Help! My College Students Can’t Read

Amelia Leighton Gamel has comprehensive experience in the field of education as a reading specialist, college faculty member and administrator, educational presenter, and public school teacher. In addition to her current position as Lead Faculty for the reading program at Jackson College in Michigan, Amelia also serves as a facilitator for campus-wide reading workshops and classroom demonstrations in all content areas.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 Active Reading
Modeling Active Reading in the Classroom
The Bottom Line
Toolbox
Putting It to Work
Professional Spotlight Reading Interview
Appendix

2 Determining a Purpose
Getting Students to Buy In
Applying Their New Skills to Reading
Pre-reading Strategies to Determine Purpose
Pause and Sum Up
Making Predictions
Being Savvy Readers
More Help to Stay Engaged
The Bottom Line
Toolbox
Putting It to Work
Professional Spotlight Reading Interview
Appendix

3 Determining What’s Important
Focused Reading Assignments
Intentional Focus
Read, Scan, or Skip?
Annotating a Text
Intentional Reading Demonstration
The Bottom Line
Toolbox
Putting It to Work
Professional Spotlight Reading Interview
Appendix

4 Developing Higher-Level Questions
Using Focus Quadrants to Teach Questioning Strategies
Teaching Students to Apply Questioning Strategies to Reading
The Bottom Line
Toolbox
Putting It to Work
Professional Spotlight Reading Interview
Appendix

5 Making Connections
Using Comparisons to Aid Understanding
Using Learned Information to Understand New Information
Drawing Inferences
Building Background Knowledge
The Bottom Line
Toolbox
Putting It to Work
Professional Spotlight Reading Interview

6 Navigating Unknown Words
Typical Student Default Strategy
Getting Students to Buy In
Vocabulary Resources
Prefixes, Root Words, and Suffixes
Using Familiar Words to Understand Unfamiliar Words
Swapping Words
Context Clues
Vocabulary Prompts
Vocabulary Lists
The Bottom Line
Toolbox
Putting It to Work
Professional Spotlight Reading Interview
Appendix

7 Creating Visuals to Enhance Comprehension and Recall
Getting Instructors to Buy In
Teaching Students to Create Visuals as They Read
The Bottom Line
Toolbox
Putting It to Work
Professional Spotlight Reading Interview
Appendix

8 Keeping It Real
Does Teaching Reading Strategies Really Change Anything?
How Much Time Does It Really Take?
Making the Most of Your Time
The Bottom Line
Professional Spotlight Reading Interview
Appendix

References