One Size Can't Fit All in Reading Instruction

Effective reading instruction seems to be always on my mind. Even if I was not in a course that intends to endorse me in such, I would still have it as an important part of what I hope to provide to my students each day. This was true when I taught Pre-K, when I taught middle school special education, and now is true as I teach high school special education. I choose to seek out why a student is not successful in a task, rather than assuming it is because they just cannot do something. More often than not, it seems that behavior becomes a concern. This behavior likely comes from a place of frustration or embarrassment over not being able to read or understand what has been assigned. It is a difficult scenario, because being called out for this behavior only further divides the student and the educator, and then what is the chance for meaningful learning?!?!

How do students get so far and not receive the corrective intervention that would help to minimize the frustration for these struggling readers? Perhaps the strategies that were offered were more of a "one-size-fits-all" approach, hoping to reach a high percentage of students, but not focused on specific targets. This approach would be understandable when you think of how much time and effort goes into reading instruction planning and implementation. Perhaps the plan is to do the best they can do, and the ones who do not respond, well, they are just left behind.

With so much at stake for our future, we must help these students bridge their reading gaps. Our technological world is much too advanced for illiterate citizens. So what are we to do? We have to use highly effective strategies that target skill deficits identified for the student. That sounds simple and not really earth shattering, but that's what it takes. The tricky part is finding the effective strategies! When the strategies are effective and even fun, teachers and students can reach their goals more quickly. So here is a wonderful reasource for those highly effective and fun reading instruction strategies that you can use from Pre-K to as high as you may need to go to reach those struggling readers: Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Seravallo. Watch this short video for a glimpse of its contents.

I hope you will help bridge the gap for our struggling readers. This book is a great place to start looking for those fun, engaging strategies that may hook a new reader.

Happy Reading!

Fluency for All- In My Opinion

Teaching students to read should be considered magic. Reading, as I've stated before, is not a natural process, so it makes sense that so many people struggle with reading (some statistics show that 1 in 4 students do not learn to read). I think that reading specialists, reading coaches, reading teachers, etc. are priceless when it comes to making an impact for struggling readers. BUT, what if there's no money for any of that? What are we going to do?

One thing that seems to be certain is that the students who had people talking to them and reading to them as infants, toddlers, and emergent readers are better readers. Why would that be? I think perhaps it is because of the modeling and practice that comes from interacting with a person. Among other things, the reading FLUENCY is likely strengthened through the interactions of speaking with and reading with others.

What I'm suggesting is that we can ALL be reading coaches, to some extent. How can grandma be a reading coach? Or dad? Or the babysitter? Here are a couple of suggestions...

1. Wherever you are, READ. Read signs, labels, book covers, magazine covers, candy wrappers, menus, and so on. Model the way the words should flow from your mouth and have fun practicing together. Smooth reading is easier to comprehend.

2. BELIEVE in the student! Invoke the power of "yet" for the struggling reader. Tell them that they may not be good at reading yet,  but they will get there with practice. The confidence of another person in their ability to improve can move that literary mountain!

You can do it! Happy Reading!

Reflecting on Sight Words

Emergent readers are in a very exciting part of their lives. Soon the lines and curves that they see EVERYWHERE will become WORDS! Wow!!! Soon there will be meaning connected to those markings and their world will never be the same.

But, what if it's not that easy. What if an emergent reader doesn't seem to get it? The amazing world of text is closed for them. Story books, comics, magazines, maps, game instructions, menus, notes from a friend, and on and on. Completely LOCKED AWAY. Until they develop "word-recognition," not just the ability to sound out letters in a group, they will not be readers.

Word recognition consists of "sight-words" that can be called out within a second of seeing the word, word-structure analysis, and phonics. Let's just look at sight-words for a moment. Consider this statement:

Sight word lists are comprised of individual words that each have a separate skill. Therefore, it makes little sense to tally the number of words a child can pronounce at sight, but to understand the distinct skill each word represents.

This statement tells me that when I assess my students for sight word knowledge I am looking for particular skills that are possibly weak or missing. I have never heard of this perspective on sight words. This actually makes the task of teaching and assessing sight words much more relevant to the student and the teacher. Students can be encouraged to do their best and when an error is made the teacher can celebrate that they "discovered" a skill that they can work on together!

Below is a quick video that explains sight words very simply and contains a "Did you know?" nugget of information!

Happy Reading!

Sight word lists are comprised of individual words that 


each have a separate skill.  Therefore, it makes little sense to tally the number of words a child can pronounce at sight, but to understand the distinct skill each word represents.

Sight word lists are comprised of individual words that each have a separate skill.  Therefore, it makes little sense to tally the number of words a child can pronounce at sight, but to understand the distinct skill each word represents.