Struggling Readers: Success in a Different Light

When it comes to reading, I am about the last person to pick up a book and read for pleasure.  I know this is surprising since my concentration is English and Language Arts, but that is also part of the reason why I have chosen this particular focus in my education.  I am, and have always been, a struggling reader to an extent.  Typically it takes me twice as long to read a passage as it takes the normal person.  The reason for this, I am still discovering, but I have many theories about it.  I do not have difficulties with vocabulary and decoding, my difficulty is with the rate at which I read, which is probably most likely linked to fluency and comprehension.   


I am not your typical struggling reader.  I have never been "caught" or seen as a struggling reader by teachers.  I have always gotten good grades, I had a 4.0 in high school, and have maintained about a 3.62 throughout college.  Through this class I am learning about how students have struggled, and now I can start to see myself in these different labels.  I am one of my future students.  I know the difficulties there is to reading, and I know how much effort  it takes to read a book for struggling readers.  It is not fun to look at your assignments and see that you have 60 pages of reading to do, which for the normal reader is about 2 hours, for me it takes between 3 and 4 hours to do.  I understand what my future students are going through and I know that this will make me a better, stronger teacher in the future.  It is also probably one of the reason why I am so enthusiastic about learning to work with students who have these difficulties.


Most of the struggling students who come into a middle school or junior high school classroom will have been noticed along the way.  They will have probably received some sort of extra support by teachers, and if they haven't then that's the teacher's fault.  Even though I would like to say that this never happens, the truth is that I know that it does.  There are always going to be teachers who don't want to take the time or effort into making accommodations and modifications to assignments, or even just giving extra support.  However, these teachers are far and few between, and obviously do not have a zeal for learning.


Students who are struggling at this time in their school careers will have already been to specialists, been tested, and been told that they cannot receive help, or they have received help and are still struggling.  No matter the case, it is our job and responsibility as educators to help students in whatever way, shape, or form possible so that they can succeed.  Students who struggle will more than likely have some self-esteem issues, which will not help with their view of reading.  Student who frequently say something to the effect of "This is dumb" are often the students who need the most help.  These are the students you need to watch out for and pay close attention to, because what they are really saying is, "I need help, I want to succeed, I just don't know how to get there."


When I get into a classroom, I can almost immediately pick out the students who are struggling and within a week figure out how to best help them.  It's something that I do automatically and something I love doing.  Personally, I am super excited to be able to go and help a struggling reader.  It is amazing to see a student's face light up when they do something that they couldn't do before.  Working with the struggling students is the best part of the job in my opinion, because they are the ones you can make the greatest impact on.  With a little extra help and support, and trying something in a new way a student may just finally understand what they have been struggling with in the past.  All it takes is one success for a student's academic career to turn around.  Think back to when you were in elementary and middle school- you just wanted to be like everyone else and be successful.  Motivation may be an issue in some cases, but there are ways to over come that as well.  The greatest lesson to be learned is never give up on your students, because they will then never give up on you.


As a final note, here are a list of a few goals that I have for being a teacher:
1. Believe in your students
2. Give them your A game, because then they will more than likely give you theirs
3. Confidence is key- The more you have, the better things will go
4. Everyone deserves a chance to succeed, so don't let your students down by being overwhelmed by the fact that there is not enough time in the day to get to every issue.