Chapter 3 talks about schema which is having prior knowledge about something; if students have no schemata they will probably never comprehend what they are reading. Another term used is scaffolding in which the teacher questions, models and provides feedback so that a student eventually will be on their own. This chapter is about comprehension—as teachers we must help students with understanding what they are reading. We must help students activate prior knowledge, guide their reading (I like the example the book gives for this; segment long books, browse a picture book with little ones before reading the book, for older middle school age, use “teasers” to build anticipation of what they will read-- like reading aloud an exciting part of a book), reinforce concepts, and encourage critical thinking and inquiry. Figure 3.1 on page 44 lists different types of questions teachers can ask students to see how much they have understood a reading. This chapter points out that teachers need to take notes and listen carefully when a student is retelling a story to understand what each student understands. Chapter 3 talks about structured retelling, which suggests is good for younger and struggling readers. They have some really good techniques to use in helping students comprehend what they have read. Think alouds sound like a good strategy and there is an example of this in figure 3.5 page. 49. Chapter 14 covers the student writer. It is true that if you are a reader you will be a good writer. When one reads, it builds on your vocabulary and comprehension and ultimately enables you to be a good writer. Again, encouraging a world of good literature and reading will produce good writers. One good idea is the “author’s chair”; this idea sounds like fun and the book states children like this. The book points out if you notice errors being done while writing; hold a minilesson on a particular lesson; e.g. run-on sentences. I was really surprised to read that teachers sometimes have a hard time teaching writing to students. I thought the piece on classroom publishing was an excellent idea. I know my boys brought home “books” they had written in class in elementary school and they were very proud of them and I found them to be very entertaining and I still have them! In surfing the net, I ran across literature that states reading aloud to students of all ages on the first day of school can be a very useful tool in setting the stage for a school year of reading! I think this is something I would like to do for my class on the first day of school.