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• 1 2019-11-30T16:35:09-08:00 Let’s Read! 15 Ideas and activities to get them reading plain 2019-12-19T10:14:20-08:00

  In addition to the recommendations in the previous section that should be considered when developing one’s reading instruction, the following practical application suggestions can also help to engage reluctant readers.

  Several sources agree that teachers should spend some instructional time (a few minutes per class) reading aloud to students. (14) (390) (91) (21) This helps to convince students that reading is important and valuable. (21) It also allows students to develop a sense of flow, to understand the grouping of words into comprehensible phrases, to understand the uses of punctuation, and to comprehend any symbols used. (390) In this type of activity, it is helpful for the students to be able to follow along with the text as it is being read. Further, teacher read-alouds can help students develop vocabulary, memory and language skills. (91) “Listening to...fluent reading increases students’ own fluency and comprehension skills, as well as expanding their vocabulary, background knowledge, sense of story, awareness of genre and text structure, and comprehension of the texts read.” (14) In other words, there is genuine pedagogical value in reading aloud to our students, so it is worth our while to include some time for it in every reading lesson.

  A number of benefits arise unexpectedly from introducing ebooks in the classroom. The first benefit is a wide selection of texts to choose from. (88) This addresses the student agency issue by providing a much larger selection (often including no-cost access to the local public library) for students to choose from than any school library could afford to maintain. Second, students often benefit from larger print sizes that are easily achieved with e-readers, even students without reading difficulties. (90) One reason is that the larger print size means fewer words per page which reduces the anxiety that students often feel when confronted with a page full of finely printed text. (90) Further, according to Cavanaugh (2006), introducing large print texts “resulted in significant sustained improvement in word recognition and accuracy, comprehension, and fluency.” (90) Cavanaugh also advances the benefit of the interactive dictionaries often included with e-readers; students have immediate access to definitions that do not require putting down one text to pick up another. This reduces distractions from reading and promotes sustained reading for students who have difficulties with attention. E-books can be introduced in situations where students have access to smartphones, tablet computers, laptops, or desktop computers, either of their own or available through their college. In practice, a class could access a free, public domain e-book together (i.e. any book past its copyright period, like those produced by Project Gutenberg), with instruction in how to find, download, and install both the e-book reader and the books themselves. Then, they can work together in groups to read and discuss the book, taking advantage of the affordances of the e-book readers in adjustable font size, different background colors for improving viewing for those with visual impairments, and annotation capabilities. Finally, Cavanaugh espouses the benefits of a multimodal approach to reading instruction. (91) Instruction should incorporate images, audio, and video because our students today live in a multimodal world and need to learn the skills necessary to read that world. Print on paper is slowly dying out; text is becoming more and more digital, with the audio-visual affordances that come with these technologies. Ignoring these aspects of reading will be harmful to students of the 21st Century. These aspects can be incorporated in a variety of forms: instructional videos, slide or animated presentations, audiobooks, and so on.

  Our instruction needs to adapt to the needs of reluctant readers. We can adjust our approach to introducing a reading by emphasizing the positive: “Rather than saying, ‘This is a really difficult text, so we need to pay attention to understand it,’ try saying, ‘This text is a challenging text, but we are going to look at different strategies to help us understand the content. These strategies will help us understand this text and make it easier to read other texts later this year because we will know how to apply these strategies effectively.’” (27) This helps to focus resistors’ attention on reading strategies and the possibility of success rather than letting them dwell on the difficulties. In addition, to address student agency, we can take the time to source additional readings on a given classroom topic so that students have the opportunity to choose. (27) Even if the readings all cover the same topic, thereby removing topic choice agency, we can still provide our students with some agency by letting them decide which of the relevant texts they will read.

  Meta-cognitive approaches to reading instruction have their benefits, as well. (22) Teaching students to analyze their own reading, writing, and thinking processes makes those more noticeable and, therefore, more subject to change and improvement by students. One tool for such meta-cognitive reflection is the reflective journal in which students can write about their experiences reading any text, noting difficulties, their attempts at strategy use, and the results of those attempts. (22) In an integrated reading and writing class, this would be particularly effective as it would give students practice in both reading and writing while also providing the meta-cognitive layer. Letting students know how this technique can help them is the first step in encouraging them to participate.

  Writing itself provides another modality for practicing reading skills and strategies authentically. (13) We can ask students to write about themselves; when students “write about something they care about, they use conventions of spelling and grammar because it matters to them that their ideas are communicated, not because they will lose points or see red ink.” (13) This helps them to produce comprehensible texts that they can then “read, reread and analyze.” (14) Further reading practice, even of their own writing, benefits their reading skills and incorporating writing reminds students that reading and writing are holistically unified. “The task of switching between writing, speaking, reading, and listening helps students make connections between, and thus solidify, the skills they use in each. This makes peer conversation especially important.” (14) This shows that a reading course or an integrated reading/writing program must also incorporate plenty of writing and peer interaction.

  In the classroom, our reading program should have certain features. We should start reluctant readers with short readings, building slowly to longer and more complex texts. (21) When working with fiction, we can promote series; many readers, once hooked by a story, will keep reading despite their normal reluctance because they want to know how the story will turn out. (21) This can lead to a natural development of students’ awareness of the pleasure of reading. Alongside promoting series, students need to understand the concept of continuity. (22) We don’t watch movies in 15 minute bursts separated by a week of not watching. Why would we expect reading that way to be interesting or comprehensible? We must also, in such a program, help students to set reasonable reading goals. (22) In other words, a student may need help to realize that ‘I will read this whole book in one week’ may not be a reasonable goal. It helps to consult with students one-on-one about their reading goals and their progress and to help them reset goals that might be too ambitious. While goal-setting is important, we should be leery of instituting reward systems for achieving those goals. “The reasons for the program, the tangible rewards, and the pupil’s goal setting should be given careful consideration before entering into a reward system program.” (389) The danger of reward systems is that students respond solely to the extrinsic motivation of the rewards, failing to develop their own intrinsic motivations and love of reading for itself.

  In our general approach to teaching reading, Noland and Craft (1976) and Allington and Gabriel (2012) have a few final suggestions. First, they suggest that we stress the enjoyment of reading by reducing time spent teaching mechanical skills to spend more time emphasizing the interesting aspects of a text. (389) They further suggest that students be given time for sustained silent reading, as this creates motivation by allowing students to practice skills without external judgment. (389) One requirement they identify for overall reading improvement is success in reading. Students are strongly motivated by the feeling of success, even without teacher feedback or approval, especially if success is a constant in the reading program. (389) Therefore, we should eliminate worksheets, workbooks, and test-preparation activities and materials as no studies demonstrate their effectiveness in improving the willingness or proficiency of reluctant readers. (14) They should be eschewed in favor of self-selected sustained silent reading, self-selected writing, group literary discussions, or teachers’ reading aloud as these activities have demonstrated effectiveness in improving reading proficiency and in increasing student motivation to read. (14)
  
  In an integrated reading/writing course or a composition course, instructors may feel that they have little time to devote to reading instruction. Instead of conceptualizing reading as a separate activity, it should be thought of and taught as an indivisible part of writing. Learning to read is learning to write is learning to read, ad nauseum. Reading instruction improves both reading and writing, so it should not be thought of as a waste of instructional time. 

  Finally, and for our own sanity as teachers, we must remind ourselves that reading instruction can be slow. (22) “Don’t expect too much too soon.” (22) We must acknowledge to ourselves and our students that there is no quick fix for reading difficulties, that getting better at anything requires time and practice. “It takes lots of reading and rereading of texts that students find engaging and comprehensible.” (13) Before our readers can branch out and read outside their comfort zone, they have to find their way into the comfort zone. (22)