Remedial Reading Advice for Teachers
by It is a sad sight when a teacher encounters an older student who has great difficulty reading the same text as his peers. How can a teacher possibly help a student who is so far behind? The suggestion below worked for me.
Save a Kid’s Life
On occasion, I was asked to assist a middle school student who could barely read text several years below his grade level. Even though this student had received reading intervention services in elementary school, little progress had been made. Upon entering middle school, the student was completely overwhelmed by the reading material used in his grade level. Parents would ask me why the reading problem was not corrected after the child had been involved in various programs designed to help struggling readers in elementary school.
The problem is in the word “various.” Each year, the student was put in a new program that would correct his reading problems. Some poor kids had been through a year of LiPS, a year of Scholastic Read 180, a year of Words Their Way, and yet another year of the Go Phonics Reading Program. If a district keeps changing programs every year, then they would still have one very confused and still struggling reader on their hands. I don’t care what new program comes onto the scene, stick to one program for two to three years, and you will see results that are impressive. I actually had one parent turn to me in an IEP meeting and say, “You saved my son’s life.” How does a reading teacher save a kid’s life? She does this by using ONE program, following it to THE LETTER over a two or three year period. Teacher’s can be a bit full of themselves and think. “Oh, let’s just skip this part. It is not important.” Skip nothing my friends. The experts created the program, so do ALL of it and for heaven’s sake, do not abandon it! Maybe you will save a kid’s life too.
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