Working with Struggling Readers

How can we help struggling readers succeed? As teachers, we all know that reading does not always come easy for students. Even good readers can struggle with reading. Talking with high school students, I was reminded why reading can be a challenge. The student stated:

Reading is difficult for me because I have a problem with comprehending the story. It doesn't help me that I read too fast and I can't remember what I've read once I am done. Another problem is when I read something boring. I basically read it and don't comprehend it. When a book's words are too difficult to understand, then I think it is pointless to continue on when you don't even know what you're reading.

Many students feel the same way as this student. The inability to comprehend a text can be frustrating. Books that contain difficult words, a complex text, and little or no interest to the student make reading hard.

So what can we as teachers do to garner the interest of our students and make reading easier for them? Two essential points come to mind immediately:

All students read and comprehend material differently, and so we need to individualize instruction.
We need to listen to what our students have to say. Asking students how they learn best will allow us to individualize their instruction.

Individualizing instruction for struggling readers is frequently a diplomatic as well as a diagnostic mission. Often struggling readers feel too embarrassed to ask for help. If we know our students' reading level, we can determine their needs and offer assistance without the necessity of having them come to us first. Once we know their reading levels, we can incorporate helpful tips and reading strategies the students can use.

Tips and Strategies

Three specific strategies I have found to be helpful are:

Activating the students' prior knowledge before they read
Encouraging the students to respond verbally, ask questions, and make predictions when they read
Journaling

In addition, here are some more tips you might find useful.

Be Alert to What Might Interest Students. We want to encourage our students to read, and we need to keep in mind what interests our students. When it comes to reading, one student stated:

The title of the book usually catches my interest. Once I begin to get started and the book is descriptive and persuasive, then it makes me a lot more interested.

Something as simple as a book title can capture a student's interest.

Hold Class Discussions and Assign Projects. Not only do students learn from their teachers, but they also learn from each other. Class discussions are a great way for students to contribute their thoughts and beliefs. Having students do different projects and activities with a lesson is another way for them to express their creativity and understanding of a text.

Make the Information Personal. Students like to feel a connection with what they are learning. They learn when they can relate to the information being taught. How do we get our students to relate to the information presented? One way is by making the information personal so they are able to make a connection (and to do this we need to listen!).

Informal Assessment

How do we know when our students are making progress, and what can we do to help? For me, one-to-one tutoring and small-group instruction work best when helping students with reading. As well, daily contact with students is helpful in order to see their progress. If a student struggles with a short story, paragraph, or book, I encourage him or her to reread the information or do paired readings. I have found that this aids in comprehension, word identification, and fluency. In my experience, knowing how the student learns best and structuring intervention strategies toward the student make learning student-centered and more personal.

Continued improvement in reading and comprehension provides the foundation for a student's future success. Watching students succeed at their own levels of learning makes teaching rewarding.

Stephanie Briani Fitz is currently a substitute teacher for the Hilliard City School District in Hilliard, Ohio. She is in the master of education program at Ashland University, where she is pursuing a degree in literacy. She taught high school English and speech for two years at Memorial High School, St. Marys, Ohio.

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