Topic: High School Reading

10-second review: A first-year high school teacher discovers that her students could not read literature independently.

Summary: “Ellen explained that she had been rudely awakened during her first year of teaching when she discovered her students could not read well. She had assumed that students in high school classes would be independent readers. ‘Well, first I assumed that everyone in my class could read, which is not the case…. Well, they could read but not the level of literature that we were reading. They could read the words but they couldn’t comprehend them.’ ”

Source: FL Hamel. Research in the Teaching of English (August 2003), 66. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: Where to begin? I am assuming that the teachers will provide an introduction, including why the poem, novel or short story was chosen for reading. They will help the students build up background information on the piece of literature. They will pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary and either set a purpose for reading or have the students develop their own purposes as in the following:

Poetry: The teacher reads the poem while the students read it silently. The students read the poem silently a second time. They underline or write any words and phrases about which they have questions. The class discusses the answers to those questions. After the discussion, students read the poem silently a third time and summarize the meaning of the poem and reactions to it.

Novel: Students read for five minutes near the beginning, half way through, three-fourths through and near the end. After each reading the students together summarize what they have read and raise questions to which they want the answers. Teacher records the questions and summarizes them in key words on the board. After this preview, teacher and students divide the questions into questions of fact that can be answered from the text, interpretation (why?) and criticism (style, etc.). Students read to answer the questions. Suggest to the students that if they become bored, they should read a paragraph a page until they are back to reading everything.

Short Story: Students read a single sentence in each column or on each page, tell what they have learned and raise questions about what they have learned. Students read a paragraph in each column or on each page and again summarize what they have learned and raise questions to which they would like the answers. They read to answer the questions and the class discusses those answers.

The key to helping students read these types of literature is their purpose for reading which comes from the questions they have raised. There are a number of ways to help students get ready to read literature. I will discuss those other techniques in other blogs on a similar topic. These, however, are basic methods for helping students read literature that is too difficult for them to read independently. RayS.