Being Reading Teachers

I have to be honest that I have never thought of being a reading teacher. I assumed that by the middle and high school levels, students should be able to read. I thought I would be working on comprehension and grammar with students, but not the basic concepts of reading. Students who do not know how to read by sixth grade is a travesty and it shows a failure in the educational system. I do not understand how an elementary school teacher did not realize that one of their students did not know how to read. And if they did realize that one of their student's could not read, I cannot imagine why they would not have helped the student or informed a reading specialist. Regardless, this is the reality that some middle school teachers face and we, as teachers, can only look forward and change some of the elementary processes and continue to work with students until they can read. Reading is vital for every person, regardless of what the student's future career is. In the article "Center Middle School students read across America", an eighth grade student named Christian Brown is interviewed, and he said, "If you aren’t strong in reading, you can’t be strong in science or social studies, and your writing might not be as good.” He is absolutely correct. Teachers need to help their students who are struggling with reading because their future is at stake. The following are important aspects of decoding and vocabulary instruction that teachers should know. I would like to mention that I obviously am not a teacher so I honestly cannot comprehend all the other responsibilities that they have, and I am certainly not an expert on decoding or vocabulary instruction.

Vocabulary Instruction:

1. Have no more than 10 words in a list.
In the book, When Kids Can't Read What Teachers Can Do, Beers says that students need to effectively know the words and this means, "that students learn the words, use the words, and remember the words" (179). I completely agree. Student's cannot be expected to effectively learn more than ten words, so keep the list short.
2. Use the words in class throughout the week.
If teachers do not use the words in everyday speech, how are the students supposed to?
3. Learning the words should be an active process.
In the blog "Vocabulogic", it states that "Teaching vocabulary primarily through dictionary or glossary study is not effective, especially for students with learning difficulties, at-risk readers and English language learners" (http://vocablog-plc.blogspot.com/p/vocabulary-brief.html). Students should not just be memorizing the words and forgetting them the next week. Instead of having the students simply copying the dictionary definition, they should have a more creative way of learning the definitions, like drawing pictures next to the words or as Beers suggests, creating a vocabulary tree (189).
4. The students should continue using the words after the test is over.
Exposing the students to the words will help them remember the words even after the test is taken. During our discussion today, the group I was in talked about teachers telling the students to use at least one of the words in a homework assignment or essay for future assignments.
5. Have relevant words on the lists.
If teachers have the option of which words are on the tests, they should pick words relevant to the book that the student's are currently reading or words related to English class, like synonym.

Decoding

If a student is struggling with decoding, I think it is important for teachers to help the student with "chunking". The teachers should ask the students if there is a part of the word that they recognize. A teacher can also read aloud to the student so they can have a better understanding of the inflections of the words, which might help them identify a word. Realistically though, I think a middle school teacher should inform a reading specialist when a student has trouble with decoding. If the reading specialist is already teaching several students, then they can at least give some advice to the teacher about what they can do, but I think it is important to inform and recieve help from a reading specialist because they are the expert in this field.

Overall, the most important thing to do with a student who is struggling with reading is to not give up on them and to continue to help them. This is easier said than done, but I truly believe that teachers have the obligation to make sure that every student knows how to read. Reading is crucial in our culture and everyone should know how to do it.