When the question arouse about the various ways to help improve reading in an African American classroom, many parents started to become more and more concerned. Students’ progress in reading is arguably the largest concern compared to any other subject taught in school, and rightfully so. Nothing is more important to academic success than being an adequate reader. Current research in reading attests that children who read extensively become better readers and writers over time. In order for a student to achieve in English, math, science, history, geography, and other subjects, appropriate reading skills must be developed to the point that most of them come natural. A substantial amount of students should not be struggling with recognizing …show more content…
Parents should always know what reading skills are expected of their child at each grade level. The school's curriculum usually provides this information. Failure to read at grade level by 8 years old is usually a prerequisite for future learning and/or behavior problems. Parents should stay knowledgeable about the progress the student is making in acquiring basic reading skills on report cards and frequent examinations. Sometimes teachers do not always notice a student’s reading problems until they've become blatantly serious. Find out if your child can sound out and know the meaning of root words and know sight words. Also determine if the child can use correct context clues to identify unknown words to conclusively understand and comprehend what they have read. The earlier the problem is detected the earlier a child can receive the necessary help, thus the more likely and sooner they will become competent …show more content…
It is literally a conflict of interest, more interest created more effort which generated greater achievement. In the elementary years, from first through third grades, children continue learning how to read. It is a complex process, difficult for some and easy for others. Care must be taken during these early years not to overemphasize the learning-to-read process. Tempt your kids to read by having a large supply of appealing books and magazines at their reading level with reading materials in cars, bathrooms, family rooms, and even by the TV. By encouraging and modeling leisure-time reading in the home, parents take the first and most important step in their child's reading development. Reading for pleasure and information develops reading interests and offers children the opportunity to practice their reading skills in meaningful ways. Parents of elementary-age children should provide reading materials in the home that arouse curiosity or extend their child's natural interest in the world around them. Next, parents should establish daily 15 to 30 minute times when everyone in the family reads together silently or out loud. Seeing you read will inspire your children to read. Just 15 minutes of daily practice is sufficient enough to increase the child’s
In the essay titled “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading” written by John Holt and published in Reading for writers in 2013, Mr. Holt discusses why most children aren’t interested in reading. Mr. Holt spent fourteen years as an elementary school teacher. He believed classroom activities destroy a student’s learning ability. Mr. Holt never let his students say what they thought about a book. He wanted his students to look up every word they didn’t know. People can learn difficult words without looking them up in the dictionary.
With such high numbers of adolescents falling below basic in reading, illiteracy is a battle that must be fought head on. The largest dilemma with the struggle is the number of variations that cause adolescents to become reluctant, unmotivated or struggling readers. Fortunately, a large number of strategies exist to encourage and strengthen readers of all ages, proving that adolescence is not a time to give up on faltering students. Rather, it is a time to evaluate and intervene in an effort to turn a reluctant reader into an avid one (or near enough). Ultimately, educators must learn to properly assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses (Curtis, 2009) and pair them with the proper intervention techniques. If one method does not work, countless others exist to take its place.
For teachers to be effective in providing equitable learning opportunities, they must be informed about the dynamics of diversity in the student population. This awareness should be aimed at providing meaningful and engaging learning activities that are sensitive to the linguistic, gender-based racial, ethnic, cultural, and exceptional needs of the students (Indiana University Teaching Handbook, 2012). However, before teachers can create meaningful opportunities for learning, they must be aware of their students’ strength and weaknesses. Diagnostic assessments provide detailed information that can help the teacher identify areas of weaknesses in order to help students evolve through the reading stages. After identifying students’ deficiencies
Support from parents has proven to be of extreme importance in the literacy success of a child. This often begins with the simple ritual of “bedtime stories” in the home. Studies show that children who are read to as infants perform better in literacy later in life. From a young age, children begin to understand the workings of the written word if they are exposed to it frequently. Babies who are nowhere near having the mental capacity to read and comprehend a book are still able to “follow along” when their parents or caregivers read to them. These children understand that each segment of writing represents a word and they are even able to recognize when a text is upside-down because they are accustomed to the appearance of writing. This puts the child significantly ahead when the time comes to learn to read.
Overall, teachers need to take into account all six critical areas of reading when teaching. No matter the subject or time constraints, teachers need to incorporate all areas into the curriculum. Reading is a complex process. If a student does not know to read, a student will never to be able to achieve their best. When using all six areas teachers are using a balanced literacy approach and create greater success for students to succeed in reading and writing.
A significant correlation between race and poverty exists, with Black and Hispanic Americans three times more likely to be impoverished than White Americans (Proctor and Dalaker 2002). The cycle of poverty and low-literacy functioning is well documented, as is the achievement gap between White students and students of color. Race is a persistent factor in employment statistics, educational attainment, and the acquisition of literacy skills, with significantly higher unemployment rates and lower educational attainment rates among Black and Hispanic Americans than among White Americans. The literature on learner attrition and on resistance to participation in adult literacy programs suggests that the current delivery system may not be meeting the needs or expectations of many adults. A small but growing body of literature questions whether cultural dissonance between instructors and learners is a factor in learner attrition, and it advocates increasing cultural relevance in literacy practices. Some of the writings also advocate helping learners move toward critical reflection and social action. This Digest explores the poverty-racism-literacy connection, specifically as it relates to adult literacy, the imperative for culturally relevant practices, and the development of critical literacy.
These theories, methods, assessments along with the evidence of success in reading at home make it clear that it is extremely important we try our hardest to support literacy in every child. All students can learn. It’s just a matter of making materials interesting and relevant to them, challenging them (but not to hard), and supporting them along the way.
If a child cannot read all facets of their life (socially, academically, relationally, financially, etc.) then they will suffer and this will continue into adult hood. Reading and understanding what you read is essential in almost everything we do such as school work, homework, buying a car, buying a house and much more. It is our job as educators to not only teach a child to read but to ignite a passion for reading, striving to make it something that comes almost as natural as breathing, and something we cannot live without. Developing a comprehensive literacy classroom is an integral part of doing exactly that.
Last school year, I took a college class that required hours of field experience in a high school English class. I was able to observe different English classes and different high school grade levels. What made a big impact on me was to hear some of those high school students struggling with reading more than the third grade students I was teaching that same school year. These students were expected to read and comprehend grade level text when they were reading at an elementary level. Illiteracy “is considered the blackest mark of a person’s finally in school and the greatest failure in the American school system” (Tchudi, and Tchudi 75) and there are around twenty-five million functional illiterates in the United States (75). Why are our middle school and high school students still struggling with reading? What can English/Language arts teachers do to help these struggling readers?
For my community involvement project, I volunteered at Memminger Elementary School for a program called “Reading Partners.” The program focuses on helping children build strong literacy skills to carry with them into their academic careers. It requires the tutor to read to the student that has been assigned and in turn the student reads to the tutor. The program assists in teaching the students valuable reading skills. Being able to read is critical to a child’s educational success. The program works with more than 100 schools within seven states. The program is geared toward students of low-income families. The statistics for children’s literacy in the United States are astonishing. “In 2011, just thirty-four percent of the nation’s fourth graders in public school could read proficiently” (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). The program itself has had exponential success. Principals and teacher have reported that “Reading Partners” has helped increase students’ reading levels. During my time at the program I accumulated twelve volunteer hours.
Anderson, K.A., & Camelia, I.S. (2009). The effects of school-based curricula on reading achievement of African American males in special education. The Journal of Negro Education, 78(3), 1-15.
While I believe every child is a reader, I do not believe every child will be enthralled with reading all the time. All students have the capability to read and enjoy reading, but just like any other hobby, interest will vary from student to student. The students in my classroom will be encouraged in their reading, be provided with choice, taught how books can take you into another world but, my students will not be forced to read. This paper will illustrate my philosophy of reading through the theories I relate to, the way I want to implement reading and writing curriculum, and the methods I will use motivate my students to read and help them become literate.
Every child deserves a positive, safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment where they will grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. My role as an educator is to provide my students with this type of environment as well as an education that will help them succeed academically and become life long learners. It is the responsibility of a literacy educator to provide students with this type of environment, but also to provide instruction that will help students become successful readers and writers. There are numerous programs and philosophies about literacy and reading. Through years of experience and research, one begins to develop their own creative approach on teaching these skills. After looking at different programs and seeing the positive and negatives of each, an integrated and balanced approach of literacy seems to be the best way to teach the differing needs of each student.
“The main goal of more formal educational research is to test theory and to advance scientific knowledge” (Samuels & Farstrup, 1992, p 5). As a result of the noticeable failing reading levels, Congress took it into their own hands to help solve the matter. “Congress directed the creation of the National Reading Panel to reevaluate educational research and give teachers and schools a roadmap to address this problem” (National Reading Panel, 2000 (NRP)). The panel was appointed in 1997, and used numerous studies and research that, once analyzed, was focused into certain areas that need to be incorporated in reading instruction. The areas that were highlighted in the resulting study were phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and comprehension (Manzo, 2000, p 1). These areas can be examined more closely in order to gain insight and information into their beneficial effects on effective reading instruction.
Reading and writing is a key part of everyone’s life. There has been some encouraging levels of reading development in primary school assessments. According to the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy report (2015), 95.5% of students achieve at or above the national minimum standard of reading. It is important to know effective ways to teach reading so children can become active problem solvers to enable them to read for meaning or for fun. Over the years, there has been a big amount of research into the most effective ways to teach reading skills to students. There are some systematically taught key skills and strategies that help achieve these levels of reading. Some of these skills include phonological awareness, phonemic awareness,