Transcript Reluctant Readers - Stacey Kyriazis Hayes

Reluctant Readers
Stacey Kyriazis Hayes
Literacy Studies
Cooperative Middle School
100 Academic Way
Stratham, NH 03885
Students that find reading labor intensive, boring, and irrelevant
 Have significantly less reading experience than their peers
 Experience difficulty selecting reading material
 Look up frequently from reading
 Check the clock often
 Struggle with visualization
 Lack reading strategies/fluency
 Read only when assigned
 See reading as schoolwork
 Avoid reading at independent reading time
 Attempt to disrupt others during independent reading time
 Resist support services designed to remediate reading deficits
 Are often negatively affected by remedial teaching practices
Reading Impressions from Room 249
Environment
Janet Allen (1995) “Although I’m not always convinced that administrators agree with
my room arrangement, they have difficulty arguing with the fact that
students seem to enjoy reading and writing here.”
 Read aloud/Mooney (1988 p.4) Choose books that have
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“charm, magic, impact, and appeal.”
Independent reading, free choice/Meek (1982) “No exercise
however well ordered, will have the same effect of a genuine
reading task that encourages a reader to learn what he wants to
know as a result of his own initiative.” (p.207)
Read,write, and journal with your students/modeling
Classroom library/a literate environment encourages reluctant
readers to take advantage of a wide variety of printed material
Create a listening center for students who are not fluent
readers/books on tape
Turn over bulletin boards/room design
Support individual goals not those of a scope/sequence chart
Allow students to write about things that are important to them
Plan activities from where students are not from where you are
Read Aloud
Janet Allen (1995) “I learned that reading aloud was a risk-free way to turn
many individuals into one group and share literature with students who
believed they hated to read.”
Configuration
 teacher to students
Activities
 Reader’s Theater/highlighted
 student to teacher
 small group
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 paired reading
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 students to whole class
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text
Literature Circles
Common text
Reading w/ younger students
Plays
Poetry readings
Sharing writing
Ghost stories
Use Athena to search by title, author, or subject
1. Find books for each of the following genre/list title and author
a. historical fiction
b. realistic fiction
c. biography/autobiography
d. fantasy
e. adventure/survival
f. nonfiction
g. mystery/suspense
h. collection of poetry/short story
i. children’s literature/picture book
2. Select book(s) for independent reading/list title and author:
3. When you were deciding on book(s) to read, what things affected your
decision? (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY)
a. cover
b.back of book
c. title
e. familiar w/ author
f. peer/teacher recommendation
g. genre
d. length of book
h. size of print/type
Reluctant readers have significantly less reading experience than their peers.
In School
Out of School
K Curious George
1 Clifford the Big Red Dog
2 No Memory
3 The Witches/The BFG
3 Stewart Little
5 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimb
Harris and Me
6 Half Magic/Phantom Tollbooth
Interpretation:
I think I’m the reader I am because I don’t like to read. Sometimes my
family makes me read when I have nothing else to do. Every so often I’ll
sit down and read on my own. I think I’m not a real good reader but I’m
not a bad one either, I’m kind of in the middle.
Quick Write
I skipped over words I couldn’t pronounce.
I didn’t feel I had a big vocabulary.
I could care less if I didn’t know how to properly pronounce
someone’s name.
I stumbled when I read aloud.
I hated reading aloud.
I was a slow reader.
It took too much time, too much effort, and it wasn’t fun.
T. Witmer
 Let your child see you reading a variety of printed material:
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newspapers, magazines, books, recipes, etc. Parents are the most
important role models.
Read aloud to your child as often as possible. Remember that children
of all ages love to hear books read aloud.
Get a library card for your child. Make visiting the library a weekly
event.
Take advantage of school book orders/Scholastic Book Club.
Subscribe to a magazine (Sports Illustrated for kid’s, National
Geographic World, Teen Newsweek,Young Miss, Boy’s Life).
Monitor television viewing. Set time limits and make good decisions
about which programs are suitable for viewing.
Become involved with your child’s school. If you show interest, your
child will know the home-school connection is important and will
appreciate your support.
Suggested Reading
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Janet Allen (1995) “It occurred to me that students need more than a
purpose for reading; they needed to know some of their options.”
When Zachary Beaver Came To
Series Box Sets
Town by K. Holt
 Redwall by Brian Jaques
Skellig by D. Almond
 Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by J.
 Lord of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
Gantos
 Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Among the Hidden by M. Haddix
Dave at Night by G. Carson Levine
Top Ten Book Stores
Sasquatch by R. Ssmith
1. Amazon.com
Wreckers by I. Lawrance
2. Barnes&Noble.com
Stargirl by J.Spinelli
3. Boarders.com
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal
4. Fatbrain.com
Snogging: Confessions of Georgia
5. 1Bookstreet.com
Nicholson by L. Rennison
6. Booksnow.com
Bud, Not Buddy by C.P. Curtis
7. AudioBookClub.com
Holes by L. Sachur
8. BoolCloseOuts.com
The Giver by L. Lowery
9. Alibris.com
Harry Potter and The Prisoner of
10. Booksamillion.com
Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
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Fletcher Walking Trees (1991)
A man I know, the father of a close friend, has this philosophy about life: “When you take
away all the worthless jobs and errands and chores we do during the day, there’s probably
only about one minute each day when we do something even remotely important.” Think of
it: one minute. In fact, if you get right down to it, there’s maybe only one minute in your
whole life when you so something really important, something that really matters. The trick
is to be ready for that minute when it comes. (p.90)
Allen (1995) “When I first read that, it struck me that perhaps as a teacher I have been given
more minutes than others. Today I know that by listening to, valuing and reflecting on our
time together, I can always be ready for that “one minute” when I will be able to make a
difference. And because I have been a teacher-researcher, I will have recorded the
memories of many of those precious minutes--minutes that will become stories--stories that
will remind me that it is never too late. (p.18)
References
Allen, J.,1995. It’s Never Too Late: Leading Adolescents to Lifelong Literacy. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Burke, J., 2001. Illuminating Texts: How to Teach Students to Read the World. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Burke, J., 2000. Reading Reminders: Tools, Tips and Techniques. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.
Hansen, J., 2001. When Writers Read. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Keene, E.O., and S. Zimmermann. 1997. Mosaic of Thought. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
Knowles, T., and D.F. Brown. 2000. What Every Middle School Teacher Should Know.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Krogness, M., 1995. Just Teach Me Mrs. K.: Talking, Reading, and Writing with Resistant
Adolescent Learners. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Reif, L., 1992. Seeking Diversity: Language Arts with Adolescents. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Reif, L., 1999. Vision & Voice: Extending the Literacy Spectrum. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Serafini, F., 2001. The Reading Workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Wilhelm, J., Baker, T., and Dube, J. 2001. Strategic Reading: Guiding Students to Lifelong Literacy 6-12.
Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.