Critical Reading: A Universe of Reading

1 Semester (offered during the Fall and Spring terms)

The purpose of this course is to provide instruction that enables students to accelerate the development of reading and writing skills, and to strengthen those skills so they are able to successfully read and write grade-level text independently. Instruction emphasizes reading comprehension, writing fluency, and vocabulary study through the use of a variety of literary and informational texts that encompass a broad range of text structures, genres, and levels of complexity. Texts used for instruction focus on a wide range of topics, including content-area information, in order to support students in meeting the knowledge demands of increasingly complex text. Students enrolled in the course will engage in interactive text-based discussions, question generation, and research opportunities. They will write in response to reading, and cite evidence when answering text dependent questions orally and in writing. Scaffolding is provided as necessary as students engage in reading and writing increasingly complex text, and is removed as the reading and writing abilities of students improve over time.