Unison Reading

Description

In Unison Reading, Cynthia McCallister presents an instructional method for group reading that was originally developed to provide a strong scaffold for struggling readers but has since proven extraordinarily effective with readers at all levels of proficiency in primary and secondary schools.

Unison Reading allows students to help each other improve their skills by reading together orally in small, diverse groups. This method is part of a larger approach called Genre Practice, rooted in the foundational beliefs that children learn best collaboratively, that reading is fundamentally a social process, and that students are able to take responsibility for their own learning with appropriate scaffolding.

Using examples from real classrooms and teachers’ narratives, the book walks teachers through every aspect of implementing Unison Reading in their classroom: from knowing what it is and how it is different from other small group instruction techniques, to explaining how it fits within the reading curriculum. McCallister also shows how Unison Reading, piloted in a high-needs urban district, can benefit English Language Learners and special needs students, and addresses frequently asked questions from teachers, administrators, and staff developers, including how to implement Unison Reading school-wide. The text includes an appendix full of ready-to-use forms.