How can a teacher support struggling readers?

Supporting struggling readers effectively involves tailored strategies that meet their individual needs, which is why providing targeted interventions and personalized reading strategies is essential. This approach allows teachers to identify specific areas where a student may be struggling, such as phonemic awareness, vocabulary, or comprehension skills, and implement strategies that address those particular challenges.

By using targeted interventions, teachers can work one-on-one or in small groups to offer focused instruction that builds on the child’s existing knowledge and skills. This can include specialized reading programs, modifications to texts to make them more accessible, or the use of visual aids and technology to enhance understanding. Personalized strategies might also encompass learning the student’s interests to select engaging reading materials that can motivate them to practice reading more frequently, thereby fostering growth in their literacy skills.

This supportive and personalized approach stands in contrast to other strategies that can be overwhelming or disengaging for struggling readers, such as assigning more difficult texts or increasing homework without considering the student’s readiness level. Allowing students to give up on challenging material would not encourage resilience or learning, instead potentially leading to a lack of confidence in their reading abilities.