Reading Reconsidered: A Practical Guide to Rigorous Literacy Instruction

Many schools are moving away from the traditional carousel way of teaching reading and moving to whole class. As a school we had moved the whole class a couple of years ago but our reading results were dropping each year. We had had a go with cracking comprehension and vipers but it was really working. We visited another school who had massively improved their reading results and part of how they had done it was by following the advice in this book.So I bought it, read it and delivered training to my staff. The book is easy to read and comes with a DVD that you can watch to see real in class examples. If you want to introduce whole class ready successfully in your school - this is definitely a book to read!

I've learned a great deal from Lemov's books and this one is no exception. From selecting texts, organizing an ELA curriculum (and linking it to history and science curricula), to more effectively integrating writing into the classroom, Lemov, Driggs, and Woolway have helpful insights. As with all of Lemov's books, we get excellent attention to detail.Lemov, et al.'s book is organized around the "Core of the Core," that is, the four key elements/goals of the Common Core ELA standards: 1) Read harder texts, 2) Close read texts rigorously and intentionally, 3) nonfiction more effectively, 4) Write more effectively in direct response to texts.To illustrate the authors' attention to detail, take the example of reading harder texts. Lemov and his co-authors identify five "plagues" or obstacles to student comprehension of difficult works of fiction (their discussion of non-fiction is later, but some of the same lessons apply). So, if we want kids to ultimately be able to read the wide variety of texts they will be exposed to in a rigorous college education, we need to design an ELA curriculum that gradually enables them to overcome these obstacles (Of course, this can also apply to what kids read at home, with parents or by themselves).The five "plagues" are: 1) archaic text, 2) non-linear time sequence, 3) complexity of narrator, 4) complexity of story (plot and symbolism), 5) resistant text. So, an elementary or middle school curriculum that is looking forward to those difficulties will have books that prepare students to address these kinds of difficulties (the authors offer lots of specific suggestions for each kind of problem).Focusing on the example of archaic text (e.g. Dickens, Shakespeare)--For the authors, we need to include books in the curriculum (and read books at home) that prepare kids for these challenges. Some examples for younger kids: Beatrix Potter books, The Velveteen Rabbit, Little House on the Prairie, Mary Poppins, and Black Beauty. The specific books aren't especially important to them--it's that these books are older, include locutions and words that students will not get immediately, but are still accessible (especially if read aloud by an adult) and enjoyable. You don't want kids to confront Dickens or Darwin without ever having prepared for it by reading "pre-complex" texts.They do the same thing for the other "plagues"--suggest books that kids can read to become used to unreliable narration, say, or non-linear stories.I'm a university professor of philosophy. I see the difficulties that university students have accessing difficult texts. Lemov et al. have some very astute, actionable steps we can take to improve literacy. This is a smart, useful book. Read more

Great book, so many interesting ideas. Would highly recommend.

It is customary to compete the book before writing the review, but the impact of Chapter Two is so profound that at this point, the rest can wait.I read a comment following a review of the book in the NY Times (If I recall correctly) . The writer accused Lemov of being a newcomer meddling in ideas he knew nothing about. There’s no doubt Lemov, Driggs and Woolway do not have the 36 years of experience I do, but no one with an sharp analytical mind and a history of watching kids and teachers struggle valiantly to get better at reading, could avoided seeing the shear brilliance of this work. In fifty pages, the authors illuminate the complex cognition involved in making meaning of text. Their categorization of questions that unlock this thinking is revolutionary. Everyone is talking about questioning, but like the introduction of the large head racket in tennis, these writers have changed the game (what TLAC moment is complete without a sports analogy?), but as we have seen in every TLAC publication, naming the ideas not only provides clarity, it enables teachers think and talk about ideas, to practice and remember them, and in so doing layer this skill into their teaching repertoire. I really cannot keep reading right now. My mind is racing with plans and possibilities. Along with all of my teachers, I need to engage deeply with this set of ideas and hasten the implementation of them at the chalk-face. I’m sure I’ll get time to finish the book sometime soon (spring break is not far away); the rest of the book hovers in the future and I anticipate the joy of further treats to come, but right now, my urgency to operationalize the ideas about close reading are going to keep me busy.Read it!

Excellent read. - a must read for all teachers.