits of whole-class settings, guided reading groups, and literature circles. * Ideas for differentiating instruction for struggling readers and English language learners. * New and newly designed support materials, including reproducibles, posters, bookmarks, and a lesson planning menu. With a wealth of ideas to get you started—and keep you going—this is the all-inclusive resource you need to help students become active, engaged, and independent readers who truly comprehend what they read. Reviews and Testimonials "Literacy coach and author Lori Oczkus knows how to take the best of what works from long-established research and showcase it to make teaching and learning more effective, engaging, and enjoyable. In her latest edition of Reciprocal Teaching at Work, she demonstrates how to scaffold instruction so that all K–12 students can benefit from reciprocal teaching techniques, what she calls the "Fab Four"—predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing—in whole-group, guided reading, and book club settings, for both fiction and informational texts. In clearly delineated lessons and minilessons, Lori deftly shares how to support students' learning, including English language learners and students who struggle, so they can successfully apply and monitor those four discussion strategies—as well as troubleshoot problems—to yield significant progress in their reading comprehension. Filled with great practical ideas, this gem of a book is a must-have for all literacy educators!" —Regie Routman, author of Read, Write, Lead; Literacy Essentials, and Reading Essentials "Reciprocal teaching works to push students into deeper learning. There are decades of research on the impact of this instructional approach, and this book shows you how to implement and refine the practice such that all students succeed." —Doug Fisher, author of Checking for Understanding and Visible Learning for Literacy "One of the great instructional research discoveries of the past three decades has been the efficacy of reciprocal teaching for improving student learning and reading comprehension. More than anyone, Lori Oczkus has explored practical ways for making reciprocal teaching an integral part of nearly any classroom setting. This current work by Lori represents the epitome of her work in translating reciprocal teaching research into practice. Readers will find this immensely readable book filled with strategies that can be easily implemented and that will improve student learning. If you are interested in improving your students' reading achievement, you need to read this book!" —Timothy Rasinski, author of The Fluent Reader and Close Reading with Paired Texts "In this new edition of Reciprocal Teaching at Work, Lori Oczkus offers new thinking while reinforcing the best practices that make her ideas timeless. Through these engaging lessons and smart instructional moves, you will empower your students to build the confidence and competence they need to become strong, independent readers." —Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer "On every page of this book, in every activity and plan, the voice of a gifted and empowering teacher inspires the reader. In a major revision of her classic work, Lori Oczkus engages the immediacy and demands of today's classrooms with the most robust constellation of strategies for teaching comprehension. She compellingly demonstrates how the "Fab Four" are engaged across the grades, and she powerfully scaffolds, supports, and reassures teachers in their efforts to incorporate reciprocal teaching across a broad communication, textual, and digital terrain." —Shane Templeton, Foundation Professor Emeritus of Literacy Studies University of Nevada, Reno, NV

58 color reproducible graphic organizers to help your students comprehend any book or piece of literature in a visual way. Our graphic organizers enable readers to see how ideas fit together, and can be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your students' thought processes. Our graphic organizers are essential learning tools that will help your students construct meaning and understand what they are reading. They will help you observe your students' thinking process on what you read as a class, as a group, or independently, and can be used for assessment. They include: Story Maps, Plot Development, Character Webs, Predicting Outcomes, Inferencing, Foreshadowing, Characterization, Sequencing Maps, Cause-Effect Timelines, Themes, Story Summaries and Venn Diagrams.

"Love brings us in close, leads us to study the details of a thing, and asks us to return again and again. These are the motivations and ideas that built this book." -Chris Lehman and Kate Roberts You and your students will fall for close reading. In Falling in Love with Close Reading, Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts show us that it can be rigorous, meaningful, and joyous. You'll empower students to not only analyze texts but to admire the craft of a beloved book, study favorite songs and videogames, and challenge peers in evidence-based discussions. Chris and Kate start with a powerful three-step close-reading ritual that students can apply to any text. Then they lay out practical, engaging lessons that not only guide students to independence in reading texts closely but also help them transfer this critical, analytical skill to media and even the lives they lead. Responsive to students' needs and field-tested in classrooms, these lessons include: strategies for close reading narratives, informational texts, and arguments suggestions for differentiation sample charts and student work from real classrooms connections to the Common Core State Standards a focus on viewing media and life in this same careful way. "We see the ritual of close reading not just as a method of doing the academic work of looking closely at text-evidence, word choice, and structure," write Chris and Kate, "but as an opportunity to bring those practices together to empower our students to see the subtle messages in texts and in their lives." Read Falling in Love with Close Reading and discover that the benefits and joy of close reading don't have to stop at the edge of the page. Read a sample from the book to learn more about Chris and Kate's close-reading ritual for students and for an annotated text that shows how it works.

It's not enough for students to just understand a text. In order for students to achieve academic excellence and succeed in today's society, they must also be able to exercise critical awareness over what they read. But how do you cultivate comprehension and help kids sharpen their analytical skills? The answer, writes Barbara King-Shaver, lies in thinking outside the book by studying texts in tandem. In When Text Meets Text, King-Shaver lays out rationales and strategies for using an approach called intertextuality, where a reading of carefully paired texts increases students' grasp of content while honing their command of crucial critical tools. Making connections among texts, students delve deeper into each by observing similarities and differences in literary characteristics such as syntax, plot, character, and structure, propelling them toward greater meaning making. King-Shaver presents the research supporting intertextual instruction, techniques for adding it to your curriculum, suggestions for a wide array of books to teach together, and, best of all, practical ideas for units of study covering key aspects of teaching literature, including: genre theme author archetypes. Find an exciting new way to build literature connections in your classroom, as you extend the comprehension abilities of your students. Read Barbara King-Shaver's When Text Meets Text, and find out why two texts are better than one.