Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher Makes the Difference

by D. Ray Reutzel, Robert B Cooter, Robert B. Cooter Jr.

Book Overview

An excellent, research-based resource for pre-service and new teachers alike, this book provides teachers with information critical to their students' development into capable and confident readers in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0132566060
• ISBN13: 9780132566063
• Release Date: April 2011
• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon
• Length: 610 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.9" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Good, not ideal.

The exterior of the book is in good condition, but inside the text is flooded with highlighting and underlining. Other than that factor, the purchase was satisfactory.

The process of comprehending text

Reutzel and Cooter, Jr. discusses the process of comprehending text in four stages. It is based on the schema theory. The first stage is searching. By this, they mean that in the very beginning, the reader is trying to search for the meaning of the text by looking and searching at the given text or print. By searching the text, the reader is using their schemata to help them understand what the text is trying to tell them. The second stage is applying. Applying is when the reader uses what they already know from the first stage, searching, to understand the text. The third stage is selecting and evaluating. In this stage, the reader looks at the information they already know and starts to evaluate the information by either retaining or discarding the information. It is in this step, that the reader is trying to decide which information is important for him/her to remember. The last stage is composing. The reader is making up a new meaning for the text that he/she just read by using what he already knows from all the previous stages. The new meaning is a replica of what he/she just read, but in their own words. These four stages, as Reutzel and Cooter, Jr. illustrate it, is a cyclical process. By this they mean that it is a circular process, where the student needs to be continually Applying, Searching, Selecting and Evaluating and then Composing. Reutzel and Cooter, Jr. also discusses the four major difficulties a student may have in comprehension. The first difficulty a student may have is not having the prior knowledge or schema about the given text. Because of the lack of prior knowledge, the student will not be able to understand what the text is trying to convey. Thus, not being able to comprehend the text. The next difficulty a student may encounter is having the prior knowledge and schema about the text, but the author does not give enough information or clues for the student to establish or decide on a given schema that he/she already has. Third, the student may have selected a schema ahead of time only to find out that it doesn't make sense as they read the text. And lastly, the student's cultural experiences greatly affect how he/she chooses a schema to understand the text. This may lead to "an understanding of the text but a misunderstanding of the author"

Teaching Children To Read: From Basals to Books

I found this book very useful in helping me pass the Excelsior / Regents College Exam. Also useful was Literacy by Cooper. Both are available along with Regents groups of reading forsale under jring 47 - used for 49. I am selling all three together. I studied these three books and did very well on the test - just last month.

A wonderfully practical reading/literacy text for teachers.

Teaching Children to Read is the finest textbook for teachers of children to come along in many years. It includes numerous practical suggestions for teaching reading and writing, while also helping one understand the basic theory and principles behind quality teaching. A must read for teachers of children from grades 1 through 8