Comprehension Going Forward: Where We Are and What's Next

"The real genius of this book is that it is written by teachers, for teachers. All of the authors in this book know what classrooms are like. This means that authenticity and integrity pervade every chapter in the book. Teachers will immediately sense this authenticity on their way to realizing that the book offers an endless supply of useful suggestions."
—From the Coda by P. David Pearson

For those of us who teach comprehension strategies, Comprehension Going Forward is as near to the ultimate PD experience as we can get. Imagine a professional learning community where you could sit in as…

• Ellin Keene and Debbie Miller swap best practices
• Stephanie Harvey and Harvey “Smokey” Daniels compare instruction across the grades
• Anne Goudvis and Tanny McGregor share ways to infuse comprehension into every subject area
• Cris Tovani and Nancy Commins apply the strategies to help struggling readers, English learners, and special-needs students.

In Comprehension Going Forward, you’ll meet up with 17 leading practitioners and researchers for an energetic, personal, and frequently irreverent conversation on what great comprehension instruction looks like, what an amazing range of applications it has for all students, and what we can do better. Not only do figures such as Susan Zimmerman and P. David Pearson include their own chapters, but, like any exciting conversation, they point out their favorite parts of one another’s chapters—highlighting discussion topics for teacher study groups along the way.

Read Comprehension Going Forward and RSVP to a get-together that no one who teaches reading will want to miss. Enter this powerful, lively conversation about how we can improve all readers’ comprehension today and join some of your favorite authors as they reach for a tomorrow where every child reads with deep understanding.

“Each author takes the comprehension strategies as a starting point, and then reaches out toward a different set of applications, extensions, and practices. But everyone is connected by the research base on comprehension instruction and by our common goal: to provide every child in America with an “All-Access Pass” to literacy.”
—From the editor’s introduction by Harvey “Smokey” Daniels

Ellin Oliver Keene has been a classroom teacher, staff developer, non-profit director and adjunct professor of reading and writing. For sixteen years she directed staff development initiatives at the Denver-based Public Education & Business Coalition. She served as Deputy Director and Director of Literacy and Staff Development for the Cornerstone Project at the University of Pennsylvania for 4 years. Ellin works with schools and districts throughout the country and abroad. Her emphasis is long-term, school-based professional development and strategic planning for literacy learning. Ellin recently published The Literacy Studio: Redesigning the Workshop for Readers and Writers which is focused on an up-to-date conceptualization of Readers/Writers' workshop. She is the author of Engaging Children: Igniting the Drive for Deeper Learning (2018), is co-editor and co-author of The Teacher You Want to Be: Essays about Children, Learning, and Teaching (Heinemann, 2015); co-editor of the Not This, but That series (Heinemann, 2013 - 2018); author of Talk About Understanding: Rethinking Classroom Talk to Enhance Understanding (Heinemann, 2012), To Understand: New Horizons in Reading Comprehension (Heinemann, 2008), co-author of Comprehension Going Forward (Heinemann, 2011), co-author of Mosaic of Thought: The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction, 2nd edition (Heinemann, 2007, 1st edition, 1997) and author of Assessing Comprehension Thinking Strategies (Shell Educational Books, 2006) as well as numerous chapters for professional books and journals on the teaching of reading as well as education policy journals.

An internationally-known speaker, workshop leader, and consultant, Susan Zimmermann is coauthor of educational bestsellers Mosaic of Thought (1997 and 2007 2nd edition), 7 Keys to Comprehension, and Comprehension Going Forward (2011), books that are changing the way reading is taught in classrooms throughout America. She cofounded and served as the Executive Director of the Denver-based Public Education and Business Coalition, an organization that has spearheaded ground-breaking comprehension work. During her time there, she initiated numerous programs to improve the quality of public schools, including the Reading Project, which provides many of the examples in Mosaic of Thought and 7 Keys. Susan is also the author of Keeping Katherine; Writing to Heal the Soul, winner of the Colorado Book Award; and Grief Dancers, finalist for the Colorado Book Award and winner of the Exceptional Parent symbol of excellence for its "profound contribution to human understanding and dignity." These wise and inspiring books grew out of Susan's personal experience raising her profoundly handicapped daughter Katherine who had Rett syndrome. Currently a full-time speaker, writer, and education consultant, Susan has given hundreds of workshops, keynotes, and summer institutes in nearly every state and throughout Canada. She has worked with international schools in Mexico, the Philippines, Romania, Japan, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Visit her Heinemann Speakers page for more information. A lover of the wilderness and believer in the transformative power of the outdoors, she has been a trustee of the Colorado Outward Bound School and served as the board chair of The Women's Wilderness Institute, an organization that provides wilderness learning experiences for adolescent girls and women. Susan is a graduate of Yale Law School and mother of four. She lives in the foothills west of Denver. For more information on Susan Zimmermann visit her Web site at www.susanzimmermann.com.

Debbie Miller is a teacher, author, and literacy consultant. She taught in the Denver Public Schools for thirty years and now works extensively with schools and districts on long-range planning and development of literacy programs. Debbie is the author or co-author of many resources for teachers, including What's the Best That Could Happen?, Reading with Meaning, No More Independent Reading Without Support, and the forthcoming "I'm the Kind of Kid Who...". Follow Debbie on Twitter @millerread.

Samantha Bennett is an Instructional Coach and Education Consultant. As an expert in curriculum design and day-to-day instruction, she works closely with districts around the country to help Principals, Coaches, and Teachers grow their Professional Capital. She is the author or co-author of several Heinemann resources including That Workshop Book: New Systems and Structures for Classrooms that Read, Write, and Think, Imagine it Better, and Comprehension Going Forward. Sam is also co-author of the On Demand Courses Adolescent Reading RX, with Cris Tovani, and Everyday Habits that Grow Successful Readers, with Debbie Miller.

A Colorado teacher for more than 25 years, Leslie Blauman's classroom is a model site for staff development in reading, writing, and thinking through the Denver-based Public Education and Business Coalition (PEBC). She is a state and national literacy consultant; has presented at IRA, NCTE, and CCIRA. Leslie is coauthor of the Heinemann title Comprehension Going Forward and the author of Kid-Tested Writing Lessons for Grades 3-6 and The Inside Guide to the Reading-Writing Classroom, Grades 3-6.

Chryse Hutchins is a consultant working with educators across the country, speaking at conferences, providing reading and writing demonstration lessons, facilitating school-wide comprehension implementation plans, and presenting at parent nights. She enjoys her role as teacher coach and cheerleader, often successfully nagging outstanding teachers to write about their extraordinary instructional practices. Chryse has been a classroom teacher, a staff developer with the Denver-based Public Education and Business Coalition, and an adjunct professor of literacy at the University of Denver. She treasures moments spent reading with her granddaughter, Lila, as they together bring to life the strategies outlined in her co-authored book, 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It!

Stephanie Harvey has spent her career teaching and learning about reading and writing. After fifteen years of public school teaching, both in regular education and special education classrooms, Stephanie worked for twelve years as a staff developer for the Denver based Public Education and Business Coalition (PEBC), a partnership of leaders from education and business, who support innovation in public schools. Insatiably curious about student thinking, she is a teacher first and foremost and currently serves as a private literacy consultant to schools and school districts. In that role, she conducts keynote speeches, presentations, workshops, demonstration lessons, coaching sessions and ongoing consultation to teachers, reading specialists, literacy coaches, principals and district administrators. With a focus on K-12 literacy, her specialties include comprehension instruction, inquiry-based learning, content area reading and writing, nonfiction literacy, and the role of passion, wonder and engagement in teaching and learning. Stephanie has written many articles, books and resources; her Heinemann publications include the title Comprehension and Collaboration which she co-authored with Smokey Daniels, and The Comprehension Toolkit series which is an in-depth Curricular Resource for comprehension instruction co-authored with Anne Goudvis. Click here to read recent Heinemann Blogs from Steph. Connect with Steph at @StephHarvey49 » Listen to an interview with Stephanie Harvey on Education Talk Radio - 2/29/2012 (30:35)

Anne Goudvis has taught students in grades K-6 over the years, beginning her teaching career in urban schools on the south side of Chicago. She spent many years as a staff developer in the Denver area, working in culturally and linguistically diverse schools. Currently, Anne works with schools and districts around the country to implement progressive literacy practices and comprehension across the curriculum. She is the coauthor with Stephanie Harvey of Strategies That Work and The Comprehension Toolkit series, along with resources including Scaffolding the Comprehension Toolkits for English Language Learners. A history buff, she and Stephanie also coauthored the Short Nonfiction for Teaching American History series, which includes strategies for teaching historical literacy and student articles about often overlooked voices and people in history. With Inquiry Illuminated, Anne, Steph, and Brad Burhow show how curiosity and student agency thrive as kids engage in Researcher's Workshop across the curriculum.

Brad Buhrow is coauthor of the Heinemann title Comprehension Going Forward. For the past twelve years he has worked with culturally and linguistically diverse learners teaching fourth, second, and first grade. He believes that "to be a teacher it takes thinking, imagination, creativity, curiosity and a lot of energy. That's why I became a teacher - I love that challenge. I've learned from critical theory that establishing a solid knowledge base and being conscious of my practices is the first step toward action and positive change." Brad is also coauthor of Ladybugs, Tornadoes and Swirling Galaxies and was a teacher participant in the professional development videos included in Reading The World and The Primary Toolkit.

Gina Cervetti is coauthor of No More Science Kits or Texts in Isolation and a co-author of Comprehension Going Forward. An assistant professor of Curriculum and Instruction at University of Colorado Boulder, she teaches graduate-level courses on reading instruction and assessment. The focus of Gina's work over the last decade has been on students' development of academic literacies with a particular focus on reading comprehension - and, more recently, talk - in science. In particular, she has been exploring the question, How can literacy instruction be made more authentic, powerful, knowledge-enriching, and personally meaningful through integration with content-area instruction? Gina completed studies of integrated science-literacy instruction as a context for language development and science learning for English language learners and of how middle school students learned to engage in sense-making science conversations in a summer science and reading program. Before joining the faculty at CU Boulder, Gina was a curriculum developer and researcher for the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading program at the University of California, Berkeley.

Marjorie Larner is coauthor of Comprehension Going Forward and author of Pathways. While continuing to work with educators across the country in literacy and developing collaborative learning communities, Majorie has worked regularly over time locally at a 6 - 12 school, the Denver Center for International Studies, through the Asia Society's International Studies School Network. She also serves as Adjunct Faculty and Site Professor for University of Colorado Denver Urban Teacher Education Program. A former teacher, administrator, and staff developer with the Denver-based Public Education and Business Coallition, Marjorie's thinking and writing about how to support professional learning continues to evolve, particularly as we navigate the increasing challenges of the current educational culture. As a consultant, she enjoys being embedded in a school's culture where she can offer challenge and support in conversations and observations that happen naturally in the course of a regular school day.

Recipient of ILA's Adolescent Literacy Thought Leader Award in 2017, Cris Tovani is a veteran teacher, staff developer, and nationally known consultant on issues of reading, content comprehension and assessment in secondary classrooms. She is the author of I Read It But I Don't Get It, Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? and So, What do They Really Know? Cris Tovani is coauthor with Samantha Bennett of the Heinemann Digital Campus course Adolescent Reading RX, which shows a variety of ways to reach reluctant and struggling readers.

Nancy Commins is coauthor of the Heinemann title Comprehension Going Forward. Nancy has worked with linguistically diverse students in a variety of capacities over the past three decades. She was a classroom teacher in both ESOL and bilingual programs in Rochester, New York and Boulder, Colorado. For seven years she was a professor in the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Denver in the Language Literacy and Culture program area. She helped to start and directed a bilingual program at Casey Middle School in Boulder and went on to become the Director of Literacy and Language Support Services in the Boulder Valley School District where she oversaw the ESL, Bilingual, Title I, and Early Childhood programs for four years. She is coauthor of two books: Linguistic Diversity and Teaching and Restructuring Schools for Linguistic Diversity as well as the editor of the Immigrant Integration Educator Resource Guide in 2007, a co-sponsored project of the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado Trust. For the past ten years Dr. Commins has worked as an independent consultant assisting schools and districts in their efforts to improve instruction for language minority students. Currently she is a Senior Instructor in the Linguistically Diverse Education Program in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado at Denver.

Anne Upczak Garcia is coauthor of the Heinemann title Comprehension Going Forward. The coauthor of Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swrinling Galazies, Anne is a biliteracy teacher at Columbine Elementary in Boulder, Colorado, where she has taught on a first/second grade looping team for the last decade. Anne has her Master's Degree from the University of Colorado in Multicultural/Bilingual/ESL Education and holds an endorsement in Bilingual Education.

Internationally-known teacher and conference speaker Tanny McGregor brings nearly 30 years of professional experience to her popular sessions. Her workshops are known for their creative and engaging style. Originally an elementary school teacher, Tanny has served as a literacy coach, gifted intervention specialist, and preK-12 staff developer. She is the author of three books, Comprehension Connections (Heinemann, 2007), Genre Connections (Heinemann, 2013), and her newest release, Ink & Ideas (Heinemann, 2018). Tanny was also a contributor to the seminal work, Comprehension Going Forward (Heinemann, 2011). In addition to writing and consulting, Tanny serves as a teacher on special assignment for West Clermont Schools in Cincinnati, Ohio. She and her husband Miles have four daughters and two grandsons. Follow her on Twitter @TannyMcG!

P. David Pearson is coauthor of the Heinemann titles Comprehension Going Forward and What Every Teacher Should Need Know About Reading Comprehension Instruction. He has served President of the National Reading Conference (NRC), Director of the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, and on the boards of directors for the International Reading Association, NRC, and Association of American Colleges of Teacher Education. He is the author of dozens of influential books and peer-reviewed articles, the founding editor of the Handbook of Reading Research, as well as a former editor of Reading Research Quarterly and the Review of Research in Education. His many awards include the 1989 Oscar Causey Award (NRC) for contributions to reading research, the 1990 William S. Gray Citation of Merit (IRA) for contributions to reading research and practice, the 2005 Albert J. Harris Award (IRA) for the year's best reading-disability publication, and the 2003 Alan Purves Award (NCTE) for a publication impacting practice. In 2006 the University of honored him with the Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award, and in 2010 AERA gave him Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award.

Harvey "Smokey" Daniels has been a city and suburban classroom teacher and a college professor, and now works as a national consultant and author on literacy education. In language arts, Smokey is known for his pioneering work on student book clubs, as recounted in Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups, and Minilessons for Literature Circles. His latest bestselling books on content-area literacy are The Curious Classroom; Comprehension & Collaboration, Second Edition; Upstanders; Subjects Matter, Second Edition; the Texts and Lessons series; and Content-Area Writing. He is also coauthor of Best Practice, Fourth Edition, and The Best Practice Video Companion as well as editor of Comprehension Going Forward. Smokey works with elementary and secondary teachers throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, offering demonstration lessons, workshops, and consulting, with a special focus on creating, sustaining, and renewing student-centered inquiries and discussions of all kinds. Smokey shows colleagues how to simultaneously build students' reading strategies, balance their reading diets, and strengthen the social skills they need to become genuine lifelong readers. Connect with Smokey @smokeylit. READING Comprehension Going Forward Mini-lessons for Literature Circles Subjects Matter, Second Edition Texts and Lessons for Content-Area Reading Texts and Lessons for Teaching Literature WRITING Community of Writers Content-Area Writing LITERACY The Curious Classroom Comprehension & Collaboration, Second Edition Inquiry Circles for Elementary Classrooms Inquiry Circles for Secondary Classrooms SCHOOL CULTURE Best Practice, Fourth Edition Best Practice Video Companion Rethinking High School Rethinking High School Video Upstanders