When Kids Can't Read | Sample Chapter

A guidebook for those who teach struggling readers

Thanks for your interest in downloading this free sample from the new edition of When Kids Can’t Read—What Teachers Can Do. This is a guidebook for those who teach students who struggle with reading. Extensively rewritten by Kylene Beers, it offers practical teaching scaffolds and strategies in the areas of comprehension, vocabulary development, fluency, and engagement.

Reading matters because it changes us

When kids don’t read, when they can’t read, they miss out. They lose the ability to learn, grow, and engage with the world in transformative ways. This new and updated second edition recognizes that helping kids who struggle with reading means knowing how to help kids with:

Comprehension: literal and inferential meaning
Word Work: phonics, fluency, spelling, and vocabulary
Engagement: required and independent reading, relevance, and motivation

In this sample, which includes the Prologue and chapter 6, you’ll find:

The difference between reading today and twenty years ago
Why this new edition is so important for helping teachers discover what they can do to support their students
A look at why inferring is at the cornerstone of comprehension
An If/Then chart of various types of inferences readers need to make, paired with examples of what you might teach to help your students make these inferences more effectively

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