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STRATEGY
A Dozen Mistakes to Avoid When Teaching Literacy Skills
- Don't ask students to read aloud in front of other students if doing so makes them
uncomfortable or if they are such poor readers that other students will ridicule them.
- Don't neglect to teach students how to pronounce words. If they are to integrate a
word into their vocabulary, they need to know how to say it.
- Don't embarrass a student who can't read. Work to help students, not humiliate them.
- Don't expect other teachers to teach your students how to read. You need to teach
your students the skills they need to tackle the texts and language of your content
area or grade level.
- Don't neglect to introduce new words before students read a passage. When they
can make the connection between the words in the new material and what they
already know, students can learn more quickly.
- Don't forget to use activities to help students understand the material before, during, and after they read.
- Don't neglect opportunities to involve your students in selecting the material they will read. When students have choices in reading, they tend to read with more intensity.
- Don't disregard the importance of reading every day. Students need to read every
day in order to improve their skills.
- Don't neglect to include a variety of reading materials in your lessons. Students need
to read more than just the text if they are to become accomplished readers.
- Don't ignore the importance of a rich oral language when you work with students'
reading levels. Include auditory experiences such as reading aloud, listening to audio
books, and other oral activities to enrich the language your students bring to what they read.
- Don't forget to include plenty of authentic reading experiences for your students. When students are reading to solve real-life problems, they read with more interest than when they are reading just to get to the end of an assignment.
- Don't complain about your students' lack of reading skills. It is up to you to help them. Do so with confidence in the knowledge that they will be better readers when they leave your class.
Excerpted from Section Thirteen, "Help Struggling Readers Find Success," of The First-Year Teacher's Survival Guide, by Julia G. Thompson, published by Jossey-Bass. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This material is used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Thank you, Julia G. Thompson and Jossey Bass, for contributing this month's strategies!
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