Struggling readers are more likely to learn essential reading skills and strategies if the direct or explicit model of instruction is part of the teacher's repertoire of teaching methods. Directly/explicitly teaching reading means imparting new information to students through meaningful teacher-student interactions and teacher guidance of student learning. In this approach, the teacher clearly leads the teaching-learning process. At the heart of the direct instruction method are explicit explanations, modeling or demonstrating, and guided practice. Direct/explicit instruction needs to be an integral part of learning the major content strands of the reading process--phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.