Teaching Struggling Readers

When Jimmy and I sat down to this lesson plan, we were worried about not having enough material to cover. As we began to plan, we realized that we were too ambitious, especially for a struggling readers lesson.  It's easy to look at these lessons and think of them in our own educational mindset. The problem is that I've never been a struggling reader, so it's important to for me to remember that just because something seems simple does not mean it is. With struggling readers, it's crucial to slow down and teach them different strategies, but not go so slow that it's demeaning to the student. Struggling readers are aware that they struggle, and by high school, they know how to fake it. I feel like breaking down different aspects and strategies of reading allows the teacher to assess where each student excels and struggles. Allowing a struggling reader to slip through the cracks, or even not being able to help them, is my biggest worry as a future English teacher. It's nice that the "how we teach" section from our Current Issues class alines with teaching struggling students. All the readings came together to say: this is who is struggling, this is how the teacher helps. I look forward to the Teaching Reading class in the Spring.