Texts and Lessons for Content-Area Reading

"To have any hope of kids investing fully in the subject matter, we have to start by evoking their curiosity and get them interested in the topic.  Engaging the students can’t wait. If we wait for the fun stuff that might pop up later, the kids will have already jumped ship."

—Harvey "Smokey" Daniels and Nancy Steineke

Today we're all expected to be "teachers of reading"—no matter what our subject area. With Texts and Lessons for Content-Area Reading, Harvey "Smokey" Daniels and Nancy Steineke support content-area and language-arts teachers alike by pairing more than 75 short, kid-tested reproducible nonfiction texts with 33 simple, ready-to-go lessons that deepen comprehension and support effective collaboration. And we all know that comprehension and collaboration are just what the new Common Core State Standards call for (CCSS, 2010).

In the same teacher-friendly, classroom-wise voices that made Subjects Matter and Content-Area Writing bestsellers, Daniels and Steineke prove that with the right materials and the right lessons, you can turn your kids into much better readers in your subject field by showing:

• how proficient readers think

• how skillful collaborators act

• how to use quick and engaging activities that add to,
  not steal from subject-matter learning. 

 Each real-world text was chosen for its subject-area relevance, its interest to teens, and for its "wow factor";—the texts most likely to engage kids in discussion and debate. Step-by-step lessons accompany each text, including:

• 23 Strategy Lessons that focus closely on at least one key comprehension strategy or collaboration skill that proficient learners use, and address the Common Core Standards for ELA

• 10 Text Set Lessons that directly align to commonly taught curricular topics and offer a deeper, longer engagement in the subjects and strategies at hand. 

Watch what happens when you give your kids a combination of interesting texts, instruction in smart-reader strategies, and an explicit understanding of good discussion skills.  Meeting the standards has never been so much fun.

Read Chapter One

Read Strategy 19 Gallery Walk