Today students read more than ever—but they read differently than past generations (Warner 2025, Ch. 9) and typically do not read for pleasure (Astor 2025). According to recent research, most students receive little, if any, reading skills development after the age of 10, meaning they are reading to learn without correspondingly learning to read (Goldstein… Read more »
Tag: reading
Reading: The Partner of Good Writing
Without reading well, students can’t write well. The two skills cannot be disentangled. Yet, in my writing courses, I’ve often lamented that students don’t seem to be completing or comprehending the reading assignments. Why aren’t they reading? My colleagues Sarah Pedzinksi and Madeleine Gonin lay out five common barriers and some solutions in their post,… Read more »
Improving Student Reading Engagement (or How to Avoid Blank Stares)
Do you live in dread of blank stares from students when beginning a classroom discussion on a new topic? There are many reasons for this, one of which being that students can struggle completing pre-class reading assignments. A recent study by Jae-eun Russell et.al. (2023) found that if students are not supported through the process… Read more »
Quick Tip: All-Purpose Discussion Prompts for Discussing Assigned Readings in Class
A faculty client of mine recently asked me for some general all-purpose discussion prompts for her class. She was having difficulty coming up with prompts for in-class discussion that were focused on the readings she had assigned, yet were also broad enough to generate many different answers and spur discussion. And ideally, they would also… Read more »