Janice Almasi, Professor, University of Kentucky

Helping Students Use Comprehension Strategies on their Own

Session Description
Students often have difficulty using strategies independently and transferring strategy use to other contexts. Examine critical elements needed in the learning environment to foster independent strategy use. Techniques for designing lessons that gradually release responsibility for strategy use from teachers to students will also be shared.

Biography
Janice F. Almasi, Ph.D. is a former elementary school teacher and reading specialist.  She is currently the Carol Lee Robertson Endowed Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Kentucky, where she teaches courses in reading theory, methods, and research methodology.  She earned her doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland and was also a postdoctoral fellow at the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh.  Her pedagogical and research endeavors have critically examined the contexts in which children learn from text, particularly in terms of strategic processes and peer discussion environments.

Dr. Almasi was the recipient of the International Reading Association's Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award in 1994 and the National Reading Conference's Outstanding Student Research Award in 1993.  She is currently working toward a developmental model of peer discussion.  She is also working as a co-principal investigator on the evaluation of Kentucky’s Striving Readers project. 

She has published three books (Teaching Literacy in Third Grade, Teaching Strategic Reading Processes, and Lively Discussions! Fostering Engaged Readers) and her research has been published in journals such as: Reading Research Quarterly, The Journal of Literacy Research, Elementary School Journal, and Educational Psychologist. She was recently elected to IRA’s Board of Directors and will serve from 2008-2011.