Middle Schoolers Deserve Stories, Not Worksheets
I’ve seen the magazine and newspaper headlines about the current generation of teenagers’ need for foundational skills. I’ve attended the webinars about this. Much of this work is well-intentioned. But I wonder if we’re approaching the problem backward. What if the intervention isn’t more targeted skill work, but better texts? read more
Building Background That Matters: How I Create Text Sets for Adolescent Readers
During several recent presentations, participants have asked how I generate text sets to build background knowledge for a particular literary selection. It’s an important question—because for many adolescents, especially those who are disengaged from reading, background knowledge is often the difference between confusion and connection. read more
Climbing the Staircase of Automaticity: Why Volume and Design Matter in Adolescent Reading
Automaticity is built through volume. But volume alone is not enough. Volume must be designed. At TextProject, we have built a coherent Staircase of Automaticity in Reading. read more
