What types of questions help readers learn the most? Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders learn how to ask four types of questions from the Question Answer Response (QAR) reading strategy to help grow their comprehension of Touching Spirit...

Learning to read is not a simple task, but there are methods for assisting pupils as they develop literacy skills. The first four pages of this resource include information about language development and reading development, as well as...

Asking questions about the text is a great way for kids to become self-sufficient readers. Use the question-and-response strategy (QAR) to get them thinking about John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. After they read select...

Here's an activity that uses a reading comprehension strategy based on Bloom's taxonomy to focus readers' attention on key passages from Edward Bloor's Tangerine. Worthy of a place in your curriculum library.

Address any kind of math concept or problem with a series of problem-solving strategies. Over 12 days of different activities and increasing skills, learners practice different ways to solve problems, check their answers, and reflect...

Encourage readers of Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen's young adult novel about slavery set shortly before the Civil War, to develop their categorization and organizational skills with a strategy that asks them to list all the words they can...

Making predictions is an excellent reading strategy. Work on building this into your pupils' toolkit of strategies by trying out the process outlined here for reading the very beginning of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The...

Help primary school pupils learn valuable reading strategies. As they choral read a poster or big book, they predict covered words and learn various reading strategies for figuring out an unknown word. This will help them gain an...

A visual literary lesson plan provides learners with OPTIC (Observations, Predictions, Themes, Inferences, Conclusions), a reading strategy to help them understand and interpret visual and written texts. Scholars practice the strategy...

Examine the different strategies that could be used to determine what genre something is with upper graders. They will learn that knowing the genre type can sometimes help their comprehension. They will also complete a worksheet to help...

Providing learners with a solid armory of reading strategies is a good way to help them build better reading comprehension. The teacher will model how to use a questioning checklist to better understand what she is reading. Pupils will...

A Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy for Great Expectations scaffolds and guides readers as they begin Dicken's novel. Step-by-step directions are provided, as are chapter one pair-share questions, a prediction worksheet,...

Preparing your class for the Italian advanced placement exam? This article breaks down the different components of the test, paying particular attention to the listening portion. How are you going to build your class's listening...

Readers of Tennessee Williams' award winning memory play, The Grass Menagerie, will be neither disappointed nor discouraged by this prereading strategy that asks learners to consider what they know about Williams and his play, what they...

Help middle and high school readers access the text with a series of question-answer relationship (QAR) strategies. Using Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as an example, the resource prompts learners to ask and answer questions using...

Your class won't be a bunch of squares from using this well-rounded activity! Instead, they'll be expressing thoughtful questions using the cubing strategy. The class brainstorms questions of increasing rigor about Zach's Lie in the...

Good readers question text as they read. The Question Answer Relationships Strategy (QAR) used in this resource with The House on Mango Street, provides readers with a concrete approach for questioning Sandra Cisneros' text and...

Look deeper into the text with a reading strategy based on asking critical thinking questions. While reading Reading the Fountain by Kate Klise, learners think of questions that help them describe, compare, associate, analyze,...

Post-It notes, highlighting, underlining. Sam Anderson’s New York Times Magazine article, “What I Really Want Is Someone Rolling Around in the Text,” launches a study of “marginalia,” or writing thoughts in the margins of a text. After...

Tweens and teens learn coping skills to help manage strong emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness with a lesson that asks them to generate a list of self-calming strategies they use and to consider the suggestions in a short video and...

The second lesson plan in a two-part series that prepares high schoolers for a study of Othello focuses on additional pre-reading strategies. Pupils reflect on what they have learned and consider what they would like to learn about the...

Young writers complete a unit of activities to learn and use writing strategies. They will complete 8 activities to prewrite, use descriptive words, asking and telling sentences, and correct spelling within their writing. Then they watch...

High school learners review the six major reading comprehension strategies. They demonstrate the strategies by putting them into action using more complex reading. They finish by discussing a seventh strategy, monitoring comprehension.

Designed as a postreading activity for Act II of Cyrano de Bergerac, this resource uses the QAR strategy to get readers thinking deeper about the texts they're reading. Explicit directions for the teacher are included, so don't fret if...