What Readers Really Do

Drawing on their own lives as readers and writers and years of experience working in classrooms as coaches, staff developers, and consultants, Dorothy Barnhouse and Vicki Vinton offer practical tips for meeting today's rigorous standards while reminding us of the deeper, enduring purposes and process of reading.

In What Readers Really Do, you'll peer into the minds and hearts of readers to notice the often invisible thinking work that goes into making meaning of texts-from comprehending where a scene is taking place to constructing thematic interpretations. And you'll look into the authors' own teaching minds and hearts as they unpack the moves and decisions they make to design and implement instruction that allows every student to make significant and personally relevant meaning of texts. Along the way, you'll learn how to:

notice and name what students are doing as readers to build their identity and agency move beyond simple strategy instruction to step students into more complex texts show students how readers draft and revise as they read to promote engagement, self-monitoring, and deeper comprehension. Filled with student voices and classroom examples including read-alouds, small groups, and conferences, What Readers Really Do will challenge, inspire, and empower you to become the insightful, independent teacher your students need you to be. And it will remind both you and your students why and how we really read.