Ensure that your pupils listen to one another in constructive ways by introducing them to active listening skills through discussion, role playing, and partner work.

It's true: listening skills have to be taught and developed. Read this story about a tiger to your high school class. Then, without giving them a copy of the story, divide them into teams and have them attempt to answer a series of...

English language learners build their reading comprehension with this passage and its accompanying questions. Before they read the selection, read the questions aloud. Then, as they read, have them mark the text. Twelve multiple-choice...

Much more than a simple reading assessment, this resource can form the basis of a review of comprehension strategies, as a worksheet that models for readers how to employ strategies to answer questions based on passages, or as a practice...

Planning a short story unit? Consider including this worksheet early in your plan. "Remains of a Marriage" provides the text that could be used as the basis of a lesson on close reading, on comprehension strategies, and/or group...

Empower your readers by modeling for them the steps for retelling a story. Designed as a teacher resource, Dr. Cummins argues that shifting responsibility for retelling to the learners increases their comprehension. The procedure is...

Teach your middle schoolers to use their ears to their highest potential! Pupils practice active listening skills and reflect on how careful listening might prove to be important in and out of the classroom.

Voices from the past. Young scholars listen to a podcast interview with a historical re-enactor as they continue their research in the eleventh instructional activity of this unit on colonial trade. Applying their close reading skills,...

The twelfth instructional activity of this unit builds on the skills developed in the previous instructional activity, as fourth graders continue their quest to become experts on colonial trade by listening to interviews with historical...

Help learners build greater self-awareness and improve listening skills with these visual prompt sheets. Beginning with an "Are you really listening?" overview sheet, the following pages use large visuals to remind pupils...

Here is an effective way to have your charges practice and model important listening skills. After a short review of effective active listening concepts, such as using body language, summarizing what the other person said, and asking...

Assess your kids' reading skills with a straightforward reading comprehension exercise. Pupils read a story and answer 12 multiple choice questions about the story. Each question is labeled with one of 12 reading strategies, such as...

Students develop listening and reading skills with the oral reading of a story. The students demonstrate good listening skills using appropriate body language and answering assessment questions. They discuss the story looking for main...

The proof is in the details! A richly detailed plan provides clear examples of how to draw inferences from text and how to provide support drawn directly from the text. 

Are you preparing for state testing or hoping to develop literacy skills in your classroom? Give your class this short reading assignment and the questions that follow. The reading passage is about a page in length, and there are 15...

In this reading comprehension learning exercise, students read a short story and determine comprehension of reading and vocabulary. Students answer ten multiple choice questions.

Take a trip to Whoville with a lesson focused on the works of Dr. Seuss. Using listening and responding worksheets, first graders listen to six Dr. Seuss books at a listening center, rate the books, and summarize and...

Looking to increase reading comprehension? Teach this lesson, which is flexible enough to use with either informational texts or with literature. Teams of boys and girls work together to answer a comprehension question after listening to...

Make a prediction! Read The Very Cranky Bear with your first graders, making predictions and asking questions. Consider creating a list of comprehension questions to post while readers are listening to the story. Also consider...

Spruce up a class reading of the children's book Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback with this fun series of activities. Starting with a list of reading comprehension questions and key vocabulary to address during a teacher...

Learners test their knowledge of the Wright brothers by playing "Hollywood Squares." They read (or listen) with comprehension. Students follow the rules as they actively participate in a game to test their reading (or listening)...

How did Theodore Roosevelt stress the importance of conservation during his time as president of the United States? Take a closer look at the language Roosevelt used himself in a 1907 address to Congress, and have your young...