An article in the ERIC Digest written by Ms. Norma Decker Collins entitled Motivating Low Performing Adolescent Readers posits the view that these readers have negative experience with the task, and consequently view “reading as a process of getting the word right rather than an act of making sense of the material.” Ms. Collins also seems to infer that these adolescent readers are void of metacognitive skills which can greatly facilitate the reading process. Accordingly she insists that these readers need:
1) The opportunity to revalue themselves.
2) Relevant experience with text.
3) Strategies that would result in comprehension.
Ms. Collins thus proceeded to provide a number of ways in which these readers can be motivated. Among these were:
1) When using informational text, teachers should construct situations in which students find personal reasons for comprehending the text.
2) Use films or television to broaden students experiential background knowledge.
As Reading Specialist, we too must think in terms of how we can motivate the low performing adolescent reader. What other strategies do you think can assist them?
According to Tompkins (Tompkins, 2010) good reading teachers employ a number of strategies to assit their struggling readers. She notes that reading and writing are interrelated processes by which the student can attain fluency. One on one attention, group work and whole calss instruction is necessary to acheive different types of instructional goals which teachers have. With all of these methods, the teacher must connect to her/his students. With struggling readers in particualr, motivation is a key factor, since they often do not believe they would succeed. This is why the teacher must find time to connect with them as individuals and also in smaller groups. This level of interaction outside of the whole class teacher directed methodologies, will help the child feel connected with her teacher who will (hopefully) find ways to ascertain the child's specific learning needs.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, I find there is great need for individual and small group work. Essay writing and SBA projects often prove to be a serious challenge for many who struggle even at the fifth form level with basic internet searches. There are two possible resons for this. Firstly there is little or no parental assistance at home with these projects and secondly, many students do not own a computer and have little time to use the few available at school. They have always responded positively to reading on theinternet especially when they realize that students form all over the world are doing similar projects