“Expose Them to The Text:
Helping Struggling Readers”
By: Franchesca Warren
What does this say?
• Mi nombre es Sangeeta. Tengo 11
años. Vivo en Nueva Delhi, India
con mi padre, madre, dos
hermanos y tres hermanas. Mis
abuelos también viven con
nosotros. En la India, la familia es
muy importante. Es común tener
abuelos, tías, tíos y/o primos
viviendo en la misma casa. Mis
tías, tíos y primos también viven
cerca. Nos vemos a menudo. Mi
hermano mayor es programador
de computadoras. Ahora mismo,
él está en Australia. Su compañía
lo envió allá por un año. Todos lo
extrañamos mucho. Le escribimos
cartas cada semana. Yo quiero
que él venga a casa pronto.
• My name is Sangeeta. I am 11. I
live in New Delhi, India with my
father, mother, two brothers and
three sisters. My grandparents
also live with us. In India, family is
very important. It is common to
have grandparents, aunts, uncles
and/or cousins living in the same
house. My aunts, uncles and
cousins also live nearby. We see
each other often. My older
brother is a computer
programmer. Right now, he is in
Australia. His company sent him
there for one year. We all miss
him a lot. We write him letters
every week. I want him to come
home soon.
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 2012-2013
school year
• Author of two books, Behind the
Desk: How I Survived My First Ten
Years in Education and Keep the
Fire Burning: Avoiding Teacher
Burnout
• 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 with 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?
– How can we make students better readers?
“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.
• Understand that a reading deficiency can be
helped by giving students resources and
strategies that will help guide them through the
text.
• Those resources include: leveled text, graphic
organizers, vocabulary strategies, Spark Notes
summaries, etc.
Suggestion #1- Make leveled text an integral
part of your reading process.
Why Use Leveled Text?
• 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.
• Gives students confidence to attempt to read
the harder text.
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.
Prologue- Romeo and Juliet
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could
remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to
mend.
Used as an adjective, civil is generally
defined as “polite”. Replace the first
appearance of the word civil in line 4
with the word polite. How does this
substitution change your understanding
of the sentence?
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 struggling students
to read the leveled text
FIRST before they delve
into the actual text.
• Give ALL students access
to the text.
Suggestion #2- Engage students in the
vocabulary early in the unit.
• 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.
Suggestion #3- Engage students in the
text using text dependent questions.
• 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.
Suggestion #4- Annotate, Annotate,
Annotate
• Annotation allows
students to engage in
the meaning of the text.
• Use various colors to
annotate (in various
colors) the text as they
read.
• Encourage students to
get active in their
reading. Have students
refer to their text often.
Suggestion #5- Audio Helps!
• 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.
• Gives students a visual to
what they read and helps
with the pronunciation of
vocabulary.
Suggestion #6Assessing 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
• Take a moment and use the internet to find an
example of a formative and summative
assessment on a text you would use in your
ELA class.
• Now how could you differentiate these for
struggling readers?
• What are some other ways we can assess
these students?
From Struggling Reader to
Valedictorian
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_8o_FHs
fnk
Other Resources to Help Struggling
Readers
www.lingro.com
www.schmoop.com
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/89/
beowulf/1511/chapter-1/
www.thugnotes.com
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=LxEs-K8o1MI
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scho
ols/gcsebitesize/english_lite
rature/
Thanks for attending!
• Email me at flane@atlanta.k12.ga.us
• Also find me on www.theeducatorsroom.com
or The Huffington Post