One of the most important goals that I ever set for myself was to teach my children to read well. With a good phonics program, good books, and extensive, daily read-aloud time, that goal became reality. Reading opens up doors to a great education, nearly limitless career opportunities, and the world of literature.

To assist teachers with effective reading instruction, Texas and Alaska both have posted interesting, helpful, free materials on their state websites.

First, the Texas Reading Initiative published a five-book set of research-based findings to improve the teaching of reading. These are available for download from the Texas Education Agency. Read these for your own education as a Secondary Home Scholar. They will give you some ideas for confident teaching of reading in all subjects. Any beginning teacher would benefit from reading these, and many experienced teachers could learn a few things as well.

Add these Red Book Series documents to your teaching arsenal.

*Beginning Reading Instruction, Book 1
*Comprehension Instruction, Book 2
*Examining Phonics and Word Recognition, Book 3
*Content Area Reading, Book 4
*Vocabulary Development, Book 5

Second, a single reading passage from the standardized testing page of the State of Alaska provides a great example of non-fiction: “Watch Out for Wombats.” This passage would be useful in teaching expository text structures common to non-fiction writing and practicing non-fiction comprehension strategies. It is given as an example for fourth-graders, but would benefit younger and older students who need concrete examples of expository text.

Teaching reading is more than just teaching phonics and pronunciation of words. It also involves studying different text structures, the most common being narrative (what you find in stories: setting, plot, characters, conflict, events, resolution) and expository (what you find in non-fiction: facts, figures, who, what, where, when, why, relationships, organizational strategies). Comprehension of the text is vital whether the reading selection is narrative or expository. If your child is still struggling with decoding text, it’s possible that he or she isn’t ready to read yet, but in the meanwhile, reading aloud will still allow you teach comprehension skills and maintain your child’s enthusiasm for literature.