Struggling readers are more likely to learn essential reading skills and strategies if the direct or explicit model of instruction is part of the teacher's repertoire of teaching methods. Directly=explicitly teaching reading means imparting new information to students through meaningful teacher-student interactions and teacher guidance of student learning. In this approach, the teacher clearly leads the teaching-learning process. At the heart of the direct instruction method are explicit explanations, modeling or demonstrating, and guided practice. Direct=explicit instruction needs to be an integral part of learning the major content strands of the reading process-phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

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What teaching strategies must teachers of reading be able to perform and how are these strategies applied effectively in teaching children to read? This article attempts to answer these two important questions. One key element of a successful reading program focuses on the teacher. A brief review of the teacher effectiveness literature, including the International Reading Association's position statement on excellent reading teachers, is followed by a description of common instructional features associated with the effective teaching of reading: Assessing students' strengths and weaknesses Structuring reading activities around an explicit instructional model Providing students with opportunities to learn and apply skills and strategies in authentic reading tasks Ensuring that students attend to the learning tasks Believing in one's teaching abilities and expecting students to be successful

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