Reading Smarter!: More Than 200 Reproducible Activities to Build Reading Proficiency in Grades 7 - 12

By Patricia Osborn

Book Overview

For secondary reading specialist and English teachers, this uniqueresource provides over 200 ready-to-use exercises to help youintroduce and reinforce basic literary and reading concepts anddevelop essential thinking and interpretive skills with students ofvarying abilities. The activities are organized into 12 sequential units and buildnaturally to higher levels of reading proficiency. Each unit alsoincludes reproducible reading selections plus an introductorysection with suggestions for teaching the skills in that unit.Here's just an overview of unit topics with sample worksheettitles: 1. THE GOOD READER IN ACTION presents a variety ofwarm-up exercises, such as "Filling in Famous Quotations," to helpstudents become more flexible in working with words. 2. ALL WORDS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL focuses on differentkinds of reading in activities such as "Reading for Proof" and"Search & Scan Exercise." 3. WHEN TO USE A DICTIONARY features activities to helpstudents determine when to use a dictionary, for example, "Makingan Educated Guess" and "What's in a Name?" 4. A MEETING OF MINDS teaches students to look beyond thesurface for the writer's meaning through exercises such as"Recognizing Charged Words" and "Dealing with Doublespeak." 5. THE READER AS REPORTER provides 20 exercises focusingon a reporter's five W's and an H (how) to develop the habit oflooking for answers to these things in reading. 6. WHEN COMPLICATIONS ARISE prepares students for readingliterary masterpieces that might otherwise overwhelm them withactivities such as "Breaking Up Busy Sentences." 7. COMING TO TERMS WITH TECHNIQUES OF LITERATURE featuresexercises to build students' understanding of literary techniques,for example, "Seeing the Logic in an Analogy." 8. THE TRUTH IN LITERATURE develops understanding ofdifferences and similarities between nonfiction and fiction throughexercises such as "Taking Sides in a Conflict." 9. SETTING & POINT OF VIEW focuses on some of theelements readers can absorb from the first paragraph in activitieslike "Omniscient or Outside Observer" 10. PLOT introduces the basics of plot and types offiction passages in exercises such as "Plotting the Action" and"Drawing Conclusions from Dialogue." 11. CHARACTER: THE HEART OF THE STORY presents variousmethods by which authors achieve effective characterization throughactivities such as "Shades of Differences." 12. SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT feature authorial comments,elements of symbolism, and thematic references in activities suchas "And the Moral is..." and "Familiar Symbols." For easy use, all material is printed in a big lay-flat bindingthat folds flat for photocopying of the reproducible pages. Andcomplete answer keys to all activities are provided at the end. You can use individual activities in conjunction with yourclassroom literature assignments'to introduce a concept orreinforce specific skills-or as an integrated program to focus onyour students' special needs. In Reading Smarter! you'llfind a wealth of exercises and ideas that not only prepare studentsfor higher level reading, but also help them approach reading as alively art!

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0130449768
• ISBN13: 9780130449764
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 2.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 8.3" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Excellent High-School Resource

This is a wonderful resource for introducing or reinforcing basic literary concepts. My freshman English students have responded to the activites very well, and I would think that the material would be easily adaptable to upperclassmen of varying ability levels. Highly recommended!