This guide focuses on Reading for Meaning, a reading and reasoning strategy that helps students understand new ideas, make inferences, and support their thinking with evidence. The strategy is designed around research showing that proficient readers use a specific set of thinking skills to build deep understanding of the texts they read and apply those skills in three distinct phases: before, during, and after reading. Reading for Meaning gives all students the opportunity to practice this three-phase approach by

* Using simple statements to preview and predict before reading.

* Actively searching for relevant evidence during reading.

* Reflecting on and synthesizing both their learning and their thinking process after reading.

This PLC Guide takes you and your colleagues on a "guided tour" of Reading for Meaning, enabling you to

* Learn how Reading for Meaning builds reading, reasoning, and problem-solving skills.

* Experience a model lesson using the Reading for Meaning strategy and learn from sample lessons and planning forms designed by other teachers.

* Plan a complete Reading for Meaning lesson for your classroom.

* Reflect deeply on your lesson to refine and expand your use of the strategy.

* Examine student work at various levels of proficiency and use your findings to plan next steps in building students' reading, thinking, and comprehension skills.