What to Do When They Can't Read the Passage

Several high school teachers were discussing the Ohio Graduation Test recently. When I asked them to speculate on reasons for low scores in reading, this is what they said.

"My students aren't motivated enough to read a long passage."

"My students read at second and third grade levels. They can't read these passages."

"The reading passages are too boring. My students lose interest and don't finish reading the passage."

"These kids don't care whether they pass or fail. They're just lazy."

Have you ever heard any of these reasons? They are often uttered by teachers who are frustrated by their students' lack of interest in reading, not only for the test, but also for ongoing schoolwork. Perhaps you've used one of these reasons when your students didn't do well on a big test.

Each statement is probably valid for at least one student. Yet not one of the above excuses for student failure is likely to lead to improved performance on the next test. Nor will these excuses lead students to do homework, especially when the assignment is to read something. Students who have difficulty reading are masterful at inventing excuses for not reading.

In this month's article about the OGT, we deal with strategies to help students read the passages on the test. Few tenth grade students have the opportunity to participate in a reading class, but the strategies shared here can be adapted easily for the English language arts classroom or for other academic content areas.

Promoting Fluency

Reading is a complex skill that includes much more than "sounding out words," as poor readers often describe reading when asked what they do when they read. Fluent readers are able to read with relative speed and appropriate phrasing, thus making comprehension easier. Timothy Rasinski (2004) refers to nonfluent reading as inefficient, suggesting that children whose reading is characterized by "slow, labored, inexpressive, and unenthusiastic rendering of a passage" also have difficulty with comprehension (p. 92).

Struggling readers often lack fluency in their reading, poring over one word at a time, never getting the idea of what an entire passage or even a single sentence is about. Techniques such as repeated readings, choral reading, and reader's theater improve students' fluency with text. Additionally, students often become more fluent readers when they listen frequently to an accomplished reader reading to them. (For specific instruction on choral reading, see Glazer, 1998, p. 15. For additional information about reader's theater, see Beers & Samuels, 1998, pp. 255-257.)

The following ORC instructional resource illustrates one way to help middle school students improve comprehension through fluency.

The Reading Performance: Understanding Fluency through Oral Interpretation
This lesson examines how the oral reading of poetry may be used to support and improve fluent reading for middle school students. Central to this lesson is the idea that students require practice and repetition to master decoding skills for fluency and comprehension in oral reading. Following classroom discussions, students work with partners to select a poem for an oral reading performance. Working together, students create a PowerPoint slide show to accompany their performance of the poem. (author/ncl)

Shared Reading

A related strategy is shared reading, a technique long used in primary grades, but more recently adapted to adolescent reading. In her book On the Same Page: Shared Reading Beyond the Primary Grades (2002), Janet Allen supports the strategy with research; but even more importantly, she explains exactly how to use shared reading in an English language arts classroom to help students in their reading of both literary and informational texts. Allen offers suggestions for choosing books to read aloud as well as ways of encouraging students to move from shared reading to independent reading. Allen reminds us, "With the shared reading approach, we are able to support students as they move beyond the range of their independent reading. It is the implementation of this definition that gives developing readers the opportunity to see and hear what fluent reading sounds like, learn new words, and understand how a reader approaches a challenging text" (p. 4). The first chapter of Allen's book is included in the ORC collection. More information about the excerpt is given in the summary below.

On the Same Page [excerpt]: On the Same Page: Shared Reading Beyond the Primary Grades, chapter 1
In this excerpt from her book, Janet Allen examines her own classroom experience teaching shared reading in order to convey the importance of incorporating such strategies for helping students to become fluent, independent readers. Her personal vignettes and student examples make this professional development text both a compelling and informative read. Additionally, Allen addresses effective strategies that teachers can use to help students achieve fluency and literacy. Allen uses research to substantiate the effectiveness of these reading strategies, and highlights the importance of having students (1) make connections of print to their personal lives; (2) engage in guided and shared reading; (3) learn reading strategies by having teachers model those strategies for them; (4) participate in independent reading in the classroom; and (5) increase word knowledge. (author/bcbrown)

The following professional resource presents reasons to read aloud with older readers and continues the emphasis on shared reading. As students become more and more familiar with appropriate phrasing within passages, they improve in their ability to read and comprehend passages.

Reading Aloud and Beyond [excerpt]: 13 Good (Scientifically-Based) Reasons to Read Aloud with Older Readers, chapter 2
This professional resource uses research about teaching reading (Shirley Brice Heath, 1994, et al.) to construct and detail 13 reasons to read aloud to older students. Grounded in the theory and practice that "reading instruction in schools should develop students' passion to read, support their engagements with texts of all sorts, and encourage them to become lifelong readers capable of fully participating in a democratic society," this site acknowledges the powerful influence of standardized testing in the reading classroom.

Strategies are suggested for improving students' reading performances in ways that satisfy both the needs of the students and the schools, and include that reading aloud to older (adolescent through college) students (1) increases test scores; (2) introduces readers to new text structures and authors; (3) builds a sense of community; (4) provides opportunities for extended discussions; (5) is pleasurable; (6) connects readers with content area subjects; (7) demonstrates response strategies; (8) increases readers' interest in independent reading; (9) provides access to books that readers might not experience on their own; (10) provides demonstrations of oral reading and fluency; (11) helps readers understand the connection between reading in school and reading in life; (12) provides demonstrations of quality writing; and (13) supports readers' development. (author/bcbrown)

Self-Monitoring and Rereading

Experts agree that students are more likely to make meaning out of what they read when they actively monitor their reading. One way to do this is for the reader to stop after a few paragraphs and ask himself or herself questions about the text. When the reader doesn't have answers or can't think of a question to ask about the text, then rereading is necessary.

Post-it Note Taking and Think-Alouds

Another way to help students become active readers is to encourage them to write responses in the margins of their texts. When they are reading from a book that can't be marked up, supply them with Post-its for their notes. Beers and Samuels (1998, p. 269) recommend using the think-aloud in pairs or groups before responding in writing. (More information on think-alouds is available in "A Look at the OGT" in the 2004 September issue of Adolescent Literacy In Perspective.) Students don't have an inherent understanding of what goes into marginal notes. They have to be shown. Modeling these strategies by asking students to suggest notes as the teacher writes can be effective. It is even more useful if the teacher helps students to reframe notes so the students move away from copying from the text (Beers & Samuels, 1998, pp. 271-272).

Remind students before test administration day that it is all right to make notes in the margins surrounding the passages in their test booklets. Students are active readers when they circle important words and ideas in the text and write notes in the margins as they read. The notes will also help students find information in the passage as they search for answers to questions.

Organizing the Information (Using Graphic Organizers)

Students often look at informational text as one continuous idea. They don't always know how the text is organized to make a particular point or to provide the reader with information. The first three ORC resources below deal, respectively, with the use of graphic organizers, concept mapping, and expository text structures as ways for readers to organize and make meaning out of text. The fourth resource provides a summary of reading strategies students should use before, during, and after reading.

Graphic Organizers
This resource provides a gallery of graphic organizers useful for teaching reading and writing processes. These graphic organizers, designed to help students visualize information in a clear, concise way, are easily adapted for use with fiction and nonfiction text. The graphic organizers at this website are described based on the thought processes each is intended to support. Definitions and general instructional strategies accompany each graphic organizer. (author/ncl)

Literacy Strategies: Concept Mapping
This resource, developed by an instructional design team at Southeastern Louisiana University as part of a large content area reading project, provides directions for using concept mapping with expository texts. Concept mapping allows teachers and students to visually organize key concepts and main ideas after reading. The strategy is based on research documenting the instructional effectiveness of graphic organizers. To view this document, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free, downloadable software program available from www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. (author/ncl)

Understanding Expository Text Structures
Understanding text structure gives students a foundation for reading and writing a variety of expository texts. This resource provides information about seven basic structures of expository text: definition, description, process (collection, time order, or listing), classification, comparison, analysis, and persuasion. Included for each type of text structure is a list of questions, a sample paragraph that illustrates the specific text structure, and a graphic organizer. These examples may be applied to aid comprehension of written text and to complete prewriting tasks. (author/ncl)

Before, During, and After Reading: Reading and Thinking Strategies
This resource summarizes widely accepted comprehension strategies that effective readers use to understand a variety of texts. Based, in part, on research related to students' use of prior knowledge, this resource provides a chart describing the strategies used when students are effectively engaged in reading. Organized as a flow chart, the format of this resource makes the strategies easy to review and discuss with students. (author/ncl)

The strategies and techniques addressed in this article are most effective when used frequently with varied text. As students practice and become more adept at applying strategies such as self-monitoring, Post-it note taking, think-alouds, and graphic organizers, they will find themselves reading OGT and other passages with less effort and better comprehension. Combining practice in techniques that lead to fluency with the use of reading strategies will result in more confident readers who read a little more quickly and who can create meaning from text.

Carol Brown Dodson is the outreach specialist for the Ohio Resource Center. Dodson was an English language arts consultant for the Ohio Department of Education and is past president of OCTELA (Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts). Dodson, formerly a high school English teacher, department chair, and supervisor of English language arts in Columbus Public Schools, serves on the Ohio Graduation Test Reading Content Committee.

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References

Allen, Janet. (2002). On the same page: Shared reading beyond the primary grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Beers, Kylene, & Samuels, Barbara G. (1998). Into focus: Understanding and creating middle school readers. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Glazer, Susan Mandel. (1998). Assessment is instruction: Reading, writing, spelling, and phonics for ALL learners. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Rasinski, Timothy V. (2004). Speed does matter in reading. In Evidence-based reading instruction: Putting the National Reading Panel Report into practice. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.