6 Ways to Improve Reading Skills

Reading skills are foundational. Helping a student improve their reading skills and gain confidence as a reader is great teacher motivation. Just the other day, a student walked up to me with a big grin on her face, holding up a book. She wanted me to see where the bookmark was and to notice that she had read almost half the book in one night. The next day, she came up again, this time the mark was about 30 pages from the end! She couldn’t contain her enthusiasm.

Previously, she had avoided reading, always forgot her book, and slowly progressed in the number of pages read due to poor reading skills.  You’ve probably heard that story.

What did I do to support this struggling reader in making gains towards becoming a grade level reader?   Well, it certainly hasn’t been all due to me.   Many teachers before me have aided in her success.

But there are tried and true practices I use in my classroom to help support struggling readers.

1. Participate in fluency practice and improve reading skills

Every morning, first thing, this student (I’ll call her Anne) and another struggling reader participate in fluency practice. First, they read a leveled passage and track their words per minute. Once they reach a certain number, they move up a passage. Next, they play a challenge game with high-frequency words. I use SuperSpeed, which I believe you can find as a free download.  It’s short, consistent, and noting their progress is key. It takes about seven minutes to do both for each student.

2. My struggling readers read aloud to me

I ask my below-grade level readers read aloud to me more frequently than my grade level readers.  You can learn a lot listening to and watching a reader. When Anne (my example student) read aloud to me earlier in the year, it was obvious that she was having difficulty focusing on the line she was trying to read. I pulled out the last of my secret stash of special Reading Helper rulers which block out the lines above and below the focus line.

It worked!  She noticed right away that her eyes focused better and her reading speed improved immediately. Her mom was so happy with the progress Anne made that she bought several Reading Helpers for Anne and for my classroom.

3.  Teach at least one mini-lesson each week

Focus weekly mini-lessons on reading skills or a literary element.  I model how I use the skill (like inferring, using context, re-reading, etc.), what it looks like to find a major conflict in a novel and distinguish it from a minor conflict, etc.  Then we respond in writing about the literature we’re reading.

I model how to write the type of response being targeted. Students may copy part of my sentence starter to help get them going. We do quick written responses about three times a week. I love using my Reading Response Categorized Questions. I can quickly find the question that targets my focus. I’m always grateful to have the questions at my fingertips. Sometimes I let the students pick the prompt.ds

4.  Read aloud improve reading skills

It’s crucial for kids to hear a story or novel read by a fluent, expressive reader.  I use our read aloud text as a mentor text to teach many lessons:  literary elements, genre, writing, social issues, etc.  It’s really endless.

I love that my school has instituted a grade level read aloud time.  All the teachers read the same novel aloud, and it’s fantastic!  About half the students at our grade level come through my classroom, but I can speak with any sixth grade student, whether I know them or not, about our read aloud novels.  Incredibly, I actually hear students talking on the playground and in the halls about the novels we read aloud. We all share a common experience.  I LOVE it!

5.  Celebrate successes and set goals to improve reading skills

Kids need to know that their hard work is paying off.  I try to write a short response weekly on each student’s reading response log.  I note something positive and often have them set a goal for the next week. Typically, they’ll write their goal down on the current week’s log.  (See my Reading Response Log unit).  Over the 24 years I’ve been teaching reading, I developed a log that allows us to work on reading and writing. I can easily change the target each week, and it sets a goal for our weekly reading. It’s not just reading minutes or number of pages. More importantly, the log targets a thinking goal for analyzing the text.

I change the topic each week.  I often copy something like a blank iPhone app worksheet so students can create apps for the main character.  I love the versatility and the simplicity.  My focus is on responding to reading, not tracking pages and time. See this blog post on why I still use reading logs in my classroom.

6.  I highly encourage the use of Literature Circles

Here’s why I love literature circles: leveled groups of readers are reading a novel at their reading level and are held accountable by their peers.

When participating in Literature Circle meetings, students discuss the novel at a deeper level.  For many reluctant readers, this is the first time they’ve really interacted with a novel.  Reluctant readers will often pick books on their own that are too hard.

In Literature Circles, I often pick the book for them.  This is key to success-getting a book at their true reading level.  As much as I’ve seen them whine about not being with their friends, once we’ve begun it’s a non-issue.  The experience of thinking about what it is they are reading and exploring the feelings, opinions, and observations of others is invaluable.

When students experience reading at a deeper level, they set the bar for themselves for how they engage with their next independent novel.

I love teaching reading and opening doors to new worlds.  I’d love to hear some of your favorite strategies for supporting struggling readers?

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