Struggling Readers

An article we read in EMAT 5280 discussed that students make each other feel less comfortable answering questions in groups because there is an atmosphere of status levels that correlate to the intelligence of each student. I was wondering what the best way to combat this was until I read chapter 11 in our subjects matter book. There is a teacher who groups her students into four types of intelligence including relational, organizational, analytical, and high energy. The students are able to understand each other's differences and utilize strengths in their groups once these four types have been identified and pointed out to them. This is huge especially when some students are not proficient readers. We should not make them feel bad about their reading level instead encouraging each other to help them become better readers. Encourage the students by having different level of materials in order to display their ability to read some of the passages. Defeated students will not grow without encouragement in what they can do already. This chapter offered many strategies on how to help struggling readers, and almost every example was in a class that was not an English Language Arts class. Reading a word problem in Math has a very different thought process than in ELA or history. As teachers it is our job to model for our students the correct way to think through a specific passage in our specific content area. A math problem will require the strategy of deciphering what is important information in order to not get confused on the extra information. I remember in my Math classes mixing up what was important and getting problems wrong because I missed an important piece of information. These strategies are taught not expectations.

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