Comprehension from the Ground Up

Book excerpt: Why has comprehension instruction become so complex? Sharon Taberski cuts through the pressurized, strategy-overloaded, fluency-crazed atmosphere surrounding reading instruction to lay out the reading and writing workshop practices that are most effective in developing readers in the primary grades. She shares the daily how-tos needed to sustain a literacy block that engages children in authentic reading and writing practices including dozens of effective practices that illustrate amazing ways to organize instructional and independent reading for kids including: letter and sound searches that improve students' word accuracy and fluency companion books bags that develop their confidence and comprehension strategy sheets that make children's thinking about text concrete a Putting Our Strategies to Work Board that enables students to reflect on and discuss the meta-cognitive strategies they're using Idea Books and Ta-da Publishing Books that help children get inside the reading and writing process and see how each feeds the other. Two Options for dynamic DVD-based staff development: for your workshop or PLC, the Lessons from the Ground Up DVD features 105-minutes of video clips of Sharon in the classroom, modeling effective ways to develop comprehension plus a 64-page facilitator's guide supports the DVD, lesson by lesson. It's All About Comprehension is a long-term staff development initiative with 3 DVDs (7 hours) of whole-class, small-group, and one-on-one instruction from Sharon.