"This book lives in our school" - Teaching middle school students to understand literature

Literacy curriculum reforms in the middle grades require students to interp ret challenging literature and write well-formed texts. Teachers are accoun table for designing instruction that builds these high-level literacy skill s with increasingly diverse groups of students. In this article we describe findings from studying a literacy approach aimed at supporting teachers an d students in meeting these demands. Based on a sociocognitive perspective, the Supported Literacy approach engages students in collaborative Interpre tation through a seamless integration of reading, discussing, and writing a bout compelling literature. Through classroom observation and outcomes asse ssment, we have identified features of learning opportunities that enable s tudents with disabilities to perform similarly to their peers. We describe these instructional features and illustrate how they work together to suppo rt all students In achieving rigorous outcomes.