Reading Skills

Introduction

Shameka's struggles with reading have been ongoing since she started school, and now that she is in the ninth grade, things are no different. The large class size makes it challenging for her teacher, Ms Andrews, to meet all the students' individual reading needs. As a result, Shameka is reluctant to participate in class discussions or offer her opinion. This paper will address two strategies that can be utilized to support this learner, evaluate why these strategies would be beneficial, and assess when and how they should be introduced.

Two Target Strategies

Strategy 1:?Guided reading is a teaching strategy that involves working with small groups of students with similar reading abilities. This strategy allows students to receive targeted and personalized instruction from the teacher. In addition, students can practice their reading skills with the teacher's support during guided reading. In this case, Shameka could be placed in a small group with similar reading abilities, receiving one-on-one attention and support from Ms Andrews. The teacher could also use questioning techniques to help Shameka make connections and build her comprehension skills (Urquhart & Frazee, 2012).

Why it is beneficial: Guided reading benefits Shameka by providing her with personalized instruction and support. It allows her to practice her reading skills in a supportive and low-stakes environment, increasing her confidence and motivation to participate in class discussions and offer her opinion. Additionally, the small group setting allows Ms Andrews to differentiate her instruction and meet Shameka's specific needs. Using questioning techniques, Ms Andrews can help Shameka make connections and build her comprehension skills, essential for participating in class discussions.

When and how it should be introduced: Guided reading should be presented as a pre-reading strategy. Before reading a text, Ms Andrews can assess each student's reading ability and place them in small groups with similar skills. Guided reading can then be incorporated into the daily routine to build students' reading skills and increase their engagement in class discussions (Ontario Ministry of Education, n.d.).

Strategy 2:?Think-Pair-Share is a teaching strategy that involves students reflecting on a question or prompt and sharing their thoughts with a partner. After a brief discussion with their partner, the students share their ideas with the whole group. This strategy can help students build their comprehension skills and increase their participation in class discussions. In this case, Ms Andrews could use Think-Pair-Share to encourage Shameka to share her thoughts and opinions in a low-stakes environment (Urquhart & Frazee, 2012).

Why it is beneficial: Think-Pair-Share benefits Shameka by providing her with a supportive and low-stakes environment to share her thoughts and opinions; it allows her to reflect on a question or prompt before sharing her thoughts with the whole group, which can increase her confidence and motivation to participate in class discussions. Additionally, by discussing the question or prompt with a partner, Shameka can build her comprehension skills and hear different perspectives.

When and how it should be introduced: Think-Pair-Share should be presented as a post-reading strategy. For example, after reading a text, Ms Andrews can pose a question or prompt, encouraging students to reflect on what they've read. The students can then participate in a Think-Pair-Share activity, discussing their thoughts with a partner before sharing them with the whole group. This strategy can be incorporated into the daily routine to help students build their comprehension skills and increase their participation in class discussions.

Analyze the benefits for the reader.

The guided reading helps Shameka to develop greater control over the reading process through the development of reading strategies which assist in decoding and constructing meaning. The teacher Ms Andrews scaffolds or guides how Shameka reads, talks and thinks her way through a text. This will personalize Shameka's ability and enjoyment in reading the text as she grasped every sentence from the text before, during and after each reading activity (Victoria State Government, 2023)

The Think-Pair-Share strategy is a differentiated instruction by providing Shameka time and structure to think on a given topic, enabling her to formulate her ideas and share these ideas with a peer. This learning strategy promotes classroom participation by encouraging a high degree of student response, rather than using a primary recitation method in which a teacher poses a question, and one student offers an answer. This strategy also provides an opportunity for all students to share their thinking with at least one other student, which, in turn, increases their sense of involvement in classroom learning.?Think-Pair-Share is also an assessment tool for the teacher to hear students' conversations and assess students' progress by pairing to solve problems in reading and understanding the text (NCTE, 2023).

Assessment of reading strategy

The guided strategy can be used before or pre-reading, where Ms Andrews assesses Shameka's active prior knowledge of the topic. During the reading, Ms Andrews can listen actively to Shameka's progress and intervene to suggest and facilitate corrections. After reading, Ms Andrews can talk with Shameka about the text and what insights have been gathered and understood (Victoria State Government, 2023).

Ms Andrews may choose to assign pairs or let students pick their partners as she needs to be sensitive to learners' needs (reading, attention, and language skills) when creating teams. Students share their thinking with their partners, ask questions, and discuss ideas about their thoughts on the topic for five minutes. Students can share their ideas later with the class on reading activities (NCTE, 2023).

Conclusion

In conclusion, Guided Reading and Think-Pair-Share are two strategies that can be utilized to support Shameka in her reading skills to increase her engagement as an active reader.

References

NCTE. (12 February 2023). Using the Think-Pair-Share Technique. Retrieved from National Council of Teacher of English: https://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/using-think-pair-share

OntarioMinistryofEducation. (n.d.). Think literacy: Cross-curricular approaches, grades 7-12. Ontario Canada: Ontario Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20210430182059/https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/thinkliteracy/files/Reading.pdf

Urquhart, V., & Frazee, D. (2012). Teaching reading in the content areas: If not me, then who? Virgina, USA: ASCD Publication. Retrieved from https://sg1.documents.adobe.com/public/esignWidget?wid=CBFCIBAA3AAABLblqZhBKmoyGg5ae4GaLJQneTGoZUgcw3zyimJtxi6-mQugE1gOdNt6nUwGEUUr-45ztLL4*

Victoria State Government. (26 January 2023). Literacy Teaching Toolkit Guided Reading. Retrieved from Victoria State Government Department of Education: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/teachingpracguided.aspx