Reading Success for Struggling Adolescent Learners

Comprehensive, up to date, and highly practical, this volume discusses factors that affect struggling readers in grades 7-12 and provides research-based strategies for improving their reading and writing skills. Chapters from leading authorities examine why some adolescents have trouble achieving reading proficiency, describe schoolwide policies and programs that support literacy, and suggest age-appropriate classroom practices for promoting reading success. The book shows how literacy skills and strategies can be incorporated into instruction in all areas of the curriculum. Essential topics include assessment; building core competencies, such as fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary; and working with struggling adolescent English language learners.

Introduction, Susan Lenski and Jill LewisI. Understanding Struggling Adolescent Readers 1 What Do We Know about the Adolescent Learner and What Does It Mean for Literacy Instruction?, Jill Lewis and Avivah Dahbany 2. Struggling Adolescent Readers: Problems and Possibilities, Susan Lenski3. Nurturing Resilience among Adolescent Readers, Alfred W. Tatum and Teresa A. Fisher4. Teaching Adolescent English Language Learners, Fabiola P. Ehlers-ZavalaII. Organizing Classroom Contexts That Promote Literacy 5 The Role of Technology in Supporting Struggling Readers, Dana Grisham and Thomas DeVere Wolsey6. Engaging Struggling Adolescent Readers in Conversations about Texts: Instructional Strategies for Successful Experiences, Kathleen Crawford-McKinney and Kattie Hogan7. Making Time for Independent Reading, Susan Lenski and Erexenia LanierIII. Implementing Classroom Instruction for Struggling Adolescent Readers 8. Fluency Strategies for Struggling Adolescent Readers, Gay Fawcett and Timothy Rasinski9. Comprehension Strategies that Make a Difference for Struggling Readers, Micki M. Caskey10. Vocabulary Strategies for Struggling Readers, Margaret Ann Richek and Becky McTague11. Classroom Instruction for Struggling Writers, Leif Fearn and Nancy Farnan 12. Teaching from a Critical Literacy Perspective and Encouraging Social Action, Susan LenskiIV. Developing Schoolwide Contexts to Support Achievement 13 Meaningful Assessment of Struggling Adolescent Readers, Peter Afflerbach 14. Literacy Coaching at the Middle School/High School Levels, Rita Bean15. Keeping Parents Involved in Their Children’s Education during the Middle and High School Years, Laurie Elish-Piper16. “But I’m Not Going to College!”: Developing Adolescents’ Literacy for the 21st-Century Workplace, Jill Lewis

Susan Lenski, EdD, is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Portland State University, where she teaches graduate reading and language arts courses. Previously, Dr. Lenski taught school for 20 years, working with children from kindergarten through high school. During her years as a teacher, she was awarded the Nila Banton Smith Award from the International Reading Association (IRA) for integrating reading in content-area classes and was instrumental in leading her school to receive an Exemplary Reading Program Award. Dr. Lenski was inducted into the Illinois Reading Hall of Fame in 1999, and she served on the IRA Board of Directors from 2004 to 2007. Her research interests focus on strategic reading and writing, adolescent literacy, preparing teacher candidates, and social justice education. She has published more than 65 articles and 14 books. Jill Lewis, EdD, is Professor of Literacy Education at New Jersey City University, where she teaches graduate courses in reading, and reading development courses to underprepared freshmen. Previously she taught high school English and reading in public schools and at a community college. Dr. Lewis is a past member of the IRA’s Board of Directors (2004 to 2007), chaired IRA’s Government Relations Committee, is an IRA Volunteer Education Consultant for a secondary school literacy project in Macedonia, and volunteered in IRA’s Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking project. She served on several state-level task forces, including the New Jersey Task Force on Middle School Literacy, and co-chaired New Jersey’s Task Force for Curriculum Framework for Language Arts Literacy. Dr. Lewis was a Princeton University Faculty Fellow for policy studies and directed community leadership programs in New Jersey. The New Jersey Reading Association awarded her its Distinguished Service Award in 2002. She has authored numerous articles on adolescent literacy, professional development, advocacy, and content-area reading, and has published several books.