Reading Reminders: Tools, Tips, and Techniques

I owned this book for a while, but did not find it useful for preparing lessons for a reading class. He obviously knows his field, but even beginning teachers know that they can do such things as discuss the theme of a story. This book is full of generalities. I am more interested in creative ways of teaching than an outline of what a reading teacher can teach. The bland suggestions for teaching these concepts and strategies didn't include anything I wouldn't have already thought of. Rather than a tedious tome of generalities I would rather have had a slim volume of fresh accessible lesson plans.

I found that this book is a general introduction to what a reading teacher does. It is very inclusive, but since I already had the general background, I didn't find that suggestions like, discuss a character's motivation, to be particularly helpful. I was looking for a springboard to lesson plans. I would rather have had a skinny book with just a few specific workable ideas I could have brought into my classroom. In other words, this book covers a lot of ground, but without much depth. I am giving it two stars because I think it would be helpful for a college student who may need to demonstrate knowledge of general teaching techniques.

I've been using Reading Reminders all summer to plan my sophomore reading class strategies next year. I love the organization of this book. Links to related sections are easy to find. Burke gives wonderful examples of so many worthwhile lesson ideas, like dense questioning, making connections, and repeated reading. There are dozens more. I can hardly wait to give my students the reading survey and to run off all the graphic organizers in the appendix!

As a 16-year teacher, I am often disapointed by workshops on reading that are really aimed at the elementary grades and "retrofitted" for high schoolers. This book is a high school teacher's dream.

As a 26 year veteran of the high school English classroom, I am thrilled with Jim Burke's latest book, Reading Reminders. It has come at a perfect time as well since, like many schools in our state, we have adopted a reading goal as part of our school improvement plan. Not one of the teachers in my department has a reading endorsement or any idea of how to teach reading. So this book has been incredibly helpful to us all (as well as to colleagues in other departments). It is so practical, so well-researched and thought out! It also reminds me of some of the best practice I engaged in when I started teaching but have somehow forgotten over the years. I also appreciate how easy it is to use - you can start implementing the strategies immediately although I think it is most effective to read it through beforehand to appreciate how beautifully it aligns with what is overall best practice in teaching English. Having done a great deal of research lately on this subject, I have not found any materials to equal this book.

(I also give his English Teacher's Companion to all of our new English teachers. They invariably rave about it.)

Without a doubt, this book (and anything else by Mr. Burke) is a must have for any teacher of Reading or English. How Mr. Burke finds the time to put together such wonderful resources is beyond this mere mortal of an English teacher, but I would be lost without Reading Reminders. I literally put some of the strategies to work the day after I bought the book. Several of my collegues rushed out and bought it after seeing the results I was getting. If you have struggling readers, this book will breathe new life into them--and you!