Rigorous Reading, Florida Edition
5 Access Points for Comprehending Complex Texts
Foreword by Eugene Pringle, Jr., Now With Florida’s B.E.S.T. Standards!
Corwin Literacy
Newly revised and updated throughout, this new Florida Edition has been specially developed to align with Florida’s new B.E.S.T. Standards.
What it really means to "read closely."
What could Fern Arable, Jay Gatsby, and Winston Churchill possibly have in common? They all need masterful teachers to help students revel in their complexity. And Nancy Frey and Doug Fisher are just the two mentors to help you make that happen. Call it close reading, call it deep reading, call it analytic reading—call it what you like. The point is, it's a level of understanding that students of any age can achieve with the right kind of instruction. In Rigorous Reading, Nancy and Doug articulate an instructional plan so clearly, and so squarely built on research, that teachers, schools, and districts need look no further.
The 5 Access Points Toward Proficiency, Purpose & Modeling:
- Teachers think aloud to demonstrate critical thinking and how good readers always know why they are reading.
- Close & Scaffolded Reading Instruction: Teachers engage students in repeated readings and discussions, with text-dependent questions, prompts, and cues to help students delve into an author's ideas.
- Collaborative Conversations: Teachers orchestrate collaborative learning to get students in the habit of exercising their analytical thinking in the presence of their peers.
- An Independent Reading Staircase: Teachers artfully steer students to more challenging books, with strategic bursts of instruction and peer conferences to foster metacognitive awareness.
- Performance: Teachers offer feedback and assessments that help students demonstrate understanding of text in authentic ways and plan instruction based on student understanding.
There's more . . . Also included are illustrative classroom video clips available via QR codes—making Rigorous Reading the only resource a teacher, school, or district needs to seriously stretch students' capacity to read and comprehend text.
“Worthwhile, intentional, and thorough are watchwords to describe the Florida edition of Fisher and Frey’s Rigorous Reading. This book provides teachers and teacher-leaders with the critical information they need to unfold Florida’s B.E.S.T. Standards and improve transdisciplinary literacy acquisition across grade levels. It is mindfully written for those closest to the students—the classroom teachers.”
“Fisher and Frey have truly outdone themselves with this must-read for all Florida educators—preservice to secondary. Rigorous Reading effortlessly moves from theory to practice while explicitly addressing necessary scaffolds to ensure each and every student can access complex text. The five access points are exactly what educators need to elevate learning and increase cognitive engagement through strong literacy instruction.”
“Just as our students require scaffolded instruction, so do we teachers in an ever-changing educational landscape. In this book, Fisher and Frey offer Florida’s teachers the what and the how of providing the nuts and bolts to students with diverse needs and states of readiness.”
“This is a bold book. . . . It is genius, and its unique contribution is in bringing the balance and the centeredness to new education standards.”
“With Rigorous Reading, Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey have provided literacy educators who are committed to successfully raising the bar with solutions that make sense. The book is masterfully developed with an extensive reach across many grade levels in terms of defining what it means to provide intentional instruction and teaching text complexity. The five access points are discussed pragmatically with evidence of a solid research base deftly woven throughout the book. This is the most practical book I have come across in terms of providing teachers with the knowledge base and assistance many are seeking to improve their instruction with regard to complex texts.”
“In Rigorous Reading: 5 Access Points for Comprehending Complex Texts, Fisher and Frey help teachers understand how to bring vigor to rigor. They teach us how to help students understand more from their complex texts—greater understanding that will help to bring life and energy to each student’s reading. Rooted in solid research, this is book is a must-read for those grappling with how to translate the recommendations and mandates around text complexity into instructional practices.”
“[W]e need resources that show us how to support students in developing their full literacy potential. In this very practical and insightful book, Fisher and Frey examine how conceptions of text complexity are causing us to shift some of our ideas about reading instruction. Rigorous Reading is an important resource that will help teachers align reading instruction in powerful ways.”
