• Use the Internet to find out more about dyslexia and to get ideas on how to develop your study skills (see the “Resources” section for recommended sites on dyslexia).
ADVICE FOR PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH READING PROBLEMS
Parents who learn that their child has reading problems, such as dyslexia, often experience blame, denial, guilt, fear, isolation, and anger. But by accepting that their child has a specific learning difficulty, they will be able to work on those strategies needed to allow their child to reach full potential. Here are some thoughts for parents of a child with reading problems to consider (Dehaene, 2009; DITT, 2001; Shaywitz, 2003):
• You know your child better than anyone else. If you suspect a reading problem, there probably is.
• Get professional help as soon as possible. Knowing exactly what is wrong will help you decide the best course of action for your child. Remember that not all struggling readers have dyslexia.
• Make your home an encouraging and safe place. To a child with reading problems, school can be a disheartening experience.
• Do not discuss your children’s learning problems in front of them without including them in the discussion.
• Remember that, even if diagnosed with dyslexia, your child is more normal than different. Explain to the child that dyslexia means having a hard time learning to read. Emphasize that this has nothing to do with intelligence. Many people with this condition have learned to read and have become successful students and adults (see, for example, the list of famous people with dyslexia in Chapter 5). With effort and practice, the child will learn to read.
• Tell the child that struggling readers and people with dyslexia often have trouble hearing all the sounds in a word. They may only hear two sounds in a three-syllable word. Reassure the child that other children have this problem and that it can be overcome with proper instruction.
• You might even explain to older children about the different pathways that normal and dyslexic brains take when learning to read (see Chapter 5). Dyslexic children will learn to read, but it will take longer.
• Encourage the child to pursue areas of strength, such as music or sports, to experience the feelings of success in other areas of life.
• Teach your child how to pack the school bag for each day.
• Give your child the opportunity to tell you in a calm environment what happened in school and during the day. Sharing problems and concerns with a sympathetic listener can make them much less burdensome.
• Keep a record of how long it takes your child to do homework. Share this information with teachers who may be unaware of how much time your child needs to complete these tasks.
• Get in touch with the school periodically to discuss what strategies are being used to help your child. Use similar strategies at home when reading with your child.
• Remember that students who have difficulty reading often avoid doing it. But children learn to read by reading! Encourage your child to continue reading so that those literacy skills develop and become automatic.
• Read assigned books and other materials to or with your child, explaining the meaning of new words and checking if your child understands what has been read.
• If the child asks questions about grammar or spelling when writing, give the answer so the child can move on. Dyslexic children often have problems with short-term memory, so supply the answer if they know the process.
• Seek out support groups for families with dyslexic children. They often can provide a lot of useful information about how to deal with learning difficulties.
• Finally, keep in mind that all of the recent research on dyslexia and other reading difficulties is encouraging, and that effective interventions are already here and more may come in the near future.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION/REFLECTION
• What are the basic ingredients of early intervention programs?
• What types of intervention programs are more successful with older students?
• How have some interventions actually rewired the dyslexic brain?
• What advice should be given to struggling readers and students with dyslexia and their parents?
What’s Coming?
The strategies and considerations presented in this chapter are designed to teach poor readers how to overcome their difficulties and become better readers. Such progress is particularly important as students in elementary school move up to middle and high school where reading of the course content becomes a vital part of successful learning. The strategies and techniques that teachers can use to help all students cope with the vast amount of reading required in secondary school content areas are the focus of the next chapter.
7
Reading in the Content Areas
One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.
—Carl Sagan (1934–1996)
Students entering the intermediate grades, middle school, and high school are faced with an increased amount of reading and the expectation that they are able to comprehend the content in their texts. One of the challenges of the Common Core State Standards is for teachers to ensure that students have a strong vocabulary to express their work in clear and appropriate academic terminology in their different subject areas. Yet, little effort is made to determine either the reading ability of the students entering the class or the difficulty of the reading materials. Consequently, some students are doomed to failure from the start because they cannot read the course material, and they end up frustrated at both the teacher and the subject.
Many secondary teachers express concern about the reading and reading-related problems of their struggling students. Yet, except in English language arts, most content-area teachers do not view themselves as reading teachers, and they often express doubts about their ability to provide effective instruction in reading strategies. Studies show, however, that when content-area teachers take the time to teach and use reading strategies regularly, student achievement in the content area rises, especially in middle and high schools (e.g., Cantrell & Hughes, 2008; Greenleaf et al., 2011).
In their earlier years, students were taught developmental reading through the use of multilevel texts. However, content-area teachers usually teach from a single text written at a certain reading level. Furthermore, developmental reading emphasizes the process (learning to read) while content-area reading emphasizes application (reading to learn). In any particular class, the range of reading achievement among students often spans several grade levels. The challenge for the teacher, then, is to determine what strategies will help students acquire the content knowledge while trying to manage the wide range of differences in reading achievement.
For some students, the text itself is intimidating. High school science and history texts can easily run over 1,000 pages. Humorist Dave Barry once remarked that American students may not have the highest test scores in the world, but they sure have the biggest backpacks. Exactly how textbooks are chosen for a content-area course varies greatly among schools. In some cases, the text is chosen by one or more of the teachers who will be using it. Sometimes, it is chosen by the department chairperson, or the building principal, or a central office administrator. Regardless of who has this responsibility, the question arises as to what criteria were used to select the text. The selection process becomes particularly important now that textbook publishers are faced with addressing the Common Core State Standards and other standards. Texts need to be selected not by weight but by the likelihood that they will help students achieve the learning objectives of the content area.
Bruhn and Hasselbring (2013) suggest that those who are selecting a textbook consider the following questions:
• Questions About Content:
Is the textbook aligned with the appropriate state/district/Common Core standards?
Is the content accurate?
Is the content current?
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br /> Are cultural references accurate and free of stereotypes?
Is the language of the text appropriate for the students who will be using it?
Is the reading level appropriate for the students who will be using it?
• Questions About Instruction:
Does the text’s organization convey a sense of purpose for each unit of study?
Does the textbook clarify the prerequisite knowledge that is required by the student?
Are common misconceptions identified and clarified?
Does the textbook show how the content relates to the real world?
Are the ideas developed to promote deep student understanding rather than fact memorization?
Do the activities in the text promote student thinking and reasoning?
Do formative and summative assessments accompany the text?
Are their supplemental materials available, such as videos, CDs, and online resources, to accompany the text?
If most of the answers to these questions are “yes,” then the authors recommend considering the text. On the other hand, if the answers are mostly “no,” then reject it.
Content-area teachers often assume that students come to their classes with the reading skills necessary to use the required text successfully. Moreover, these teachers may not recognize three major differences between the developmental reading that students were assigned in earlier grades and the expository reading required for the current course. The first difference is in learning new vocabulary. In developmental reading, vocabulary is taught in context, meaning is clarified, and words are rehearsed and practiced at a pace that most children can accomplish. In content-area courses, the vocabulary used in basic texts is highly specialized and technical, and often presented so quickly that students have little time to fully comprehend its meaning.
The second difference lies in the way concepts are introduced and explored. In developmental reading, teachers present concepts that are familiar, and they cover them at a pace that is appropriate for most children. In content courses, teachers present concepts that are unfamiliar and complex, usually at a rapid pace because there is so much to cover. The third difference is in the specialized type of reading that is needed for some courses, such as the ability to read charts, tables, graphs, maps, globes, and technical instruments (Baer & Nourie, 1993). Table 7.1 summarizes the main differences between developmental reading and reading in content areas.
It is important for content-area teachers to determine the level of reading difficulty in their course materials and the ability of their students to read them. By making some accommodations in materials and selecting appropriate strategies, all teachers can help more students succeed in learning the course content.
Table 7.1 Differences Between Developmental and Content-Area Reading
SOURCE: Baer and Nourie (1993).
STRATEGIES FOR HELPING STUDENTS READ CONTENT MATERIAL
The brain-friendly strategies described here are intended to help students acquire course content successfully through reading and other methods. They are not intended to imply that the school can abdicate its ongoing responsibility to help students improve their reading skills at all grade levels. To some extent, every content teacher is also a teacher of reading, not of developmental reading, but by virtue of using a variety of techniques that allow students with reading problems to learn important content. The strategies include the following:
• Using direct instruction
• Conquering vocabulary
• Helping with comprehension
• Rewriting content material
• Incorporating supplemental textbooks
• Establishing in-class vertical files
• Using audiovisual aids and the Internet
• Promoting cooperative learning groups
Using Direct Instruction
Students who have reading problems usually rely heavily on teacher explanations to grasp concepts and to identify what is essential to learn. Therefore, direct instruction can be a critical factor in their achievement. During direct instruction, do all of the following:
• Clearly identify important concepts. Some students think everything in the text is important and feel swamped.
• Explain why the students are learning the concepts. This helps establish meaning, a necessary component for long-term retention.
• Present the concepts in an organized manner. Many older students have poor organizational skills.
• Define and use unusual vocabulary words in context. The brain often needs to understand context if it is to establish meaning.
• Recommend a limited and specific reading textbook assignment that covers your presentation. Students often feel overwhelmed by the number and size of textbooks.
• Ask students to summarize orally and in their own words the main points you presented in the direct instruction segment. This is known as rehearsal, another important process for increasing retention (see Chapter 2).
• Consider asking the students to write out the summary as well. Writing requires more organization of thought and helps reveal misunderstandings or confusion.
• Suggest other print sources (of a lower reading level) that also explain the content.
• Explain and demonstrate how you read and study new material.
• Find ways to awaken student interest in upcoming topics. An interest-arousing pretest or a video clip on the Internet may be just enough to motivate students.
• Explain that all texts reflect the author’s viewpoint and are thus subject to questioning and analysis.
Conquering Vocabulary
Technical, unfamiliar, and unusual words are often stumbling blocks for students when reading course content. Familiar words used in a specialized context can also cause problems. Students encountering such words can learn them in any of four different ways:
• Learning a new meaning for a known word. The student recognizes the word but is learning a new meaning for it. For example, the student knows what a tree branch is, but is learning that the word can also describe a branch of government or branch of a river.
• Learning the meaning of a new word to describe a known concept. The student knows the concept but not this particular word to describe it. For example, the student has had experience with globes and baseballs but does not know they are examples of spheres.
• Learning the meaning of a new word for an unknown concept. The student is not familiar with the concept or the word that describes it, and must learn both. For example, the student is not familiar with the process or the word osmosis.
• Clarifying and enriching the meaning of a known word. The student is learning finer distinctions or connotations in the usage of what may seem like similar words. For example, understanding the distinctions among dashing, jogging, running, sprinting, and trotting.
All these types of learning vary in difficulty. The third type, learning the meaning of a new word for an unknown concept, is one of the most common, yet challenging. Much learning in the content areas involves this type of word learning. As students learn about photosynthesis, secants, and oligarchies, they may be learning new concepts as well as new words. Learning concepts and words in mathematics, social studies, and science may be even more difficult because each major concept is often linked to other new concepts. For example, the concept oligarchy can be associated with other unfamiliar concepts, such as monarchy, plutocracy, and dictatorship. Photosynthesis can be associated with phototropism and osmosis.
Identify these types of words in advance of assigning the reading. Work to develop students’ word consciousness by calling their attention to the way writers choose words to convey meaning. Help the students research a word’s origin or history and see if they can find examples of that word’s usage in their everyday lives.
Decoding New Words
Older students acquire more than half of the approximately 3,000 new words they learn each year through reading (Stahl, 2000). For
English language learners, vocabulary knowledge is one of the most critical factors affecting their achievement in the content areas. Teachers cannot assume that English language learners possess the vocabulary needed to decode and comprehend the numerous word meanings they encounter in the course materials. Even though these students may possess proficient listening and speaking skills in English, it takes time and rereading to understand the formal aspects of English as used in secondary-level texts. Because knowledge of vocabulary is so closely linked to reading comprehension, students need to learn strategies for decoding new words that they encounter in the content texts. These strategies include decoding multisyllabic words and getting the meaning of unfamiliar words from context.
Decoding Multisyllabic Words. One strategy for decoding multisyllabic words takes just six steps. The teacher guides the student through the steps. Using a worksheet to analyze the word facilitates the process. Figure 7.1 illustrates one possible worksheet format with an example.
Figure 7.1 This chart helps students to decode new words through a six-step process. The word transcontinental is used here as an example.
1. The student first writes the whole word down, transcontinental.
2. If it is a compound word, such as butterfingers, the student writes down each word part, butter and fingers.
3. If it is not a compound word, the student puts an x on these lines and moves to the nest step, which is to write down the root word and any prefixes and suffixes so that transcontinental becomes trans, continent, and al.
4. Next, the student breaks down the root word into its syllables (continent = con, ti, and nent) and writes down all the word parts, trans, con, ti, nent, and al.
How the Brain Learns to Read Page 24