Choice Lit Topic: Struggling and Striving Learners
It’s hard work, it matters . . . and nothing brings more joy than reaching a child who is struggling. The problem is each of these students presents a unique array of challenges and needs that don’t allow for a uniform approach. Here are the stories from our contributors of their breakthrough moments, one child at a time.
Results
The Compliment Conference
Camilla sorts her book bag, and a frown stretches across her face as she slides books out and tosses them to the side. Her shoulders slump, and she looks out...
Beyond Explicit Instruction: What Do Struggling Readers Need?
Struggling readers need precisely what good readers receive—lots of high-success reading experiences. Richard Allington I’m not a fan of the words struggling reader. But in using them here, I...
Like Teacher, Like Student: Finding Emotional Support in Schools
I walk back to my kindergarten classroom and noticed my entire shirt is damp. Gabe’s panic attack before physical education class ignited many other students’ anxieties, and as we waited...
My Journey with Marcos: Autism and English Language Learners
Ms. Villalba: “So Marcos, I’m wondering why the boy decided to run away instead of staying to help. What are you thinking?” Marcos: “Mmm . . . Ms. Villalba, I’m...
Why I Stopped Asking, “Where’s Your Pencil?”
In college I became a brain research junkie. I blame my dad. He was an elite pistol shooter, winning national and international titles and obliterating records. He believed in practice...
Intervening with Read Aloud
Recent research indicates that increasing student engagement by 1 percent is correlated with a 6 percent increase in student performance on literacy assessments. We are not at all surprised, as...
Surviving “That Class”
Amy had one of those classes. She had taught third grade for nine years and had never encountered a group of children who appeared to be so mean and uncaring....
Integrating Paraprofessionals into Reading Workshops
For the past three years, I've had support in my classroom. These wonderful women, some of our school's paraprofessionals, are in the class to support students with identified behavior issues....
Making Memories Stick: Tutoring Kirk
Memory tasks challenge some children. Teachers might assume that demonstration, copying, reciting, and repeating tasks are sufficient. Yet for some children our instruction does not stick. We try alternatives such...
Learning to Observe: Inviting a Parent to a Tutoring Session
But—more than anything—I liked him because he treated me as a companion and conversationalist in my own right. —Donna Tartt, in The Goldfinch Persistent parents, pushy parents, perpetually pestering parents....
Supporting Introverts in Literacy Workshops
I value opportunities to share my thinking with colleagues in support of work and/or learning. Writing response groups, committees committed to a specific task, collegial conversations in a class, and...
Slow Thinkers
“Let’s go around and introduce ourselves,” says the facilitator in a recent class I attended. This is a common occurrence at workshops and conferences. When my turn comes, I will...
What Kenny Taught Me
A language arts classroom can be a difficult place for young learners who struggle to sit quietly. Tradition tells us that in a school setting, reading and writing requires focus,...
Top 10 Intermediate Books for Boys
Two years ago I stood side by side with a student, glancing over the shelves of books in my classroom. Matt was, by his own definition, a nonreader. He knew...
The Case Against Management Systems
Recently I spoke at a local university to a group of student teachers, just as I do every spring. When I asked their supervisor what topics they needed me to...
Tutoring Ruth: Designing an Assessment
My telephone rings. It's an unidentified number but in my area code, so I pick up. A concerned mother whispers, describing her daughter Ruth’s reading struggles. I listen to more...
The Rapid Reader: Tutoring Esther
Esther, a rapid reader, is in third grade. She spurts words, one after another, racing to the end of a paragraph, page, chapter, or book. Periodically she pauses briefly, a...
Supporting Struggling Readers: David’s Story
My 10-year-old began last Saturday morning with the words, “I wish today was Sunday so that we would be one day closer to summer break.” At my house, my kids...
Brave Noah
It was January when I began working in Noah’s first-grade classroom. His black hoodie was pulled over his head and down low. His eyelashes grazed it each time he blinked....
Expanding the Literacy Classroom with Flipped Minilessons
When I first heard about the “flipped” classroom learning model, I was absolutely against it. I could not wrap my mind around the idea that watching a video at home...
Grouping Struggling Students for Word Study: A Case Study
Word study is the favored, go-to instructional strategy for all struggling learners. Teachers run to it so often that most struggling learners have been thoroughly steeped in phonics by the...
