Arturo ,
yes the gift of time really is one of the best ways we can help these students.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Give the student plenty of time with the reading lesson, while othen checking on his or her progress.
With some of the students, the reading challenge is so mild that you can assist them but some have it to severe that you have to refer them to get professional help. Speed reading program that was available on a CD was that helped me with my reading challenge when I stated college.
Charlene,
this is a great way to individually help students who may be struggling & to make sure they are successful.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
when helping a student with reading difficulty, i like to go over the questions and make sure the student is in understanding of what is being asked.
My plan is to read as many responses as possible because I have not, to my knowledge, dealt with students with reading challenges. I am interested in knowing how to handle students in the situation.
For me this hits home. Growing up I was the one with the reading challenge, so if a students struggles with this I am able to help them since I learned how to deal with my reading challenge. Luckily, I went into a field where it is alot of hands-on. So if something doesn't make sense during lecture I can take them into lab to show them and then it usually makes sense to the student. This is what helped me learn and I have a lot of students that are in the same boat as what I was in.
I never understood this until I had a student inform me that she didn't make it past the 9th grade and that her vocabulary was not as strong as the other students. By teaching in the medical field, they are learning a new language on top of that. She told me she had to spend that extra time reading (sometimes double what the others were doing) just to comprehend. I started to lecture a little different as well. When I came to a word that may be questionalbe for understanding, I paused and made sure I explained what that word meant. It not only benefited that student, but the entire class.
I am very interested in what other have done.
In order to get the students to read the text and prepare for the upcoming materials, I assign them reading enhansement questions.
I have many students that seem to have reading comprehension problems. We use e-books and students will use the search window to find the answer to a homework question and just cut and paste the first thing they find. It appears they don't understand the question or they just don't care to read the information. Many times their answer is totally irrelevant to the question.
These same students tend to fail the quizzes or exams.
I want to resist the concept to "dumb down" the questions or quizzes to the lowest common denominator. My quizzes and homework is designed with the course outcomes in mind.
I am wondering what others have done in this kind of situation.
Carlos,
that individual attention really is a key to helping struggling learners succeed.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I send my students to the Learning Resource Center for remedial help. I still make all my students read aloud in class. If these students want to succeed, they have to be able to read in fron of a group of people.
one on one aproach is a key factor, making sure they understand the content of all the topics.
This can be a challenge, I have found. If possible, I try to use visuals, repetition, short and frequent quizes, and a lot of verbals. As this module repeated----no watering down of the material. However, I have also found that often a student with ELL can have excellent "people skills" and can be directed into a field where this is the important thing.
Shaun,
this is a great way to really support those learners who may be struggling or who are not as strong in certain subject.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
by giving longer time and helping more with the one on one aproach.
Curtis ,
this is a great solution & I agree that this is nice for those students who may be reluctant to seek help in front of others.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I have come in early or stayed late to help individual students with this problem, It seems to help more when it is one on one.
Amber,
this is a great strategy as it helps all types of learners & those who are struggling in a special way.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
By presenting material in mutliple ways the students with reading deficiencies can take the visual and hands on material and realte it to the text. Also by reviewing and repeating key or important words throughout the course the student can focus in on what is truly important.
I have had students in my classes who have had reading challenges and most of their challenges stem from a lack of motivation and self-esteem. They tend to give up on themselves too soon and want the instructor to give them the information they need rather than refer to their literature. To remedy the situation of some of these students, I have given the students short reading assignments in class and they are to come up questions to ask each other that relates to the article or assignment. Some of these questions are also used in quizzes.
I have also assigned up to 10 vocabulary words for students to learn. They are to repeat the word several times to learn the correct pronunciation, write the definition in their own words, and write a sentence using the word. Students found this challenging however, they learned the correct usage of the words.
Another concept I have used in class is having the students read certain paragraphs in class and if they are challenged with a word they are to look up that word in their medical dictionary and read the definition aloud. I write the word on the board and continue with the next few words until we have a selection of them. I will quiz them on theses new term in a couple of days.
