Teaching Students to Read Like Detectives: Comprehending, Analyzing, and Discussing Text, Aug/2011

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, youll encourage students to find meaning and cultivate thinking from even the most challenging expository texts.

1. Learn how to establish an inquiry-based and reflective classroom.
2. Explore methods to help students engage deeply with their own ideas.
3. Gain examples of student and teacher dialogues, teacher modeling, and graphic organizers.
4. Review sample assignments, organizational routines, and instructional strategies.
5. Build an understanding of literary and expository texts.
6. Find techniques to make classroom discussions productive and safe.

About The Authors:
Douglas Fisher, PhD, is professor of language and literacy education in the Department of Teacher Education at San Diego State University and a classroom teacher at Health Sciences High and Middle College. He teaches preservice courses in literacy and English language learners, graduate courses in reading instruction and intervention, and doctoral courses in policy, research, and literacy. As a classroom teacher, Dr. Fisher focuses on English language arts instruction. He was director of professional development for the City Heights Educational Collaborative and also taught English at Hoover High School.

Dr. Fisher received an International Reading Association Celebrate Literacy Award for his work on literacy leadership. For his work as codirector of the City Heights Professional Development Schools, Dr. Fisher received the Christa McAuliffe award. He was corecipient of the Farmer Award for excellence in writing from the National Council of Teachers of English for the article, Using Graphic Novels, Anime, and the Internet in an Urban High School, published in The English Journal.

Dr. Fisher has written numerous articles on reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design. His books include Literacy 2.0: Reading and Writing in 21st Century Classrooms, Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents, Checking for Understanding, Better Learning Through Structured Teaching, and Content-Area Conversations.

Nancy Frey, PhD, is a professor of literacy in the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University. Through the university s teacher-credentialing and reading specialist programs, she teaches courses on elementary and secondary reading instruction and literacy in content areas, classroom management, and supporting students with diverse learning needs. Dr. Frey also teaches classes at Health Sciences High and Middle College in San Diego. She is a board member of the California Reading Association and a credentialed special educator and reading specialist in California.

She is the recipient of the 2008 Early Career Achievement Award from the National Reading Conference and the Christa McAuliffe Award for excellence in teacher education from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. She was corecipient of the Farmer Award for excellence in writing from the National Council of Teachers of English for the article Using Graphic Novels, Anime, and the Internet in an Urban High School.

Dr. Frey is coauthor of Literacy 2.0: Reading and Writing in 21st Century Classrooms, Checking for Understanding, Better Learning Through Structured Teaching, and Content-Area Conversations. She has written articles for The Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, English Journal, Voices in the Middle, Middle School Journal, Remedial and Special Education, and Educational Leadership.

Diane Lapp, EdD, is a distinguished professor of education at San Diego State University and an English teacher and literacy coach at Health Sciences High and Middle College (HSHMC). Previously, she taught elementary and middle school grade levels. Dr. Lapp focuses on instruction that supports learning for a diverse range of students. Her career is founded on the idea that motivation and well-planned, guided instruction must be based on a continuous assessment of strengths and needs shown by the students.

Throughout her career as an educator and education professor, Dr. Lapp has been drawn to urban schools catering to children of poverty who are often misunderstood, misdiagnosed, mistreated, and uncared for because of unfamiliarity that exist between their families and their teachers. Combining her two current positions, Dr. Lapp established a high school student internship program between HSHMC and a neighborhood pre-K 6 school with a 95 percent population of English learners.