One thing that stood out for me in chapter 2 of Teaching the Best Practice Way was on page 44. In attempting to get my special education students to read and enjoy reading, I had to first give them books in which they were able to achieve some success. More than that, I had to allow room for them to see that they could be successful independently. Therefore, I initially had to incorporate Accelerated Reader books that ranged from kindergarten level to first grade level; what I called easy reads. Once students gained confidence in themselves they wanted to read more. They gradually progressed to more difficult books. Some students were able to make as much as almost 2 years of growth by the end of the school year. The author stated "...evidence shows that students, including struggling readers, progress faster when given opportunities to read books that make sense to them." I agree with the author that it does not take geniuses to realize that. It's not that these kids don't want to learn, it's that they have failed so much they have given up. However, it takes common sense and some patience to realize that these children need something in which they may be successful; even though you may have to tie a little incentive to it.
Some students still struggle with fluency, decoding and comprehension skills. I have found with my special education students are short on prior knowledge in areas in which we would like for them to focus. They come to come with enourmous amount of community knowledge or street knowledge. You have to be creative to be able to tap into this prior knowledge in a postive way. If not then provide them with the prior knowledge necessary to comprehend.
I had a group of my students to create of list of strategies that they felt they could use that would assist them in understanding what they are reading. Thus far, we have been able to come up with over 20 strategies. Then as students practice reading selections and answering questions, they have to tell me what strategies they used. One that they must use is go back in the story and underline where they found the answer and put the number of the question. That's a must!
I liked reading your blog and I see a lot of these strategies of helping student like reading happen in my kindergarten class. You are right that if they do not like reading it has no meaning and as educators we want them to want to read. I know from your help in class that you have patience with new learns and thanks again.
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