Executive Skills and Reading Comprehension, Second Edition: A Guide for Educators

The revised and expanded second edition of Kelly B. Cartwright's book provides a teacher-friendly explanation of executive skills and their role in reading comprehension, with detailed examples and instructional strategies. The companion website offers reproducible forms and card sorts for teaching and assessing cognitive flexibility.

Format: Hardback
Length: 379 pages
Publication date: 21 April 2023
Publisher: Guilford Publications

This groundbreaking book, now in its revised and expanded second edition, offers a teacher-friendly exploration of executive skills essential for reading comprehension. Kelly B. Cartwright delves into the intricacies of planning, organization, cognitive flexibility, and impulse control, providing vivid examples of how proficient readers employ these skills and practical strategies for tailoring instruction to meet the needs of struggling learners. The companion website includes downloadable and printable reproducible planning and assessment forms, as well as supplemental card sorts for teaching and assessing cognitive flexibility, all conveniently formatted in an 8 1/2 x 11 size.
What's New in This Edition?
This edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect the latest advancements in theory, research, and instructional practices. It includes a dedicated chapter on word recognition, with a particular focus on dyslexia, and provides valuable insights into the development of the brain's reading network. Additionally, the emphasis on oral language comprehension has been expanded, and an appendix of intervention studies offers valuable insights into effective strategies for improving reading skills. As an added bonus, an online-only supplement includes card sorts to teach and assess cognitive flexibility, ensuring that readers have access to the most up-to-date resources for enhancing their cognitive abilities.
Executive Skills and Reading Comprehension
Executive skills play a crucial role in reading comprehension. These skills enable individuals to plan, organize, and monitor their cognitive processes, which are essential for understanding and retaining information. Planning involves setting goals, creating a strategy, and allocating resources to achieve those goals. Organization involves organizing information into meaningful chunks and identifying relationships between ideas. Cognitive flexibility involves the ability to switch between different tasks and perspectives, and impulse control involves the ability to resist distractions and stay focused on the task at hand.
Strong comprehenders exhibit these skills in a variety of ways. For example, they may use planning to set a goal for reading a chapter in a book, organize the information into manageable chunks, and allocate time to complete the task. They may also use cognitive flexibility to switch between different reading strategies, such as skimming and scanning, depending on the purpose and complexity of the text. Impulse control is essential for avoiding distractions, such as checking social media or daydreaming, which can interfere with reading comprehension.
Tailoring Instruction for Struggling Learners
While executive skills are essential for all learners, struggling learners may require additional support to develop these skills. Teachers can tailor instruction to meet the needs of struggling learners by providing explicit instruction, modeling effective strategies, and providing feedback. Explicit instruction involves providing clear and concise explanations of the skills and strategies, while modeling effective strategies involves demonstrating how to use the skills in real-world situations. Feedback involves providing constructive criticism to help learners improve their performance.
The companion website provides a wealth of resources to support teachers in tailoring instruction for struggling learners. The reproducible planning and assessment forms allow teachers to track student progress and identify areas for improvement. The supplemental card sorts provide a fun and interactive way for students to practice and assess their cognitive flexibility.
Conclusion
This pioneering book has been revised and expanded to provide a comprehensive and teacher-friendly exploration of executive skills and their role in reading comprehension. Kelly B. Cartwright's clear and engaging writing style makes the book accessible to a wide range of readers, and the practical strategies and resources provided in the companion website make it an invaluable tool for teachers. Whether you are a teacher looking to improve your teaching practices or a student seeking to enhance your reading skills, this book is a must-read.

Weight: 942g
Dimension: 264 x 187 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781462551507
Edition number: 2 ed