Reading to Learn: Developing Strategic Reading Skills

(Grades 4-12) / Flex Course

PDI Course Number: 28T02 / UCSD Course Number: EDUC41452

Course Description

Why do excellent early readers often begin to struggle when they enter the middle grades? This online course focuses on helping teachers work with students on key reading skills. Teachers will learn how to develop active instructional strategies that facilitate student acquisition and development of reading skills in a variety of disciplines. Emphasis is on vocabulary development and comprehension strategies. Teachers will also understand the importance of text structure as students move from reading primarily narrative text to much more expository text. Teachers will also learn how to create text-dependent questions to help students develop close reading skills. Assessment options for tracking reading skills and improvement will also be explored. Teachers will also learn how to establish guided reading groups. This course is worth 3 ⅓ semester units/5 quarter units (50 hours of training) from UC San Diego Extension. For detailed information on university credit, click here.

"Excellent information! Very helpful for classroom teachers teaching reading skills. Lots of resources available. The courses you offer are excellent." - Gailene Anderson

Required Resource Book

This course has a modestly-priced required resource book (available in both new and used versions) that can be purchased through Amazon using the following link. Note that you can begin and participate in your course before the book arrives.

Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters by Kyleen Beers and Robert E. Probst

If you are registering for multiple courses, use the following link to access the book list for all PDI courses with direct purchase links through Amazon. PDI Course Resource Book List