Teaching Struggling Readers

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Teaching Struggling Readers

• Alicia A. McCartney, PhD
• Gwinnett County Public Schools, Gwinnett County,
  GA

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Content Area Teaching and Learning Whats all
the fuss?
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What is comprehension?

• It is making sense of text by connecting new
  information with background knowledge and
  context.
• It is a mental representation of text.

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What is vocabulary?

• The words we need to know to communicate
  effectively through listening, speaking, reading,
  and writing.

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The Problems

• The length of instructional time devoted to
  comprehension strategies has remained very poor
  for decades.
• Andvocabulary knowledge is directly related to
  comprehension skill.

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• The trend of alliterate secondary content
  classrooms coupled with non-existent literacy
  instruction in those classes must be reversed.
• From Literacy Across the Curriculum
• Setting and Implementing Goals in Grades 6-12

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Successful comprehension demands two things of
the reader.

• The reader must attend to the text.
• The reader must attach a standard
• of importance to the text
• (e.g., school reading vs. leisure
• reading).

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Reader Characteristics What does the student
need?

• Attention
• Metacognition
• Inferential and reasoning skills
• Content knowledge
• Basic skills
• Motivation

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Text Properties These Can Make or Break a
Reader!

• Text structure
• Technical articles
• Poorly written draft copy
• Book sequel without prior
• knowledge
• Poetry heavy with symbolism

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Instructional Context What Role Does the
Teacher Play?

• Classroom environment
• Methodology
• Expectations for achievement
• Purpose for reading

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To Do List for the Teacher

• Read aloud to students, regardless of
• their ages.
• Increase amount of independent
• reading.
• Provide direct instruction with
• scaffolding.

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Proven Strategies

• Metacognitive instruction- thinking about your
  thinking
• Graphic/semantic organizers
• Question answering/generation
• Summarization
• Multiple strategy teaching

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Vocabulary

• Always preteach new words!
• Provide a variety of activities to study new
  words.
• Provide multiple exposures to new words.

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Some Numbers on Word Learning

• The average student in grades 3-12 learns about
  3,000 new vocabulary words per year, assuming
  that she reads between 500,000 and 1 million
  words of text per year.
• In grades 1-3, low SES students vocabularies
  increase by about 3,000 words per year, compared
  to higher SES students vocabularies, which
  increase by about 5,000 words per year.

amccartn_at_doe.k12.ga.us
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Specific Word Instruction

• Teach specific words during pre-reading phase
• Important words Words in a unit that students
  need to know
• Useful words Words that students will see and
  use repeatedly and consistently.
• Difficult words Words that will likely be
  difficult for students, such as multiple meaning
  words

amccartn_at_doe.k12.ga.us
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• Extended and active engagement- a variety of
  activities using targeted words
• Multiple exposures to new words- continual
  modeling and using every opportunity to point out
• and use targeted words

amccartn_at_doe.k12.ga.us
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Clue
Antonym
WORD WEB
dejection
Targeted Word
exhilaration
Sentence
She felt a sense of exhilaration after winning
the race.
a rush
She felt a rush after winning the race.
Switch
Synonym
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machine
Examples
Non-examples
What is it?
Mac Dell IBM HP
typewriter brain calculator
computer
Concept of Definition Map
What is it like?
Has keyboard Has monitor
Used for writing Used for communicating
From Stahl, S.A. (1999). Vocabulary
Development. From Reading Research to Practice
A Series for Teachers (Vol. 2). Cambridge, MA
Brookline Books.
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Reasons
No
Yes
Discussion Topic/ Question Does certain
kinds of TV viewing contribute to incidences of
school violence?
Conclusions
Discussion Web
Reason
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Topic
S What I Still Want to Know
K What I Know
W What I Want to Learn
L What I Learned
KWLS
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Features
Farm equipment
Topic
two wheels
four wheels
clearing
planting
harvesting
Categories
tractor
haybaler
bushhog
Semantic Feature Analysis
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photosynthesis
photogenic
telephoto
photo (light)
?
photography
Root Word Web
photocopy
?
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Venn Diagram
Diet
Exercise
Carefully select the foods you eat. Seek
profes- sional advice Monitor the amount Be
consistent of food you eat. Be patient Monitor
the intake of Vitamins/minerals.
Select type of exercise. Decide on
frequency. Determine
intensity.
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Now what do I do?

• Develop lists of words from your content area
  that are important for conceptual understanding.
• Choose one or two strategies you feel comfortable
  trying out with your students.
• Begin slowly! Introduce new activities one at a
  time. Allow plenty of time for practice before
  expecting independence.