Deeper Reading

Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12

Do your students often struggle with difficult novels and other challenging texts? Do they think one reading of a work is more than enough? Do they primarily comprehend at a surface-level, and are they frequently unwilling or unable to discover the deeper meaning found in multi-layered works? Do you feel that you are doing more work teaching the novel than they are reading it?

Building on twenty years of teaching language arts, Kelly Gallagher, author of Reading Reasons, shows how students can be taught to successfully read a broad range of challenging and difficult texts with deeper levels of comprehension. In Deeper Reading, Kelly shares effective, classroom-tested strategies that enable your students to:

• accept the challenge of reading difficult books;
• move beyond a "first draft" understanding of the text into deeper levels of reading;
• consciously monitor their comprehension as they read;
• employ effective fix-it strategies when their comprehension begins to falter;
• use meaningful collaboration to achieve deeper understanding of texts;
• think metaphorically to deepen their reading comprehension;
• reach deeper levels of reflection by understanding the relevance the book holds for themselves and their peers;
• use critical thinking skills to analyze real-world issues.

Kelly also provides guidance on effective lesson planning that incorporates strategies for deeper reading.

Funny, poignant, and packed with practical ideas that work in real classrooms, Deeper Reading is a valuable resource for any teacher whose students need new tools to uncover the riches found in complex texts.