Providing thoughtful, high quality literacy instruction is one of the most important responsibilities of kindergarten - 8th grade teachers. In this text, the authors use an engaging assessment framework to explain how to combine observation and other assessment techniques to link assessment to effective reading comprehension instruction. Rubrics and an example of assessment analysis illustrate how to make the connection between assessment and instructional planning. Model literacy lessons replete with authentic student artifacts are used to illustrate how a careful assessment analyzes can lead teachers to differentiate literacy instruction to fit students' specific literacy needs. This book is a testament to the necessity of an explicit framework for understanding how expert teachers connect student assessment to guide responsible instruction. The authors provide a clear definition of 'thoughtful literacy', a model for assessment and analyzing assessment, and procedural lesson models. These resources serve as experential tools,offering both pre-service and novice teachers opportunities to learn how to enrich literacy learning for their students.