Teaching Struggling Readers

My blog is in response to one of the articles we read for our class. “Narratives of the Struggling Readers” addresses the needs of the struggling readers and the teacher’s role in helping those students succeed. As an educator of early childhood, I see students who love and enjoy reading. Their passion for reading helps to build their confidence in reading. I also see students who struggle with reading and hate reading. I remember circulating the classroom last week while students were writing in their Writer’s Notebook and saw one student wrote her dislike for reading. Her exact words were, “I HATE reading.” Of course, as a teacher, I would love for all my students to love reading as much as I do and to be good readers and confident in their reading skills. Since one of my goals is to help my struggling readers become better readers, this article offered a few suggestions.

Teachers play an important role in the lives of students, especially struggling readers. As teachers, we can help develop and strengthen students’ reading skills. If a student is struggling, teachers have the opportunity to make a different and impact the way students view their reading competency. Vlach, S. and Burcie, J. (2010) states “Before engaging with a struggling reader-or any reader- it is imperative that a teacher believes that every child can learn and can contribute to the learning community.” With that mindset, teachers can begin to address the needs of struggling by helping them develop a sense of equity. In other words, teachers provide instruction to address the needs of struggling readers and allow students opportunity to contribute to the classroom.

In addition, teachers can use some instructional strategies to promote agency. These instructional strategies are literacy attitude and interest surveys, anchor charts, quality small group instruction, and turn-and-talk. Most of us are familiar with the literacy attitude and interest surveys. This is something I usually give at the beginning of the year just to gauge my student’s reading interest and then again towards the end of the year to see if there is anything change. Anchor charts are something I am not quite familiar with and would like to get more information with. As for the quality small group instruction, this is something I am striving for this year. Finally, turn-and-talk is a instructional strategy I have heard and read about but have not tried in my own classroom. This is also something I am willing to try with my own students.

I found this article to be very helpful and resourceful. Once again, I am left thinking for ways to improve my reading instruction and be more of a skillful teacher for my students.

Vlach, S. and Burcie, J. (2010). Struggling Readers: Narratives of the Struggling Reader. The Reading Teacher. 63(6), 522-525. DOI:10.1598/RT.63.6.10