Teaching Readers (Not Reading) Moving Beyond Skills and Strategies to Reader-Focused Instruction

Reading instruction is too often grounded in a narrowly defined "science of reading" that focuses exclusively on cognitive skills and strategies. Yet cognition is just one aspect of reading development. This book guides K–8 educators to understand and address other scientifically supported factors that influence each student's literacy learning, including metacognition, motivation and engagement, social–emotional learning, self-efficacy, and more. Peter Afflerbach uses classroom vignettes to illustrate the broad-based nature of student readers’ growth, and provides concrete suggestions for instruction and assessment. The book's utility is enhanced by end-of-chapter review questions and activities and a reproducible tool, the Healthy Readers Profile, which can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.
 

Peter Afflerbach, PhD, is Professor of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research interests include individual differences in reading, reading comprehension, and reading assessment. Dr. Afflerbach has served on National Academy of Education and National Academy of Sciences committees related to literacy and is a member of the 2025 Reading Framework Committee of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. He was elected to the International Literacy Association’s Reading Hall of Fame in 2009. Dr. Afflerbach has published in numerous theoretical and practical journals. Prior to his university career, he served as a Chapter 1 remedial reading teacher and as a middle school reading and writing teacher.

Introduction
I. Teaching Reading or Teaching Readers?: Moving Beyond a Focus on Strategies and Skills
1. Why Teaching Readers Is Different from Teaching Reading
2. Experiencing Cognition, Affect, and Conation in Our Reading
3. Critical Concepts: Definitions and Descriptions
4. Teaching Readers: A History of Knowing Better Than We Are Doing
5. Testing, the Media, and the “Science of Reading”
II. Teaching Readers: Examining the Factors That Influence Reading Development and Reading Achievement
6. Introduction to the “Other” Factors That Matter in Students’ Reading Development and Achievement
7. Metacognition, Executive Functioning, and Mindfulness
8. Self-Efficacy
9. Motivation and Engagement
10. Attributions and Growth Mindsets
11. Epistemology and Epistemic Beliefs
12. Conclusions
Appendix. Healthy Readers Profile
References
Index