Breaking Through: College Reading (10e)

Breaking Through provides instruction and practice on the reading and study skills necessary for successful independent college learning by providing a high volume of actual college textbook and academic selections for application opportunities.

The use of actual college textbook passages offers immediate modeling and application of college study and reading skills at a realistic level. Students apply the skill being taught to reading short textbook passages and then go on to use multiple skills on the longer selections that conclude most chapters.

• Ten brand new selections about such topics as:
• The ins and outs of recycling plastic
• The cost of drinking and driving
• A personal history about a World War II holocaust hero
• The methods used to make commercial foods irresistible
• An unusual explanation of the basics of mathematics
• A new casebook that explores “What Makes Work Satisfying?”
• Student Learning Objectives inserted to give students clear purpose – previewed at the beginning of each chapter, repeated throughout the chapters at key sections, restated with page numbers in the Summary Points.
• New “Brain Booster” feature – Boxes inserted at key locations throughout the book to help students understand how the brain learns and how they can use the knowledge to improve achievement.
• The Reading Workshop segments – Re-formatted, linked to each chapter, and placed together in the Appendix for students and professors who want to incorporate pleasure reading into their experience.

• Reading selections are primarily drawn from college textbooks to expose students to the principal readings they will encounter in other courses.
• Shorter passages in the chapter provide immediate practice and application of the chapter’s content.
• Three longer readings at the end of each chapter—each at a different reading level—give instructors flexibility to adjust reading assignments.
• New “Extended Writing” feature at the end of each long reading selection.
• Brenda Smith’s quantity and quality of exercises have long been hallmarks for instructors who demand abundant, high-quality practice in the reading skills.
• A reading casebook helps students grasp how different academic disciplines approach a topic.
• A sample textbook chapter allows deeper analysis of actual course material.
• “Interpret the Quote” feature encourages critical thinking as each reading selection begins with a quote that students are asked to interpret after reading the selection. 
• “Reader's Tips” boxes offer condensed advice for students as a quick reference.
• “Everyday Reading Skills” feature gives tips and practice on how to research the Internet and how to read newspapers, magazines, advertisements, reference materials, fiction and nonfiction, and workplace mail.
• “Collaborative Problem Solving Questions” offer four different questions at the end of each chapter for students to brainstorm ideas, think critically, reflect on chapter instruction, and present a response to the class together.
• Student Learning Objectives inserted to give students clear purpose.
• “Brain Booster” feature located throughout the book to help students understand how the brain learns new information.
• The Reading Workshop segments – Re-formatted, linked to each chapter, and placed together in the Appendix for students and professors who want to incorporate pleasure reading into their experience.

LeeAnn Morris Bio

Dr. LeeAnn Morris has over 20 years of community college teaching experience and is committed to helping students achieve their college and career goals.  She takes great satisfaction in continuing Brenda Smith’s legacy of excellence by shepherding Breaking Through: College Reading through its 9^th and 10^th editions and Bridging the Gap: College Reading through its 10^th and soon to be published 11^th editions. 

LeeAnn is a Distinguished Faculty professor at San Jacinto College near Houston and has been honored there with the Outstanding Faculty Award.  She served as chair of the College Preparatory Department and is delighted to return to the classroom fulltime this fall to teach two levels of integrated reading and writing courses. 

LeeAnn is an avid reader and believer in the power and pleasure of lifelong reading.  She has done extensive research on reading workshop approaches for college developmental reading students.  She has witnessed the satisfaction and growth that come from reading often and widely and has incorporated the reading workshop concept into her teaching and into Breaking Through and Bridging the Gap.