Questions and Answers About Teaching Reading with

Karen Tankersley

Teachers and Parents,

Have a question about learning to read or teaching reading that you would like to ask Karen? Submit your question to

Q: How can we help our new teachers be better prepared to teach reading?

A: There are so many things to learn when one is a new teacher. Although I think I was well prepared in my content area as a first year teacher, time management was definitely something that I had to get under my belt to be an effective teacher. Teaching is fast-paced and demanding under the best of circumstances. For some, it can just seem overwhelming and complex. Many of our young teachers are simply in "survival mode" during their first year. For this reason, the best thing that we can do for them is to provide support and suggestions on classroom management and organization as much as possible. Many districts are providing coaches who can work along side new teachers and help them through the bumps and hurdles that seem overwhelming for new teachers. When the classroom is running smoothly and the teacher feels confident and comfortable in his/her management, then we can begin to have conversations about instructional effectiveness.

Q: My principal says we should be reading to our high school students on a daily basis. I already don't have enough time to teach the science concepts I need to cover with my students.  What is this all about? 

A: Reading aloud in high school content classes is an outstanding way to build student content knowledge as well as vocabulary. Try to find short articles or excerpts that compliment the topics you are teaching to read as "openers" for the lessons you generally present. If at all possible, locate information on topics that are very timely and relevant to your students lives. If they are also humorous, all the better as there is no better way to get kids involved in a lesson than starting with a little fun. Articles ideal for this purpose should take no more than 5 minutes to read and should help you pique student interest in your content topic. To organize your collection of "read alouds" consider labeling file folders with the topics you teach. When you find a short, interesting article in a magazine, journal or newspaper, clip it out and drop it into the appropriate topic folder. As you gather your clips, you will have no shortage of great material from which to choose.

Q: I teach middle school math but my principal wants all of us to now teach reading during our classes? Help! How can I teach reading when I am supposed to be teaching children math?

A: As a math teacher, you understand the key concepts of math and are the perfect one to help students learn new vocabulary as well as how to express oneself mathematically. Rather than thinking that you are teaching reading, think instead of how you can help students use reading to better process math concepts. For example, we all know that students often have difficulty with word problems. Take the time to teach students how to read a word problem. For example, in a normal sentence the main idea is usually found near the beginning of a paragraph while in a math story problem, the main idea is often the last sentence of the paragraph. Teach students to find and highlight key words such as "in all," "completely," "more," or "less" so that they learn that math symbols are a "short-cut" way to represent these concepts. Help students create diagrams or flow charts of algorithms so that they can see how math concepts work and where key decisions are made in an algorithm. Finally, ask students to write a narrative about their steps or procedures as they work through various algorithms. This will give you a window into their thinking (and misperceptions) as well as force your students to really think through what they are doing. Remember that writing reinforces reading so writing about math will not only build stronger understandings in math but also build reading skills.

 

Be sure to check out Karen's suggestions for teaching Reading at the Threads of Reading Blog.

Building Vocabulary Skills

One of the areas that separates poor readers from strong readers is the student's vocabulary skills. Help your students expand their vocabularies by creating "word rich" classrooms. Use word walls regularly to feature key words that students need to learn and use. Invite students to "play" with words and to learn about affixes that are common to the various disciplines you teach. Ask students to create vocabulary logs or journals where they record not only definitions but also visual images that can help them remember the meanings of new words. Another idea to help students learn new vocabulary is to create word webs or murals featuring new vocabulary. See The Threads of Reading or Literacy Strategies for Grades 4-12 for many more ideas on how to help students expand their vocabularies.

 

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Q and A From Parents

Q: My 4 year old daughter doesn't want to sit still long enough for me to read a whole book to her. What do I do since I want her to love reading?

A: Young children are full of energy so it is not unusual for some of them to have difficulty sitting still for reading sessions. Try reading short books that have actions that your child can do while you read. Also, study how your child responds at different times of the day. Is she more willing to listen to a bedtime story rather than an afternoon story?  Sometimes making it a "routine" to read a very short story at bedtime helps establish a more attentive attitude. Also consider the complexity of the book. Perhaps you are choosing books that are too mature for her young mind. Young children like simple books with interesting words or sounds. Another good idea is books that have items to touch in them so that the child is directly involved in the story as you read. Finally, don't give up. Give your child plenty of books and encourage her to look at them whenever she wants. The more your child sees books, sees you read your own books and knows that books are an important part of your household, the more interest she will have in them as she herself grows.

Q: My ten year old son says he hates to read. What can I do about it?

A: First model reading at home. Ask the key males in your son's life to also model reading around him so that he sees that is an activity that men like to do. Perhaps Dad or other male friends &/or relatives can share something that they like to read with your son. Capitalize on your son's key interests. Find books at the bookstore or library on his favorite topics. Don't push reading for reading sake but make materials available on his favorite topics. If there are magazines devoted to these topics, seek these out as well. It may be that reading is difficult for your son so that is why he shies away from it. Remember that the more kids read, the easier it becomes for them to do so. Reading is a participation sport!

Q: Do you have any suggestions for getting my husband to read to our children? I think it is very important that children see males read but my husband says he feels uncomfortable.

A: We often parent the way we saw parenting being done by our own parents. I would suggest that you open a conversation with your husband about the reading habits of the household he lived in as a child. Perhaps he did not have a parent who modeled reading for him or perhaps it was only his mother who read to the children so he does not see this as a "fatherly" activity. Perhaps he is not comfortable reading orally or perhaps he is unsure how to approach reading a picture book with your children. Getting to the root of the problem is the first place to start if you hope to involve him in reading to your children. Perhaps you can suggest that he sit with you and your children and listen. After a while, maybe he could share reading a page or two as well. After he learns how to be more comfortable with the process, perhaps he will want to take a more solo part on occasion.

 
 
Weaving the Readers of Tomorrow