Some homework is too hard for kids to read.
Both of the sentences above say similar things-- but imagine trying to wade through the first one when you are still learning to read the second. This is frustrating enough with a single sentence, but when students are asked to digest entire passages, or even books, that are beyond their reading level, many simply shut down. Unfortunately, because the content of standardized testing is designed to be more "rigorous" than in years past, teachers are pressured to increase the rigor of the daily assignments to reflect these tests.
For the record, there are three reading levels that are generally refered to in educational circles: independent, instructional, and frustrational. All three are determined based on the actual written words that can be identified, the vocabulary used, as well as the sentence length and structure. A child's independent reading level is the level at which he can comfortably read and understand the text on his own. The instructional level is the level at which he can read with some assistance for a word here and there. Frustrational level is defined as the level at which a reader has less than 90% accuracy in word identification or comprehension.
Of course, most experienced teachers will tell you that the best way to increase a child's reading comprehension is to get them excited about reading, so that they read more and more. The more a child reads, the more fluent his reading becomes. It gets easier. Problem is, the last thing that will excite a child about reading is to feel "stupid" because he can't understand what he is reading! Reading fluency increases when students read books at their level of comfort, and even lower.
So what's a parent to do?
There are actually two problems to address: the child needs strategies to successfully complete the given assignments that are above his reading level, and uthe child needs help for continued growth in reading.
In order to successfully complete an assignment that is above his reading level, some scaffolding must occur. "Scaffolding," as the name suggests, is a way of supporting his efforts so that he can work as independently as possible. This may involve any of the following:
When the low-performing student must answer a bunch of questions that follow a difficult reading passage, he may feel overwhelmed. (This is especially true in the case of a timed test.) Don't make him slog through the whole article first. The following procedure (taught locally as R-CURAJ) allows the student to read for the information he needs in the most efficient manner:
1) First, read the questions: have the child identify the most important words in each question, and circle or highlight them. Have the child think about what kind of answer he might be looking for. Will the answer include a number, a place, a person's name? What important word(s) might be found in the answer?
2) Next, have him skim through the passage to look for these words; when he thinks he has found the answer, have him underline the sentence(s) that include the information he needs.
3) Finally, have him read both the question and the answer to see if it all makes sense. Can he "justify" his answer from the information he has underlined?
Is this cheating, because he may not read the whole passage? No. The objective is to have the child gather information from the passage. Skimming is a valid reading skill that people use to find information without reading a whole passage.
Difficult passages are not just on standardized tests. Sometimes they are in the students' textbooks. In this case, the student may have no questions to help her, but must read an assigned text and be tested on it later. In this case, an old technique called SQ3R can help the student get the most out of her reading, and remember the information.
1) Survey: Have her look over the article (or chapter) to get a good idea of what it is about: read the title, any bold words, first sentences in the paragraphs, look at any accompanying pictures or diagrams.
2) Question: The student comes up with questions about what he might learn in the article.
3) Read: The student reads the article looking for answers to his questions.
4) Recall: The student tries to answer his questions from what he remembers in the article, looking back to make sure each answer is correct.
5) Review: The student explains what he learned to someone else.
Sometimes a student must read a short story or novel and write a book report, pass a test, or in some other way show understanding. If the reading level is too high, this can be a Herculean task. These ideas can keep a student from drowning in frustration:
1. Gather any necessary background information. If the novel is set in East Berlin during the Cold War, or ancient Egypt, your student may miss important details simply because she is unfamiliar with the history. Even a contemporary story may be incomprehensible to the student if it contains details outside of her life experience. A child raised in a southern suburb, for example, may need explanations when reading a story about a child who lives in a New York City high-rise apartment. Use pictures, maps, timelines, internet resources, and anything else you might have to help the reader connect with the story. Even better, if there is a movie version of the story, by all means let the child watch it before reading the book! It is incredibly helpful to have the plot, characters, and setting already fixed in his mind before he attempts to read the story himself. The movie will be different enough from the book that there will still be things to discuss, but it will be a thousand times easier to comprehend as he reads.
2. Help with unfamiliar vocabulary and difficult sentence structure. You can pre-read the book and write definitions in the margins-- lightly, in pencil, if it's a school or library book. If you own the book, you can even highlight the key words of the complicated sentences. Here, for example, is a scaffolded sentence from the book Heidi:
sat down bottom
Peter generally took his quarters for the day at the foot of a high cliff, which seemed to reach far up into the sky.
3. Help the reader keep track of characters as they appear in the story. Each character should be accompanied by a brief description. As the student comes across new information about each character, he can add it to the list.
4. Summarize the important events of each chapter. Summarization is an important skill. The student should be able to identify the major events in each chapter. If he has trouble coming up with a summary, ask him if there was anything the main character(s) did or experienced in the chapter that the character(s) learned from, or that might cause or help solve a problem.
5. And of course, if there is an audio version of the book, allow the student to listen to it as he reads.
While these scaffolding techniques will help a child who is struggling with material she must read that is beyond her level, that is NOT the kind of reading that will be most helpful to her progress. The most helpful reading will be comfortable, easy books that allow the mind to relax and absorb the words. The more of these that the student can read, the faster she will gain reading skill.
Not every child likes to read; however, if she seems to avoid reading, there may be a problem. The problem could be as simple as not having found a book she likes. In that case, take her to the library and show her how to look up books about things that interest her. Does she like art? horses? science? spiders? There are books for that. In third grade, my lure was dogs-- I read every dog book the library had.
On the other hand, the problem may be lack of skill in reading. In that case, one of the best ways to get a reluctant student reading is to start her on a series. Read the first one together, and let the student read the next. The same author writing about the same character tends to use similar vocabulary and sentence structure, so the reading seems easier with each new volume. Plus, the reader is already familiar with the background of the story, so she can pick up each book with confidence. Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House, American Girl, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys-- these are all stepping-stones to better reading. The series Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants have the added feature of cartoon-style illustrations on almost every page.
Some teachers swear by graphic novels for getting kids hooked on reading. Like comic books, these novels are highly illustrated, which helps the reader follow the story. Some, like the Magic School Bus and Max Axiom, are non-fiction science books. There are also historical graphic novels and graphic versions of classic literature. Do be aware, however, that not all graphic novels are appropriate for children... some are a little too graphic.
The problem for older struggling readers, of course, is finding books they can read comfortably that don't seem babyish. Reading aloud to siblings, younger friends, or even pets can sometimes take the sting out of reading low-level books, but there is also a unique kind of literature written especially for the struggling older reader. Hi-lo books, as they are called, are high-interest books written at a low reading level. Even high school students can enjoy reading these books.
While scaffolding the difficult reading assignments and encouraging comfort-level reading is important, however, if a child is truly struggling to read at grade level, he needs specific help. There may be gaps in his reading instruction, vision or hearing deficits, or sensory processing issues. One student I knew had auditory processing problems that originated in infancy, affecting both her vocabulary acquisiton and spelling. Using subtitles on tv shows allowed her to better process the words she was hearing, and teaching syllabication and phonics patterns improved her spelling as well as her reading. Other students may be dealing with dyslexia or general learning disabilities. If you suspect any of these, it is important to get help.
But, as I explained in the opening of this post, your child may be reading at grade-level and still be frustrated with the assignments he is being expected to complete. If so, please know that you are not alone, and I hope some of these suggestions will be helpful.
