Learning to read is one of the most important milestones in a student鈥檚 academic journey. As teachers, we love seeing children reading together and discussing their favorite stories. Chapter books and literature circles make reading instruction come to life, providing students with an opportunity to engage with others about what they鈥檙e reading and learning. Students get the chance to become fully immersed in a text and develop critical thinking skills that take them beyond the basic text questions.
This is all great 鈥� but how do you make all this happen for struggling readers? How do you get students to interact on grade-level texts when they are significantly below grade-level expectations? Here are some tried and true strategies you can implement with your students, from my classroom to yours.
H2聽Collect Data
Encouraging struggling readers to聽participate聽can be a challenge, especially in聽small group settings where one or two students may sometimes monopolize the聽conversation. Understanding how to help struggling readers begins with聽identifying聽the specific challenges each child faces. Comprehensive data collection can provide a great starting point for a聽student鈥檚聽language skills.聽聽
I rely on a literature circle evolution sheet to help me identify students who need extra help, using鈥� to inform my approach. This may involve bringing them into conversations or providing support to help them stay on track and complete their work. This ensures that the literature circle experience meets the specific needs of each participant and that every student has their moment to shine.
Research-based reading strategies for struggling readers help build confidence and improve comprehension. These can include things like:
- Phonics instruction:聽This聽isn鈥檛聽just reading help for kids. Groups like older students and ESL students who may have been left behind can聽benefit聽from some phonics refreshers sprinkled into聽their聽reading lessons,聽too.聽聽
- Guided oral reading:聽Get that kid reading! Better yet, encourage your students to read aloud. Repeated reading with feedback builds fluency.聽
- Vocabulary practice:聽Multiple exposures to聽new words聽using visuals and context is one of the best reading strategies for students, allowing students with different learning styles to聽retain聽and contextualize聽new information.聽聽
- Reciprocal teaching:聽Any opportunity students聽have to聽both read and write together will help them聽retain聽new information聽and build reading skills. Have them聽predict,聽question,聽clarify聽and聽summarize聽new material to boost comprehension.聽
- Comprehension scaffolds:聽Use graphic organizers and think-alouds聽to support student understanding.聽
Build Excitement聽
A mystery bag is a great way to build suspense for the story you are about to read.
When we鈥檙e about to read a book in my class, I鈥檒l prep some objects that are relevant to the text. We pull them out one at a time on the day we introduce the text, and students use them to make predictions. The last item in the mystery bag is the actual book, and students get a chance to see the cover and make more predictions.
As we read the text and encounter items in the bag, students will squeal, 鈥淲ow! That was in the mystery bag! It鈥檚 on page 14!鈥� It鈥檚 even better to hear the sheer excitement and exclamations of 鈥淚 knew it!鈥� when predictions come to life.
Find a Recording聽
When working with struggling readers, finding readable texts with conversation-starting content can be hard. Reading everything aloud to my students can get monotonous, so I invested in an Audible account. I was able to find the text we were reading for less than $3, and I鈥檓 able to access it from my school laptop.
The recording features playbacks where we can revisit tricky spots, it picks up right where we left off so we can begin reading the next day, and my students love the way the reader gives each character a unique voice and personality that comes to life in the reading. Spotify now has audiobooks, and you can also sometimes find classic novels read aloud on YouTube for free.
颁别濒别产谤补迟别听
Building a positive reading environment is essential for sustaining long-term reading motivation. Struggling readers often know that they are struggling, so finding ways to celebrate risk-taking, growth mindset and participation is important.
When we study Greek mythology in my class, we choose a student to be the god or goddess as part of our daily closure to celebrate their perseverance and participation. The chosen one leaves with a badge and a crown they wear proudly for the rest of the day. It鈥檚 been so fun to see staff support it too, stopping students in the lunch room to ask our 鈥済ods鈥� about their reading life and praising them for a job well done.
Teach Reading for Enjoyment聽
There鈥檚 nothing quite like relaxing with a good book, but for struggling readers, reading time often becomes more of a chore or even a stressful and anxiety-inducing task. In the process, we as teachers can sometimes neglect to celebrate the importance of enjoying literature just for entertainment鈥檚 sake.
My students鈥� response to reading has changed simply by giving them a small portion of time each week to sit back and enjoy the story. It has increased participation and students鈥� willingness to work through the classwork on other days.
You can easily provide that same outlet for your own students. So, run to your book room! Pick out a good text and get to enjoying chapter books with all the students in your class.
All educators know how important reading is at any age. Become an expert in teaching and nurturing reading skills by getting an鈥�M.Ed. in Literacy鈥痑t 番茄视频.
