The Threads of Reading Blog » struggling readers

Making Connections – Seeing Relationships

The Weaver — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:15:58 +0000

Students who have difficulty seeing relationships may also have trouble drawing conclusions, making predictions or drawing inferences. Teachers can help students develop their abilities to see patterns and relationships by giving students many opportunities to classify and visualize data. Classification activities can be as simple as asking students to create a simple wheel with spokes to generating a complex concept map. Once students have organized the information, be sure to have them explain the relationships and why they organized the data in the way they did.

Motivating Reluctant Readers

The Weaver — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:34:14 +0000

Kids who struggle with reading often do everything they can to avoid reading. Unfortunately, this is counter-productive and only increased the problem. Reading is a “participation sport” that children have to DO to get better. The more a child uses his reading skills, the stronger they become. What to do to get kids reading more so they actually build reading skills is the question on many teacher’s and parent’s minds.

Children like books that make them laugh or that appeal to their special interests. One little girl I know loves any books that have to do jokes. She has also watched all of the Harry Potter movies several times and loves any books that have to do with dragons or magicians. she can’t wait for the day when she can read the Harry Potter books all on her own. A boy I know, loves to not only watch the Merlin TV show each week, but to also read the Magic Treehouse books featuring a wizard by the same name as the character he knows and enjoys on television. The extra reading practice builds both reading skill and background knowledge.

Another boy loves anything to do with motocross racing. Buying materials that appeal to these interests, keeps these children practicing their reading and enjoying every minute of it. Magazines on a topic of interest can be just as interesting and skill building as any other type of reading material. If a child likes movies that have books connected with them or books that feature the characters from a TV or movie show, then by all means, introduce the child to these special treasures. So, take the time to get to know what interests the reluctant readers that you know and you may just find that they will spend many hours practicing their reading when they might not have done so before.

Teaching Word Families and Rime Patterns

The Weaver — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:55:30 +0000

A good way to help struggling readers is to help them learn the most common rime patterns. The rime is the part of the word after the first vowel. For example, in the word “mice” the /m/ sound is called the onset and the “ice” is called the rime. In English, we often change the initial consonant to create a new word. For example, we can change the initial consonant and create the words: lice, dice, twice and so forth. Provide the rime patterns to students and have them brainstorm as many words as possible that contain the rime pattern. Children enjoy it and soon start noticing the rime patterns in many words as they read.

Time and Reading

The Weaver — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:33:16 +0000

Reading is a participation sport! It can’t be emphasized enough that if we want children to become strong and capable readers, they have to actually READ – plain and simple. Think about it. If you wanted to get better at your favorite sport, how would you do it? First you would ensure that you had any equipment needed (books) and then you would make sure that you had time to practice (reading). If you wanted to get really good, you would probably also find someone who was good at this sport to keep you company (friends to talk about books with) and finally, you might also hire a coach (a good reading teacher) to help you improve your abilities. Researcher Anderson and colleagues reported that students in basal-dominated classrooms spent up to 70% of their reading instructional time completing worksheets. According to the research of Allington and many other reading experts, time actually spent reading is what correlates with higher reading competency. It seems logical that the more someone practices, the better they become at doing what it is that they have been practicing. Unfortunately, what seems logical is not always what happens in classrooms across the country. The research indicates that students perceived as “low” or struggling readers in many classrooms actually spent LESS time reading than did their better performing peers. What’s that all about? The greater the need, the more it stands to reason that those with the greatest need should be doing MORE reading – not less. Take the time to assess how much actual reading goes on in your class and find ways to increase it. Remember, reading is a participation sport which gets better with practice.

Struggling Readers – Does Phonics Still Apply?

The Weaver — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:20:58 +0000

Reading specialists have long wondered how best to help older students who struggle with reading. Should they be taught to decode by using phonics programs developed for primary children? We all know that when students have to spend too much mental energy on decoding, that there is none left for comprehension. As a result, it is vital that older struggling readers learn to read more fluently so that they can spend their mental energy on understanding what they are reading rather than decoding the words they see on the page. While phonics programs are vital for young readers, there has been much controversy over whether or not these programs actually are the best way to help older, struggling readers. Researchers believe that adults use patterning extensively when they read. For example, if you know the word “beak” then you can easily identify the pattern words “leak” “teak” and “peak.” Wylie and Durrell (1970) identified 37 common rime patterns that make up over 500 common words. Helping older students break words into known word parts can also be a helpful strategy for older readers. It is also the most common strategy that adult readers use to decode new words they encounter while reading.

Digital Story Telling

KTankersley — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:20:18 +0000

If you are looking for ways to motivate children to improve their writing and thinking skills, consider having students produce digital stories. A digital story is a multi-media text consisting of pictures and video clips embedded in a document like a Power Point that is enhanced by a narrated soundtrack that tells the story. According to the research of Burn and Reed (1999) digital story telling can be a great motivator for even the most reluctant of reader. Digital story telling can be used for presenting both fiction as well as non-fiction text on a topic of interest in the content classroom. Digital story telling helps students organize their thinking, have a purpose for writing, and develops pride and self-confidence as the completed work is shared with other students. Digital story telling can be done either in groups or by individuals and even the most reluctant reader and writer will be motivated to complete a digital story project.