Teaching Reading in English Class

I'm preparing for the possible start of a teaching position in a 9th grade classroom, and one concern that I have going into this classroom is that my students' reading levels and abilities will be scattered across the board.

I've been brainstorming some ideas and reading through several articles pertaining to my concern, and I came across an article entitled Reading Happens in Your Mind, Not Your Mouth by Christine Cziko.

Of her students resistance to reading, Cziko says "I could not even count on many of my students finishing a short story assigned for homework." Eek. Unfortunately, this setiment is felt in classrooms across America, and suddenly, teachers of English have found themselves becoming teachers of reading as well.

So began the Academic Literacy course at Thurgood Marshall High School in California. In short, the course aims to meet all types of readers at their lowest ability of reading and gradually teach them the skills necessary to become competent readers and lovers of literature.

The most meaty portion of this article can be found in section "Tackling the Problem." In this section, Cziko says that the course taught students the language of reading, that is, schema, metacognition, and attention management. In addition, students were encouraged to ask themselves, "What are my characteristics as a reader? What strategies do I use as I read? What role will reading play in my future educational and career goals? What goals can I set and work towards to help myself develop as a reader?"

The concepts described in this article seem so simple and ground-level, yet teachers everywhere are failing their students (both literally and figuratively) by neglecting to address the core problem of undone homework: a lack of ability to comprehend what is being read. Students are being left behind, so to speak, because teachers automatically assume that because they've passed 7th, 8th, and 9th grades that they have learned how to read effectively for information, comprehension, and even personal enjoyment. This just isn't the case with the majority of students.

Two years of college teaching courses and a semester of student teaching did not prepare me with this level of thinking with regards to reading. Sure, we discussed all sorts of ways to prepare students for the writing portions of the Regents exam... write, revise, edit, publish... but we didn't learn much at all in the way of reading comprehension strategies. Maybe I should give my college a heads up...

I'm really excited to put these practices into action in my own classroom. I believe that all students have the ability to learn, and it disheartens me to know that some of them don't believe that for themselves.

To current teachers: What specific methods do you use in your classroom to teach students how to read, understand, and internalize the texts which you provide to them?

To teachers-in-training: How have your college academic programs prepared you to address the gap in reading ability?

To everyone else: What reflections can you provide with regard to your own personal sucesses or struggles with reading?