3 Easy Steps for Helping Struggling Readers

3 Steps for helping Struggling Readers - Using notes from a workshop with Jan Richardson and my experiences, this is a plan for helping students.

Struggling Readers are in our classrooms. Not every student is on or above level, so we need to make sure we all our students are achieving.

A little while ago I was fortunate enough to hear Jan Richardson speak about helping readers. It is such a pleasure to listen to someone so passionate and knowledgable about reading. I find myself scribbling notes as quickly as I can.

This particular day she laid out a plan for helping struggling readers and who doesn’t want ideas for that? Here is her outline with ideas from both of us.

Analyze the Student

Sounds easy, but it’s complex.

We know reading is problem, but what is the problem with reading? What are their particular errors? What is specifically holding them back?

We have to use our assessments to pinpoint the area of concern. If we don’t know EXACTLY what the problem is, we can’t fix it.

If you take your car in for repairs, you don’t just say, “Something’s wrong. Please fix it.” You need to tell the mechanic what’s going on. Is it the tires? Is it making noises? Is a light on? We have to be the mechanic.

We have to look for the specifics.

  • If the problem is accuracy, what types of errors are they making?
  • If the problem is comprehension, can we determine what type of questions are causing difficulties?
  • If the problem is fluency, we need to determine what aspect of fluency?

We also need to look at all aspects of reading: reading, writing, and word study. What are common threads?

Struggling readers deserve US to look at THEM.

Analyze YOUR Teaching

Yep, what are you doing? What are you not doing? We have to provide the students with reliable assessments.

We need to make sure we are using appropriate texts.

Just because we’ve used this specific book for the last 10 years, is there a better book to represent that level?

  • Is there a book we can use to help with specific problems?
  • Is there a book we can use that is high interest for the learners?
  • Are we planning lessons to help with their errors?

Although we can plan lessons a week ahead of time, we need to ready to make necessary adjustments to the lessons as the problems reveal themselves. Too many times I have had teachers tell me their students can’t move on to a level because comprehension isn’t successful at a higher level, but lessons for the student contains practice with accuracy or within the text comprehension. We must address what the student needs in our lessons.

Struggling readers deserve US to look at US.

Develop a Plan

Once we have looked at the student and at ourselves, we need to make a plan.

The plan needs to be crafted for that student.

Consulting with colleagues can provide new opportunities or ideas for lessons.

We should make a goal for the student and monitor that goal.

Finally, we need to make sure what we are missing from the student is provided in lessons and practice.

Struggling readers deserve a US to make a PLAN for THEM.

I hope this post gives you a plan for developing lessons that are targeted and in the best interest for the student.

If you would like Mentor Texts that Will Inspire Your Struggling Readers, my friend Carla wrote a great post.

Leave a Reply