Working with Struggling Readers

by LeeAnn K. Binion, Thomas Worthington High School, Worthington, Ohio

In order to work with struggling readers, it is necessary to understand what it means to read. Some believe that reading is simply decoding words. Others may combine that with fluency, essentially believing that a child who sounds like he or she is reading well is reading well. While that can be true, it is by no means always true. Reading involves making meaning from text. That process will be slightly different for everyone; but for the struggling reader, it is a very difficult ordeal.

A child who reads should be able to experience a text. Without that, all that is left is words on a page that have no meaning. A teacher can tell if a child is reading by looking for three main processes: Connections are being made, there is an internal dialogue with the text, and predictions and/or questions are being formed. If none of that is happening, then it is very likely that the child is not experiencing the text in such a way that he or she is getting any meaning from it.

Many readers are not even conscious of what they do when they read. As teachers, we need to be making our students aware of the strategies that "good" readers use, even those who do not struggle. That awareness is important, because at some point, that "good" reader may encounter a text that causes him or her to struggle and may need to be reminded of what can be done in order to have success with that text. Struggling readers need to be given the following in order for them to be engaged in reading experiences: opportunities to be successful with texts, strategies to help them make meaning from texts, and motivation to put the time and effort into such an endeavor.

I have never worked with a struggling reader who did not have at least one piece of text that he or she felt comfortable reading. For some struggling readers, it may be song lyrics; for others, a magazine; or for still others, their own writing that draws them into the reading process. But whatever it is, teachers need to capitalize on that. These readers need to see that what they read is valid as text and that many of the same strategies they use to understand their text may be used to understand other texts. Such opportunities may exist in silent reading time, individual conferences, peer sharing, and/or cooperative learning groups. Providing as many opportunities as possible for students to choose their own texts will increase the probability that struggling readers will be able to have some success with reading.

One of the best ways I have found to enable students to interact with the text is to force that internal dialogue, which is automatic in "good" readers, into external dialogue. Double-entry journaling is one such way to do this. Students divide their paper into two columns: one recording quotes, phrases, etc., from the text and the other recording the students' reactions. Teachers may choose to guide the students even more with prompts such as, "This part was confusing because...," "This made me feel...," etc. Post-it notes also work well as a different format for requiring students to stop and think about how they feel about what they are reading.

Struggling readers often experience difficulty because they are not able to relate to what is happening in the text. The think-aloud strategy has worked very well for me when trying to get these students to see connections. In this activity, I read aloud portions, sometimes all, of a selected text, periodically stopping to express what I am thinking to my students. For example, in a story that takes place in the Great Depression, I may say that I can still relate to the trials of growing up despite not living during that period of time, because I remember how I felt when I was not quite an adult, but not quite a child either. Students need to understand that connections are not all or nothing; they may involve only a part of the story.

Questioning is a strategy that is often overlooked by even the best readers. Students need to recognize it as a powerful way to learn. It should begin while a text is being previewed and continue during and after reading. I recommend that struggling readers write the questions down and then answer them as reading progresses, also asking more along the way. One of the best indicators of how well a student is experiencing a text is the kinds of questions that arise after finishing it. Questions regarding why the author chose to end the story a certain way or curiosity about what may happen to a certain character, among others, indicates a level of engagement that we should want for all of our students.

In order for struggling readers to be motivated enough to want to become better, they need to want to be a part of a community of learners. The classroom needs to be a place where respect for individual differences is given a high priority and where a strong emphasis is placed on cooperation among peers. Students need to understand that learning is a team effort and that everyone will become better when they work as a team. The best reader in the class can learn something from the weakest reader. Finally, everyone needs to understand the value placed on reading as the key to succeeding in life. With this atmosphere, struggling readers are a lot more likely to be motivated to do what it takes to belong.

I believe that the key to engaging students in the reading process is to give them opportunities to experience success, the tools to become better, and an environment that will enhance their motivation. If students are able to read the words, but those words mean nothing to them, then a great injustice has taken place. We need both to realize when a reader is struggling and, most importantly, to give them the means to be a part of a community of readers.

LeeAnn K. Binion is an English teacher at Thomas Worthington High School. She teaches classes in English to tenth graders and classes in reading intervention to students in grades 9-12. She has been a teacher for six years. She is currently finishing her master's degree at Ashland University in curriculum development with a concentration in literacy.

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