Proficient writing and reading skills are essential to success. Students who are not competent readers face the risk of experiencing academic, social, behavioral and even emotional difficulties. In every learning institution, there are students who experience difficulties in reading when compared to other students. However, having reading difficulties in the beginning does not signify that one is doomed forever. Students with reading difficulties can actually be helped to become successful both at the academic as well as at the social level. Teachers have the ability to change the trajectory for a student with reading difficulties and who is therefore, at a risk of failure. This can be done via early intervention and through the provision of extensive and explicit instruction. In this case study, I spent two days observing the reading routine of a student with reading difficulty. I wanted to experience or see firsthand what students with reading difficulty have to deal with in their reading endeavors. After observing the student for two days, I was able to establish a couple of things about these students and make general conclusions about what the process of reading for students with reading difficulty entails.
I found that pre-reading activities were not much emphasized during the reading process of the learner. Pre-reading activities include things such as; looking at maps, diagrams, pictures, graphs and captions; looking at the background and assessing the main writing style adopted in the book; using the book’s titles and subtitles or its divisions to predict the content, sequence and organization of information; skimming to establish the theme and so on. When the reading exercise started, I noticed that the student did not take time, for instance, to even try to look at the title of the book and was very fast in jumping to the first page of the book and commencing to read. The student did not even try to skim through the book or even flip through its pages to look for pictures, diagrams, maps and so on. The student was not interested in these aspects, and he jumped straight away into the first page of the content.
When it came to guided reading, I was able to observe some very interesting aspects. First, the student had trouble keeping up with the teacher providing the guided reading. Although the book selected was quite easy by all standards, I noticed that this particular student sometimes got distracted and therefore could not keep up with the teacher. At the beginning of the session, the teacher would begin with a brief introduction about the text but I noticed that this student was very distracted in this phase and therefore rarely got anything from it. This was perhaps why even when it came to the actual reading; the student still experienced problems. In the course of reading, the teacher would pause and engage the students in meaningful conversations, but this student was not contributive to this session. In fact, I noticed that during such sessions, the student would still be attempting to go through the text perhaps trying to establish the particular part where the conversation started by the teacher was derived from.
The student also exhibited some unusual post reading behavior. After a particular reading session, I noticed that the student was very first to close the particular book that was being read and start engaging in conversations unrelated to the content of the book with fellow students, for instance when the teacher had just gone out. This was quite strange given that in order to make meaningful understanding of a book or a piece of content that has just been read, one needs to take some little time to reflect. This is perhaps why this student found it increasingly hard not only to read but also to derive the meanings of a particular book. In addition, I noticed that the student made no attempts to look further into the book after a particular reading session had ended.
Overall, the skills and strategy formulation for this particular student were very wanting when it came to the entire reading process. It is understandable that not all people or not all students can have the same levels of skill when it comes to reading but this should not deter anyone from making attempts to improve or at least cope with the reading process. For this student, however, he showed a high level of disinterest and had no strategy whatsoever about how to go about the reading. A student who realizes that he or she is deficient in a particular part or aspect when it comes to reading should be able to establish ways of coping and dealing with this. For instance, the student can read ahead of the teacher so that when the teacher comes into the class the next time, the student will already have a very good idea about the content being read at that particular moment and the chances of being left behind will be significantly reduced.
Most of the materials utilized in this lesson were at par with most of the class member's level of understanding including the books. However, this student showed increased weakness when it came to keeping up with his classmates. I did not find any of the material to be difficult for a student of his level and this is what indeed made me realize that this student had great weakness when it came to reading and understanding the material. Some of the common tasks of the reading sessions were also very simple. For example, the teacher would formulate some questions based on the content that the student had just read. Most of the other students had a very easy time doing the task and did not even need to consult the book or the content for the second time, However, for my student of interest, he had to consult the book quite often in order to complete some of the tasks and even when he did this, he still had difficulties completing the short tasks.
The teacher practices were meant to augment the reading and comprehension skills of the learners. For, instance the conversation engagements with the students in the course of reading were meant to ensure that students had understood everything up to this point. The teacher also implemented some pre-reading rituals such as skimming through the book although some students, like the student I was observing did not show much interest in this particular ritual.
Lesson Plans
1.
- The lesson will begin with a pre-reading ritual that every student will be expected to adhere to and observe. The teacher or instructor will then pace around the classroom to ensure that each student is taking part. The main elements that will be incorporated into this pre-reading ritual will be brainstorming and skimming. Some of the specific activities that will take place will include;
- Using the book’s title, subtitles as well as its subdivisions to predict its organization, content, and even the information sequence
- Examining the maps, pictures, graphs and diagrams in the book as well as their captions
- Skimming through the book to identify key themes and ideas and trying to see if there is any prior knowledge held by students that can be related to this new book and information.
- Exploring the author’s background, and writing style employed in a particular piece of content
- In the course of the reading process, there will be brief stops where active engagement will be made with students. The teacher will derive some words and phrases from the content already read, and the student will attempt to deduce their meanings. The teacher will also pick particular paragraphs from the content already read, and the students will attempt to construct the meaning of these paragraphs. In these conversation engagements with students, every student will be required to answer at least one of the questions posed by teacher or explain at least one of the phrases or words that the teacher has brought forth
- Semantic webs will also be actively utilized in the course of the reading process. The semantic webs will involve arranging words, phrases or concepts graphically to show how they are related. This will be done for example on the blackboard where the teacher will write some words, phrases or concepts that he thinks are related and at a particular break, the students will attempt to derive the meaning of these words and concepts. The whole class will then discuss these concepts together.
- At the end of each class, the student will pass some reflective questions which they will be required to answer individually. These questions will be based on the content that has just been read. The teacher will mark each student’s answer independently and will then call the students one by one and explain to them some of the questions that they failed and maybe explain some concepts of the text that the student did not fully understand.
2.
- Each lesson will commence with the teacher writing on the board what he or she knows about the book and its contents. This will include aspects such as the key these and ideas, the writing styles, and so on.
- The reading will then commence whereby both the teacher and the student will be actively involved. The teacher will read some sections while individual’s students will read some sections. Other occasions will see all the students read a particular text together loudly. This will be very useful particularly as it will ensure that no student lags or is left behind.
- In the course of the reading, each student will be required to keep a record of themes, points and ideas identified by the teacher identified at the beginning of the class, They will for example be required to indicate the page numbers where these are found, some of the phrases that have utilized to express these ideas and these and the paragraphs that signal the introduction of these ideas
- At the end of the session of reading, the teacher will go back to the main points, themes, and ideas and trace them together with the students
- The teacher will then forward some reflective questions on the text that each student will be required to answer independently.
