Comments from Teachers

Here's what teachers are saying:

"Active, global modes of teaching reading comprehension are rare.... This is a great way to address the weaknesses in reading comprehension, and to teach active/metacognitive reading skills." - Reading Specialist; Clayton, MO

"I like how the kids can look back through te story and keep thinking without turning pages. It is a very different approach to reading." - 1rst Grade Teacher; Pennsville, NJ

"I like the idea that the students get tomove over the entire text. The idea to let them walk on the paper is great!... I liked the exercises. They were relevant and gave me the opportunity to walk in my students' shoes. I would recommend this workshop and will be modeling this lesson for teachers in our district." - Reading Specialist; Avonworth, PA

"I finally got the chance to do [textmapping] with a Grade 4 class. We used a magazine article. I gave them directions, similar to but not exactly like the ones in the lesson plan on your website. The conversations that were occurring were amazing. I also planned with a couple of grade 3 teachers yesterday who are planning to use textmapping in a unit they are planning. It was rather interesting listening to them as they planned - textmapping just seemed to be a natural thing for them to include.." - Learning Support Facilitator, Literacy, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

"This is a great strategy for visual kinaesthetic learners. You have come up with the perfect platform for teaching traditional techniques. This is an in-context meaningful way to help students know themselves as learners." - Reading Resource Teacher; West DesMoines, IA

"I ran across your internet sight two years ago when I first began teaching. I used it to help my 5th grade students study for the Arizona State Test (AIMS) that they had to take. I used it by having them follow along in their own workbooks.... My students did very well on the AIMs that year.... This year, we are a Reading First School, the first year of this federally funded program, which requires that the school must use only the various workbooks and materials... My students this year are the lowest readers in the four 5th grade classes at my school. I was dinged on not keeping my students 85% actively engaged in the lesson while partner reading. I began going to brain-based research workshops and began trying some of the things I learned, but nothing worked, I still had only a 65% engagement of my students and was continually getting poor observation remarks and on my first evaluation of the year I received a low score in student engagement, I was devastated but kept plugging away, thinking somewhere there had to be an answer to this nightmare. Then, I was searching though my office late one night looking for a math activity I wanted to use the next day and ran across the information I had pulled off your website. I reread it, really excited, I could hardly sleep. The next day I went to school and told my children, I have something I think we can do together, something that will help us learn to understand what we read. The first day I had only an 80% engagement, but the second day, it shot up to 95%.... For the first time this year, they were working together to understand something, to read and find information. It was great, their test scores rose slightly, but enough for me to want to keep at this." - 5th grade teacher, Casa Grande, AZ

"There is a need for this in all classrooms. I will be trying several of your examples in classrooms: Poems - Wonderful! Strengths for both regular readers and struggling readers. Dr. Seuss example - Great!" - Literacy Coach, Mt. Pleasant, MI

"Engagement with text is a research-based strategy to increase comprehension, and these methods are terrific examples of text engagement. These approaches engage via many different intelligences..... The passion of the presenter was engaging. The presenter's candid disclosure of his own disabilities and their impact on his research was meaningful." - Supervisor of English, Mt. Labanon, PA.

"Provides strong visual representation for teaching structures/features of different genres. Excellent. Poetry was awesome!" - Teacher, Troy, MI

"First off, this was a FABULOUS workshop that cut right to the point and opened the door to an excellent resource for students and teachers. My thoughts on Textmapping are very positive! The mapping itself fosters teamwork and collaboration between high and low readers. It makes reading of "picture-less" text less intimidating by chunking it. I love that it supports brain-based learning/teaching. This was a very practical workshop - outstanding presentation!" - K-5 Resource Teacher; North Brunswick, NJ

"There is a significant need for this in my classroom. I have tried the scroll activity already - students very engaged. Very good for plot development." - Reading Specialist; Dorseyville, PA

"This has great value to help visually organize text that some LD, etc. children just don't see on their own. This is a skill oftentimes assumed by teachers, especially at the upper levels!" - Support Services; Stamford, CT

"Hands-on presenter, expert in field. Time flew. I really enjoyed this presentation!" - Teacher; Ringwood, NJ

"I have already used scrolling and the students really love it. Scrolling zeroes in on important parts and engages students into conversations/thinking. David Middlebrook is very clear in his explanations and engages all into working, which is what you want your students to do. I definitely would recommend this workshop." - Resource Room Teacher; Millburn, NJ

"I work with fourth and third grade Title 1 students who are struggling with comprehension because the lengths of the stories overwhelm them. By scrolling and mapping the text, they can interact with the text and actually see the sequence.... I liked the presentation - it gave hands-on, practical ideas to use in the classroom." - Title 1 Teacher; South Fayette, PA

"Very good workshop. I really enjoyed working with the other faculty members directly on the text. I learned from the other faculty members as well as the facilitator." - Adjunct Professor, Community College Reading and Study Skills Program; Camden, NJ

"I am very excited about using this for poetry and social studies....This was the most amazing presentation I have ever seen. I'm so excited to use this!" - 2nd Grade Teacher, Somerville, NJ

"I particularly like the interactive aspects of textmapping for students who have touble focusing." - 6th Grade Teacher, Somerville, NJ

"For my master's work, I was having trouble organizing one particular paper and turned to textmapping. We were to cover nine questions in a ten page paper. I taped the questions and my research together and posted the scroll on the wall by my computer. By textmapping, I was able to see the big picture and integrate my writing better....
...I've used textmapping in my classroom for our reading packets. Earlier in the year, I had the entire class create the scrolls for their homework packets. I thought it would give them more of a 'global' view of the work. Most of the students have transitioned back to stapled packets but I still have five who prefer the scrolls so I accommodate them. It has been especially helpful for two of my ELL students and one of my LRC kids." - 5th Grade Teacher, Tacoma, WA

"This approach encourages students to be active readers and see the text as a whole.... I like that the presentation was hands-on and that we were active in the learning process. I would recommend this to my colleagues and encourage that it be used across the curriculum." - Language Arts (5th grade) and Instructional Support (grades 5-8), South Fayette, PA

"I used textmapping last year with my first grade students, and plan to use it again this year. We didn't do a lot of marking on the scrolls. Instead, we used them to see the whole story. This was very helpful when we were working on retelling a story. We could check the events to see if we got them in order. The kids had read Pat Hutchins' Titch books (three books about the same little boy - he is older in each succeeding book). We laid out all three scrolls and compared and contrasted the texts. We also used the scrolls to look at nonfiction conventions. First graders don't understand that if there is a heading on one page and none on the next page, the author is still talking about the same topic! We could look for captions, labels, etc. When we talked about important ideas and details, they could show me on the scroll where to find them. I've shared the site with a lot of teachers. Thanks for all of your work." - First Grade Teacher; Wilmington, OH

"I really enjoyed yesterday's workshop and I actually used the technique today with my police academy class. (The get a 4-session mini basic skills component to their program.) It worked very well! They liked it! They want me to bring more markers and glue next time! I do think it was useful, especially with this very mixed ability group (ranging from people who would be in RS I and/or WS II to others who already have BA degrees); I was able to create heterogenous ability groups which worked well together." - Adjunct Professor, Community College Reading and Study Skills Program; Camden, NJ

"When I saw the scrolls, I started scanning science pages. Used 4 different sections of a science book in guided reading this week. Had to go the floor. I'm old and my knees hurt, but it was WONDERFUL. We crawled around on the floor, wrote all over the paper I had taped the pages too. One of my third graders said (of this science text written at a frustration level for third grade), I think we're really digging into the text, aren't we? Can't get better than that." - Third Grade Teacher; Panama City, FL

"Excellent presentation. Showing teaching reading instruction in a totally different manner. A lot of power in this method." - Third Grade Teacher, Pittsburgh, PA

"This has major implications for teaching reading and writing. Many students could benefit from this." - English Teacher and Department Chairperson; San Jose, CA

"I just finished my eldest son's annual IEP meeting.... I DRA'd him and found that he was consistently performing at an oral accuracy rate of 97% to 95% with texts level 10 to 18. His comprehension never reached adequate levels, but was consistently in the 14-15 point range. Because of his age, 16, I know how difficult it is to match his (sort of) social and emotional level/age approriateness and texts but to have him reading level 2 books - now I know why he is being such a pill when they ask him to read. I turned in pages of report and at the end, suggested that they consider textmapping. It seems such a natural way to address reading problems with special needs children who often truly need that body kinesthetic. I printed off material from your website and sent the address as well." - Elementary Teacher and Reading Specialist; Mission, SD

"I used textmapping this past year for instruction in text features and structures. Although I am the ELA teacher, I introduced this to my team and students through science. We scrolled a short chapter (only 3 pages) on Pangaea and the development of plate tectonics theory. Each group of students had their own scroll and I had one at the board. We mapped the text features and I did a think-a-loud with questions and connections....What was truly amazing was that after marking the text and completing the mapping, students identified the structure of the text from the features (time order)....Upon completion, we discussed author's purpose in choosing time order. The students immediately seemed to "see" that it was to show how theory is built over time (building upon another scientist's idea.) Our maps were a mess of colors...but somehow organized due to the color-coding. Now, it turns out that kids started talking about this in their other classes. As we sat down for our team meetings, my colleagues shared student comments that were occurring in their classes as a result of the textmapping lesson completed in mine....This is a terrific process!" - Middle School English/Language Arts Teacher; Coventry, RI

"Excellent! I want to use Textmapping, and I want our content-area teachers to use it! This teaches valuable skills that students don't usually learn in school." - LD Language Arts Teacher; Silver Spring, MD

"This forces students to really prepare for reading...The color coding helps to visually focus students and to tie information together." - Resource Room Teacher; Great Neck, NY

"I have been using textmapping with my sixth grade resource class - and it has been very beneficial. The kids are more focused - the color coding helps a lot as well as the idea of really being able to make a book their own - we use the board to display our reading material and I see them going back to revisit parts of interest. It is great." - Sixth Grade Special Education Resource Teacher; Cynthiana, KY

"My goal was to preview the text with a focus on people and places (which were all based in history) as well as looking at author's craft....I divided the class into four groups of four students, and each group had a scroll and a different colored marker or highlighter. I assigned each group one thing to look for: character words/names, setting words, repeating verses(structural craft), close echos (word craft). Then they went to work scanning, boxing, and highlighting....The students had great discussions while they were marking the text....I loved how having the text right there marked with their discoveries facilitated the students' discussion in small groups (we had always used one scroll as a whole class before)." - 4th Grade Teacher; Texas

"Excellent concept. I work with many students, primarily ADHD, who need multisensory techniques like this. This teaches students to use searching techniques while reading - like detectives and explorers use - searching for facts and linking them together." - Cognitive and Learning Assistive Technology Specialist; Mississippi State University

"These techniques are great! I believe they should be used to teach reading and critical thinking skills for "regular" people, as well as for those with learning problems." - post-doctoral reading researcher, Boston University

"These are great ideas! You've given me ideas of how to work with some of my elementary LD students. The idea of a text as a map never occurred to me." - LD Specialist; Santa Rosa, CA

"Now I am just much more purposeful in carrying reading instruction over into my social studies content time. Textmapping has helped me out tremendously here, because it helps the kids to physically mark up the same text from that book they're not supposed to write in and because it helps me plan exactly what I'm going to focus on more purposefully (identifying and using non-fiction conventions, determining importance, summarizing, etc.)." - 4th Grade Teacher; Texas

"Love the Textmapping concept. I have shared the idea with other reading coaches in my city system and in our regional system. Lots of good information here--especially good for those of us who are visual learners." - Reading Coach; Alabama

"Your enthusiasm is infectious! I'd like to try these techniques with whole classes, working with partners and teams. I believe these techniques can be used to cover content area material more effectively with low-level readers." - Teacher and Department Chairperson, Los Angeles, CA

"I think that Textmapping can be a very valuable tool for students with learning disabilities because it involves them in multiple learning styles (visual, auditory, tactile, kinaesthetic...); it allows them to get their whole body involved. I had fun with it because I like using colors -- it made the learning process more exciting. I felt more motivated toward the learning process. This has been a great experience. Thanks for sharing your work with us." - LD Specialist; Princeton, NJ

"We could really feel the difference total body involvement makes. I think the scrolling will help students conceptualize better; this will make all the difference to students who learn better whole to part." - LD Specialist; Princeton, NJ

"Your presentation was excellent. You used very simple tools (markers, tape) and made it fun and understandable." - Education Technology Specialist, Special Education; Fort Kent, ME

"It seems that everyone I talk to at my school has heard of Textmapping before, but it was a new concept to me. I like to see the big picture, myself, so I decided to try it out and see how it works....I made a textmap of Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha Brenner. It is a wonderful book to use in this way. The "chunks" of story are so clear, and easy to identify. I had read the book aloud to the students two times this week, and we had talked about text-to-self connections a little bit--not enough. Today I decided to guide them to look at the chunks first, then it seems we will be able to go back to connections and sensory images prompted by each section....I had them to find a partner and identify the different little stories in the big story. I gave them three minutes to talk among themselves. After three minutes, they identified the episodes, we circled them in different colors on the textmap, and worked together to give each one a summary sentence, which I wrote directly above the text....The children really were involved in the lesson. They were up on their knees with hands raised, wanting to be the next to identify an episode in the text. It was exciting to see their involvement. When we had circled all the chunks, I was amazed at how much clearer the organization of the text appeared....As long as I have been learning and using the reading strategies with a class, I have had such a challenge with charting our thinking. Making charts gets so long and involved for us. This method allows us to jot things on a sticky to add to the textmap, or even to write directly on the text. I like seeing the big picture!" - First Grade Teacher, Tennessee

"I am using text mapping with fourth graders this month, and they seem to be more engaged even though they have to stand and read (the scroll is laid out on table tops)." - Title 1 Teacher

"I liked the interactive exercise that can be used to introduce new text to students. I could immediately see how I could incorporate this comprehension strategy into classroom teaching." - Design Coach; Plainfield, NJ