Every elementary teacher deals with students who struggle as readers on a daily basis. Each struggling child is complex, and each has a unique history as a learner. In One Child at a Time, experienced literacy specialist and consultant Pat Johnson provides a framework she has used in numerous K-6 classrooms to help teachers understand and assist individual children. The four-step process outlined in the book enables teachers to focus carefully on specific strategies and behaviors; analyze them with theoretical and practical lenses; design targeted instruction in keeping with current research on reading process; and then assess and refine the teaching in conferences with the child. The framework is by no means an easy answer to a difficult problem, but through its use teachers learn how the reading process works for proficient readers and how to support struggling readers as they construct their own reading process. The text is packed with examples of actual teaching interactions with students, detailing how and when Pat and her colleagues intervene to instruct and assess. The examples of follow-up assessments and analyses of struggling readers over days and weeks provide an indispensable model for teachers.

A framework for thinking about struggling readers -- Laying the foundations -- Active participation -- Fluency -- Self-monitoring for comprehension -- Self-monitoring in all ways, always -- Specific support for English language learners -- Assessment : finding out what each struggling reader needs -- What will it take?.