Supporting Struggling Readers

In my experience, there are two types of kids:  those who love school and those who dread it.  Often, that sense of dread is related to academic performance.  Kids, just like you and me, need to feel successful and included.  Struggling readers commonly find themselves feeling overwhelmed, confused, inadequate and even isolated from their peers.  One of my favorite professional books, 40 Ways to Support Struggling Readers in Content Classrooms by Elaine K. McEwan, provides solutions for secondary teachers.

This is a great book and I do recommend it.  For the sake of this posting, I will focus on Chapter 4, Teach Students How to Infer.  Knowing how to draw an inference is a skill that many adults, teachers included, take for granted.  Yet being able to infer while reading can make the difference as to whether or not a student derives meaning from the point of the writing - or not. 

An inference can be as simple as a prediction of what will occur next. Some refer to it as "reading between the lines."  The author calls it "reading the author's mind".  As you may guess, the ability to infer is largely dependent upon a students' background and vocabulary knowledge.  There is research to support this claim and the author recommends giving students the opportunity to practice making inferences.  Here is a snapshot of how:

• Give students examples of inferences.  This can be done with the text or as a separate activity.  I am a strong believer that struggling readers need to make connections so a best practice is to find ways to give examples within the context of what is being read.
• Have students practice writing their own inferential statements.  Do several a day or as part of a warm-up or as an exit slip.  For variety, give them categories or questions and have them include inferences in their journal writing.
• Share inferential statements and questions in small groups.  Within the groups, students can then develop more inferences and additional questions.  This is an excellent way to share and expand background knowledge, especially if the groups are heterogeneous.
• Have fun with it!  Create a game of Bingo or use flashcards.  Make learning fun for your student and they will thank you by being more engaged as they demonstrate greater mastery or better yet, a joy for reading.

The ability to draw an inference is one of many skills needed to find joy in reading.  To learn more about helping struggling readers, read the book!  It's an excellent resource.  If you read it, let me know your thoughts about its usefulness in the classroom.  Happy Reading!