Supporting Students as They Read

Performance Learning PLUS is a monthly e-newsletter by Performance Learning Systems (PLS), a comprehensive educational services company that has provided a full spectrum of programs, products, and consulting services for educators and business professionals since 1971.

This issue focuses on SUPPORTING STUDENTS AS THEY READ.

Tips

Students of all ages can use your support and encouragement as they strive to improve their reading and comprehension skills. Here are a few suggestions:

1. READ TO STUDENTS OF ALL GRADE LEVELS and provide time in class for students to read to themselves. Readers become better readers by reading.

2. TEACH VOCABULARY and provide students with multiple opportunities to work with the new words. Placing the words on the board, reading the words with the students, and having students write the words in their notebook along with dictionary definitions is not enough to develop vocabulary.

3. HAVE STUDENTS MAKE PREDICTIONS about what they expect from a text every time they read. Have students record their predictions in writing or drawing, and when they have finished reading the section, have them return to their predictions, not to evaluate whether they were correct, but to compare their predictions to the author's choice.

4. HAVE STUDENTS ESTABLISH A PURPOSE for reading every time they read. Show them how to do this by converting a heading into a question they want answered, by generating a question based on what has already been read, or by stating "I am going to read this passage to find out..." Then, encourage them to do this regularly on their own.

5. PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH PARTIALLY COMPLETED OUTLINES, webs, or study guides, and have them fill in the missing information as they read. The completed outline or web can be referred to when answering comprehension questions, when studying for an upcoming test, or for writing essays and research papers.

6. HAVE STUDENTS READ THE STUDY QUESTIONS FIRST, then the text. By doing this, students become focused on what they are to look for when reading. This aids them in differentiating relevant facts and details from those that are not central to what they need to learn from the passage.

7. HAVE STUDENTS MARK PASSAGES they find to be most interesting, most confusing, most exciting, and/or most critical to understanding a section. Have students get into small groups or pairs and discuss their findings. This will lead to a deeper comprehension of the text. Using the above strategies can improve not only your students' reading and comprehension skills, but their joy in reading as well.

Source: Colleen Shea Stump, Ph.D., "Techniques for Teaching All Students to Read and Write," The Special Edge, 14 (1), Autumn 2000.

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