Reading Beyond the Basics

Key Routines for Engaging, Research-Informed Instruction in Grades 2–6

Teacher and literacy coach Catlin Goodrow offers research-informed strategies and personal reflections to help older elementary school students engage with complex, vocabulary-rich texts. Grounded in effective tools and routines, her approach focuses on the teacher-supported reading of worthy texts. Teachers will find practical resources, templates, and examples of lessons to foster student engagement, accelerate reading skills, and support ongoing literacy development.

Benefits

• Shape literacy instruction around flexible principles versus prescribed programs of practice.
• Analyze and select texts that both foster literacy skills and encourage personal reflection.
• Develop literacy lesson structures that support students before, during, and after reading.
• Implement simple, reproducible exercises as grounding routines for reading engagement.
• Create safe learning environments where students can engage and explore their reading.