“I hate reading.” Have you heard that phrase before from a struggling reader? I have. Motivating struggling readers can sometimes feel defeating, can’t it?
But I have one simple tip that can help. When used appropriately, I’ve seen it help many-a struggling reader…even my own son.
{Note: This is the first of many quick tips for Struggling Readers, so say tuned!}
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Motivating Struggling Readers
What is this secret? It’s simple really. And it’s something to be applied to all kinds of learners, not just struggling readers.
This one simple secret is choice.
Yes, choice.
When we give students choices in what they read {beyond Accelerated Reader books…ahem} and what they do with what they’ve read, we relinquish some of our control and give it over to them. For such a small word, it can be such a hard thing to do. But it’s well worth it. Trust me.
Before we jump into a couple of simple ways to provide choice, I want to say quickly that the choices we provide need to be appropriate for the reader. If we provide random choices that do not meet the interests or abilities of struggling readers, the strategy of choice will not be very helpful.
Choice In What They Read
There are 4 simple resources that help me provide choice for struggling readers.
1. Their interests.
This is where I always start. People are naturally going to stick with things longer if there’s an interest. It’s the same with struggling readers.
I ask myself questions like: What does the child like to do? What subject interests him the most? What hobbies does he have?
And nonfiction can be a GREAT place to start, as you can find lots of books on all kinds of subjects and reading levels these days.
An interesting thing to note is that when a child has a deep interest in a particular subject, he can often read books that are labeled as “too difficult” for him because he has the background knowledge and vocabulary to read and comprehend. Pretty cool!
2. Online reviews & book lists.
I love Amazon {because I love my Amazon Prime}, but I also love the book reviews. Often times, Amazon tells you the reading level of books and I can read the reviews to see if I think a struggling reader will like it.
Another feature of Amazon that rocks is the section under the reviews that has “Customers Also Bought” and “Related to this Item”. You can often find a gold mine there!
I have several book lists and so does The Measured Mom. But I think the queen of book lists is definitely Melissa of Imagination Soup. You can search under the category “Books” for books by age or kinds of books, like adventure books or science fiction. Pretty cool!
3. The library.
It’s completely free, so why not?!? After you’ve done a bit of research online, go into the library and find some books that your struggling reader might enjoy.
Don’t go overboard and checkout tons of books. Go light at first. Let your struggling reader go with you and help you, too!
4. Sneak peek.
If you still aren’t sure if your struggling reader will like a book, give him a “sneak peek” by reading the first part of the book out loud.
This can do two things: 1- pique his interest and 2- introduce the characters, setting, and typically a problem. If he’s interested from your intro, he can pick up where you left off.
Choice in After Reading Activities
Once the child has read the book, I think it’s equally important to provide choice. Below are a few ideas for after reading. Obviously, there are more choices we can provide, but these are just three that popped into my head. Instead of choosing which one readers should do, I think it’s great to let the reader decide.
1. Project-based activity.
Some kids really take off with project-based activities. Here, they can express themselves through art, song, writing, or other ways. Other readers may loathe the thought of a big project after reading.
2. After reading discussions.
Often times, discussions about the book during reading and after reading are the way to go. This is what we tend to do naturally any way as readers, right? Just be sure your questions dig deeper than basic questions so they lend themselves to a discussion, not just “yes” or “no” answers.
As Richard Allington of What Really Matters for Struggling Readers puts it, the idea here is developing “thoughtful literacy“, not a quick question and answer session. These free discussion questions for fiction & nonfiction might be a good place to start!
3. A reading response journal.
A simple reading response journal can be a good idea for after reading because it is short and quick. If you use the same questions each time, this makes it less intimidating to struggling readers, especially if they struggle with comprehension. Writing down an answer to the question can sometimes prep readers to discuss the questions with others.
*Photos from Adobe Photos.
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High Interest / Low Readability Books for Struggling Readers
Find all posts in this Struggling Reader Series
~Becky
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