While I was reading this chapter, I recalled an experience I
had with helping struggling middle school readers. During my senior year of
high school, I had the opportunity to participate in a Work-Based-Learning
(WBL) program where I could get job training somewhere that interested me. I
knew very early on that I wanted to become a teacher, so I used this WBL
opportunity to volunteer half of my day working at my middle school along side an
amazing English teacher. Mrs. Staudenmire’s class was no ordinary English class;
it was actually a “connections” course called Language Arts Coaching in which students who were significantly
falling behind in their Language Arts courses had to attend. They were a mix of
“trouble-makers” and students with a wide range of learning disabilities, but
regardless, they were precisely the struggling readers that this chapter
identifies.
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| Struggling readers be like ^ |
Each day, I’d come in and just walk around the room helping these
kids individually with an online program that was aimed to improve their
reading skills. Each kid had a different struggle, but all of them benefitted
from the teacher’s and my genuine support and encouragement each day. I also
saw that the students really benefited from myself modeling thoughtful reading
and reading strategies.
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| Me, modeling thoughtful reading & strategies |
I remember one student, Chelsea, having difficulties
with the reading passages with a time limit, followed by questions. She could
never remember all of the information to answer the 10 questions and got so
frustrated with herself every single day. On a side note, Chelsea also had
chronic complex partial seizures (look this up!). I had to tell her: “Chelsea, there’s no way I’d remember all
of that either! I absolutely take notes as I read.” Ever since I gave her my
advice and modeled my note-taking process for her, she starting scoring better
on her work and had so much more confidence in her abilities.
Chelsea, along with the rest of that splendid class, really
showed me how struggling readers could be helped and encouraged. They’re one of
the main reasons why I chose to teach!
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Emily
