Welcome!

This topic page is designed to foster a dialogue about teaching the whole child, with an emphasis on research and inquiry through the school library. We will explore how we are meeting (or struggling to meet) the challenges and opportunities inherent in our efforts to enable our learners to make sense of the information that threatens to overwhelm them and to collaborate with our classroom teachers to create a culture of inquiry in our schools. I hope you'll visit often to read new selections of curated resources and engage with me and my guests in continued conversation.

Barbara K. Stripling

Reflections on Reading during Inquiry

by Barbara K. Stripling

I was a high school and middle school English teacher before I became a librarian. Reading was part of my teaching DNA, but only in terms of expecting students to read and understand different genres, not ever in terms of explicitly teaching the skills of deep reading. I thought that, of course, my secondary students already had those skills.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance of teaching students to read deeply beyond mere comprehension during inquiry. I am currently convinced that deep reading skills can form a rich synergy with inquiry skills to enable students to move beyond comprehension of what someone else has said to their own interpretations and evidence-based ideas and opinions. Read More >>

Video

Making Meaning through Deep Reading and Inquiry [37:39]

Barbara Stripling chats with literacy consultant and author Vicki Vinton about how the processes of deep reading and inquiry intersect to help students create meaning in the subjects they study.

Video

Deep Reading during Inquiry [34:50]

In this video, Barbara Stripling sits down with author and educator Kelly Gallagher to discuss how the act of inquiry can enable students to engage in deep reading.

Article

UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project

Connections to deep reading during inquiry can be found in unexpected places. Barbara Stripling helps social studies teachers and librarians connect with powerful professional development support at the website of the UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project.

Grab 'n' Go

How Deep Reading Helps Inquiry

This infographic looks at Barbara Stripling's analysis of the synergy between deep reading skills inquiry skills to benefit student learning.

Article

A Notable Process: Teaching Critical Reading Via Notetaking (Making)

Teresa Diaz explains her method for teaching the reading skills students need to take useful notes.

Lesson Plan

Using Inference

In this lesson, students will learn about the role inference plays in the critical reading process, and how awareness of it can strengthen their own reading and writing skills.

Article

Inquiry Studies: Needed Skills

Liz Deskins reports on the needed skills for inquiry learning, including comprehension of nonfiction text and critical thinking skills.

Feature

6 Techniques for Building Reading Skills—in Any Subject

In this article from Edutopia, Susan Barber offers advice for strengthening students' reading skills across subjects.