As the school year ends, we know most teachers are excited for a break. There will be a point where reflection is necessary to evaluate how the year went and what to do differently for next year. We do understand, however, that at this point you are just grateful you survived!
When you are ready to reflect and evaluate, we would like to offer a few suggestions that might be helpful for teaching reading in years to come. When evaluating your teaching experience over the past school year, here are some questions to consider:
- How do you feel your students did in regards to reading?
- Did you feel like you knew how to reach all of your students, even those that had a difficulty with reading?
- Were you frustrated or overwhelmed at any point with your instruction?
- Did you ever question whether your teaching was effective?
- Did you feel like you knew specifically how to teach reading?
If you aren’t satisfied with your response to these questions, you are not alone. Beginning reading instruction is one of the most difficult subjects to teach. Some reasons for this include:
1. Since learning to read is an automatic process for most, it is difficult to instruct others in a step-by-step approach to learning to read.
Most people remember reading as children, but few remember specifically how they learned to read. This is because, for most, learning to read is an automatic process. Because we do not remember how we learned to read, it is difficult to explain to others how to develop the skill.
2. The English language has a complicated structure.
We probably understand basic rules, like i before e except after c, and know the phonemes, such as ch says /ch/. However, there is usually very little that we can explain about the structure of our language.
3. There are several theories and arguments as to what is the most effective type of reading instruction.
Since it is difficult to remember how we learned to read, it is also difficult for us to know how to teach someone else to read. Over the years researchers have studied several different methods for approaching reading instruction, often with contradictory results. This is because for around 70% of students, they learn to read regardless of the reading instruction they receive. The type of reading instruction used is primarily important for the 30% of students that do not automatically learn to read. Research has proven these students must be taught to read systematically and explicitly. Teachers must be trained in how to do this to be effective and to help all students become efficient readers.
Although systematic and explicit reading instruction is only necessary for struggling students, it is beneficial to all students, even automatic readers. A systematic, explicit phonics program provides students with the “why” behind our language. It empowers them with useful reading strategies to handle unfamiliar words rather than forcing them to guess and memorize the word for future use.
SOLUTION
To help reading teachers improve reading instruction to help all students, not just 70% of their students, Reading Horizons offers online teacher training. Every teacher who participates in this online teacher training over the summer could go back to school in the fall ready to help all of their students effectively gain reading skills.
Sign up for a Free 30-day Trial: Reading Horizons Online Training for Reading Teachers