reading and underachievers

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Home : 2003 : January : 4

reading and underachievers
By Mamie

You all have some great ideas. I teach 6th and have always had underachievers. As a matter of fact last year out of 21 students I had 15 reading below grade level, and what's even worse they didn't care.
When they
were tested at the end of the year most had come up to grade level and above. I will say this. Children like helping each other. No matter how poor of a student they are, they feel successful when they are helping someone else.(I also let my children mentor 2nd graders)
We read everything, and I mean everything outloud. When children come to a word that they can't pronounce I start

at the back of the word and more forward to help them pronounce it. This is easier than starting at the beginning of the word. I use a new word each day when talking to my students. After a while someone will ask what does that word mean. Then we have a talk. We use AR, but not for a grade. I usually have a time for DEAR ,and we do nothing but read. The children see me reading also. We have a discussion once a week on the different books that we are reading. We tell what we like and what we don't like about the books. (I read their books also)Children who never read before are reading and wanting to know what was so special about the book. I remember as a kid that it was a chore to stop what I liked doing to read, therefore, I try to make reading interesting. I find stories in all kinds of places just to get the kids reading. We use Weekly Reader, we use the internet to find stories, we look for anything to read. Don't make the stories very long, they can be short. Let the students write their own stories and present them to another class. The children do not want to look bad so they will work hard at this. I purchase books for my classroom from stories started in the basal reader. Sometimes we read the whole book rather than just the part of the story. I have found that these things really work and the children feel successful. I hope you get some ideas from this.