Struggling readers are not just an issue for reading teachers. If a student is struggling with reading and comprehending a word problem in their math class, they probably will not get the correct answer. Struggling readers have a difficulty shuffling through word problems to find the important information and to find out what the question is really asking or just have a hard time focusing. Students will re-read a passage multiple times and still not know what they have read. Many people will not make a connection between language arts and other content areas. However, there is one connection that must be made; if a student is struggling in language arts and/or reading, that student is more than likely struggling in another content area course. This is because reading is one of the foundations of learning. It can difficult for a math, science, or social studies teacher to teach subject material to a struggling reader who cannot truly understand the content area reading material.
Jennifer Hernandez from Downers Grove South describes many steps she takes to help struggling readers. The step that I want to highlight is the listening step. She states that “students can often verbalize much more extensively than they can write, so get them talking and point out that they can now write down what they’ve said” (Zemelman 282). This quote really stood out to me, because students often struggle writing in math. The majority of students will be able to think out and verbalize their way through a problem but when asked to write how they solved the problem, they go blank. I think this is an important strategy to have because it allows students to actually show you what they know and then write it down to the best of their ability.
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Kaylie Herbert
Thanks for sharing your ideas! I love how you emphasized the thought about students who struggle in language arts and/or reading are also struggling in the content area classes. There are many different strategies that can help those students in your classroom, and I also thought Jennifer Hernandez's strategies were very beneficial in the classroom. I am the type of student that has a hard time just writing my thoughts out. I do a significantly better job at expressing my ideas by making my thoughts into words. This strategy will be great to use in a classroom.
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