• The Silent Crisis: Why So Many Middle Schoolers Struggle with Reading (And What We Can Do About It)

    The Silent Crisis: Why So Many Middle Schoolers Struggle with Reading (And What We Can Do About It)

    Hey there, fellow reading enthusiasts! If you’ve spent any time around middle schoolers, you’ve probably noticed something familiar: many students seem to have a complicated relationship with reading. Some devour books like it’s their job. Others avoid it whenever possible. And if you’re a teacher or parent, you’ve likely seen it up close. The hesitation,… Read more

  • Why Reading Strategies Aren’t Enough for True Comprehension

    Why Reading Strategies Aren’t Enough for True Comprehension

    A student reads a passage about the Industrial Revolution. She’s been taught the moves: annotate as you go, look for the main idea, make inferences, summarize what you’ve read. She does all of it. She circles words, underlines sentences, writes a note in the margin that says important. She follows every step. At the end,… Read more

  • Why Metacognition Isn’t Enough for Struggling Readers

    Why Metacognition Isn’t Enough for Struggling Readers

    Metacognitive strategies are vital for reading comprehension, yet many middle school students struggle despite using these techniques. This is often due to inefficient word recognition, which causes cognitive overload. Effective reading requires automatic word recognition and language comprehension, suggesting interventions should prioritize foundational skills over additional strategies. Read more

  • Disciplinary Literacy: Every Teacher’s Role

    Disciplinary Literacy: Every Teacher’s Role

    I recently had the chance to hear Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey speak about adolescent literacy. I’ve encountered their work before, but hearing them present it directly clarified something I’d been circling around in my own thinking. It also sharpened a distinction that I think gets lost in a lot of conversations about secondary reading… Read more

  • Understanding Reading Fluency: It’s Not About Speed

    Understanding Reading Fluency: It’s Not About Speed

    Picture two students finishing the same reading passage. The first moves through it quickly, her eyes tracking, pages turning, done in three minutes. Ask her what it was about, and she goes quiet. Something about cities, maybe? She’s not sure. The second reads slowly. He rereads sentences. He loses the thread halfway through a paragraph… Read more

  • Why Some Readers Guess— and What That Actually Tells Us About Their Brains

    Why Some Readers Guess— and What That Actually Tells Us About Their Brains

    That moment a student says “travel” for “transportation” isn’t careless. It’s a window into something much more interesting. An essay on compensatory reading strategies in adolescence Picture a sixth grader—confident, on task, reading aloud from a science textbook. The passage is about urban infrastructure. She moves through the sentences at a reasonable clip, voice steady.… Read more