The Reading Teacher's Sourcebook - The Meadows Center for ...

Part 3Research-supportedInstructional PracticesAs struggling readers get older, the performance gap between them and average students their age continuesto widen (Stanovich, 1986). In addition to basic skills instruction, struggling middle school readers mayalso need explicit instruction in strategies that will help them think about and understand what they read(Bryant, 2003). Struggling readers are often seen as inefficient processors of information and therefore needto be directly taught strategies to improve their reading skills (Swanson & Deshler, 2003). Swanson andDeshler, in their analysis of recent research on adolescents with learning disabilities, state that the overallgoal of strategy instruction for older readers is to empower students to apply these strategies independently.Teachers of struggling readers must remember the goal of enabling students to be independent readers.Combined with the components of effective instruction discussed in the previous chapter, instructionin reading strategies in the areas of comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and word recognition will allowstudents to move from relying heavily on teacher guidance to becoming independent learners.It is clear that reading teachers need to know the major components of reading, but it is also helpful ifstruggling readers understand these terms. At the start of the year, teachers can define comprehension,vocabulary, fluency, and word recognition simply and clearly for students. (See Terms to Know on thefollowing page for student-friendly definitions.) This way, the teacher and students will have a commonlanguage to use when talking about reading strategies. Explain to the students that assessments you havegiven them helped to determine their strengths and needs in comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, andword recognition. This may be a good time to talk with students individually about their assessment scoresand to develop short-term and annual goals. Perhaps students can work independently in small groupsor partners while you speak with students one on one. It is important to be both honest and encouragingwhen talking with older struggling readers. Most of the time, these students know that they have troublereading, but they may have never been told their specific strengths and needs. Be sure to emphasize both.Students are often reminded of their weaknesses; it is encouraging for them to also be aware of theirstrengths. Additionally, it is possible that they have never had instruction in strategies designed to improveThe Reading Teacher’s Sourcebook 61