“Expose Them to The Text:
Helping Struggling Readers”
By: Franchesca Warren
Franchesca Warren
• Taught ELA for 13 years in
metro Atlanta area and
Memphis City Schools
• Teacher of the Year for South
Atlanta School of Law 20122013 school year
• Wrote a book entitled, Behind
the Desk: How I Survived My
First Ten Years in Education
• Has taught every ELA class
offered: Ninth Grade
Literature, World Literature,
American Literature, British
Literature, Multicultural
Literature, Journalism, etc
National Institute for Literacy and
the Center for Educational
Statistics
40
• ______million
adults in the
U.S. are functionally
illiterate.
40 percent of all 4th graders
•About ____
lack the most basic reading skills.
More Hard Data..
•
•
•
Approximately six million of the nation’s
secondary school students are reading
well below grade level (Alliance for
Excellent Education, 2002, 2003).
More than 3,000 students drop out of
high school every day (Alliance for
Excellent Education, 2003), and one of
the most commonly cited reasons for
the dropout rate is that students do not
have the literacy skills to keep up with
the curriculum (Kamil, 2003; Snow &
Biancarosa, 2003).
Low literacy levels often prevent
students from mastering other subjects
(Alliance for Excellent Education, 2002).
Poor readers struggle to learn in textheavy courses and are frequently
blocked from taking academically more
challenging courses (Au, 2000).
Data from my school
• In my Ninth Grade Literature class, approximately
half of my class read below a 4th grade level .
• In my World Literature class, there was a mixture
of special needs , ESL and struggling readers who
were all reading below an middle school level.
• So what do you do when your students are
expected to read classics such as “Romeo and
Juliet” and “Hamlet”, to name a few?
So what does that mean?
• Students are struggling in reading complex
texts we are tasked to having them read in the
classroom.
• So the question remains..
– How can we expose students to the actual text,
yet meet them on their reading level?
– The answer is simple. Leveled Text
“Jabberwocky” Activity
• Using the poem “Jabberwocky” lets read this
poem as a student and see if we can
determine the meaning of this poem.
Activity #1 --Debrief
• What were some of the struggles you
experienced?
• How did those struggles make you feel?
• Now think if you were a high school student,
how would you display those frustrations?
So can we help students?
• In our classrooms we’re mandated to have
students read classics such as: Romeo and
Juliet, Hamlet, Things Fall Apart, Beowulf and
a host of other complex text.
• We must give students resources that will help
guide them through the text.
• Those resources are: leveled text, graphic
organizers, vocabulary strategies, Spark Notes
summaries, etc.
Source #1- Leveled Readers
Why Use Leveled Text?
• Matches the students to books that are
challenging enough for him/her to make
progress
• Gives students access to the content and
allows them to stay abreast of the novel.
• Doesn’t make the students feel defeated
when they encounter difficult texts.
What should you do before you use
leveled text?
• When introducing a unit, give students a
glimpse of the actual text.
• For example, annotating and dissecting the
prologue in “Romeo and Juliet” is a great tool
to expose students to the text.
• Give students text dependent questions,
based on that excerpt to force students to
engage in the text.
What should you do when you use a
leveled text?
• Make sure that students
always have a copy of
the leveled text to refer
to as they read.
• If need be, make copies
for students to
annotate.
• Allow students to read
the leveled text FIRST
before they delve into
the actual text.
Previewing Vocabulary
• Preview difficult
vocabulary.
• Students need to know
the words that may give
them trouble at the
beginning of the unit.
• Use those words in class
frequently.
• Make those words come
alive by engaging in
activities that allow
students to understand
the word associations.
Activity #2
• Now lets further examine the text
“Jabberwocky.”
– Annotating the TEXT is KEY for STRUGGLING
readers.
– Identify the words students may not know in this
poem.
– Underline any words that they may recognize.
– Circle any words that may contain symbolism.
How can you monitor understanding
of the difficult text during reading?
• Use text dependent
questions to engage
students in the text.
• Break down the questions
so that they address all
aspects(comprehension,
style, structure, etc.) of the
text.
• Give students TIME to work
through the questions.
• Pair them with a student
who can help them “break
down” the question.
Annotating The Text
• Make copies so that
struggling readers can
annotate (in various
colors) the text as they
read.
• Students need color to
activate this learning.
• Encourage students to
get active in their
reading.
How can you monitor understanding
of the difficult text?
• Allow students to listen
to the text on audio as
they listen to the text.
• Chunk parts of the film
version (if applicable) to
the text.
• Ask students to
compare sections of
the text using graphic
organizers.
Assessing Struggling Readers
• Authentic Projects- Use
projects that make
students think about the
text in different ways.
• Plan short formative
assessments on key skills.
• Chunk the summative
assessment so that
students are not
overwhelmed with so
much reading.
Activity #3
• Examine the sample formative and summative
assessment on Romeo and Juliet.
• Identify the ways that these assessments
would help struggling readers.
• What are some other ways we can assess
these students?
Other Resources to Help Struggling
Readers
Thanks for attending!
• Email me at flane@atlanta.k12.ga.us