Do you have tips for scaffolding a reluctant reader into a strong reader during middle school?

[HappyGrace]

Ds is a rising 6th grader who has never enjoyed reading, doesn't read for pleasure, etc. I haven't pushed it, but I am seeing gaps now that he's entering middle school that older older dd (strong reader) didn't have. He doesn't have the core knowledge base that an experienced reader would have built, plus he reads slowly and gets overwhelmed with more difficult books, long descriptive passages, etc. He is an engineer type-lol.

 

It is so hard for me to know what to do for this, as I was born with a book in my hand, and my only other student was too!

 

He has no problem with the mechanical part of reading-can physically read any word just fine .

 

But how do I scaffold him in all areas of reading (comprehension, fluidity, etc.) to get him able to read tougher books over these next couple years before high school?

 

Also, is there a curriculum or book that could maybe help with this?

 

 

 

 

xpost

[Lori D.]

Honestly, we just read aloud together, every.single.day from first grade up through high school. DS#2 has mild LDs -- stealth dyslexia that more affected writing, spelling and math, but he was also a delayed reader and has ALWAYS had the tendency to guess rather than slow down and sound out longer words. He has always been very selective in what he reads for pleasure, and never did tons of reading for pleasure -- many other activities he would choose first before reading.

 

By reading aloud together, popcorn style ("You read a page, I read a page"), we were able to tackle books just a touch above his comfortable reading level to stretch him, and by alternating pages, he was able to keep enough of the sense of what was happening in the first chapters to get him over the hump of getting used to each new book's style, sentence structure, and vocabulary choices. We were also able to stop and discuss in the midst -- define vocabulary in context, clarify something that confused DS, do some literary analysis. What a time saver! And honestly, very enjoyable for me to share reading of good books (my personal passion) with him, in spite of him not being that fond of reading.

 

And, reading together was just more enjoyable for DS -- we were sharing a "chore" which lightened the perceived "burden" of reading to him. He got a lot more out of the books that way, too. He accepted it, knowing that was just our routine -- going a bit slower to read aloud and think about/discuss the books. And he would get MUCH more interested in the book by us doing it together, than if I had sent him off to read it on his own.

 

I know that's a time-consuming way to do middle school/high school Literature -- and esp. difficult if you are the mom of many -- but it was REALLY worth the time investment, to carve out 30-40 minutes a day, 4x/week to do the reading and literary analysis together. Another idea: is there a sibling fairly close in age that you could do it all 3 together? Doubling up means less work for you...

 

 

Another thing to "prime the pump" for those harder classics is to listen to books on tape or you read aloud for a family read aloud of older works with more Victorian style of writing. You may find other ideas in these past threads:

- Where do you start with a high school boy who has never read classic lit?

- Great Books question (how does your family read the books)

- Which 20 books help prepare for the Great Books?

 

BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

[Another Lynn]

I agree with Lori (of course!).

 

Also, I would encourage (require and give incentives of some kind) lots of easier reading.  And, if there is a book or series he likes, let him re-read them.  But really, back up until he's reading books that are easy for him and he's enjoying it.  Use your read aloud time to read books that would stretch him. 

[MicheleinMN]

Everything said above and audio books both with the book being used to follow along and also without it.  Good fiction, engaging stories, sharing the reading - all these things will help.

[OneStepAtATime]

Agree with all the above plus if you have a Kindle Fire (or can get one) he can listen to more advanced books while also reading them.  Immersion reading will highlight the words that are being read and the audio quality is really good most of the time.  Find book series that he really has interest in that are more advanced than his current comfortable reading level and get the text paired with the audio so he can get exposure to the more advanced concepts/vocabulary/grammar without getting bogged down in having to decode it all himself.  It has been a huge help here.  

[ElizabethB]

A kindle or another device with a a kindle app and the dictionary enabled allows you to read anything and click on a definition for a word you don't know.

 

I would also use the 1879 McGuffey readers to build up reading skills and stamina and vocabulary, start a bit below comfort level, they are all online so you can figure out a comfortable level to start. They have rich vocab and a variety of different reading passage types. If he reads two passages a day, he should be able to get through around 2 books in a year. They also have comprehension questions in the upper levels, I think starting in 4th or maybe 3rd Reader.

 

This series also looks interesting:

 

http://classicalacademicpress.com/reasoning-reading-level-one/#.VAFGqdq9KSM

 

They have books for a grade below and above as well.

[FriedClams]

A couple things that help my kids with reading time - minimize electronics and a book basket in the car.

[Momling]

Whenever I read to my kids for pleasure, I stop periodically and ask questions about what they think will happen next or what they think that character is feeling or which is their favorite character. I make a point of reminding myself of something by going back and rereading a sentence or two. I stop for a moment here and there to think about a word or sentence and wonder why the author chose those words or whether some event or character may symbolize something else or is a reference to some other book I've read. In other words, I try to model what a good reader does so that they can do it too.

[lewelma]

Because I did not read properly until I was 12, I have a passion for making sure my kids read well.  I have started 2 different threads to discuss improving reading skills.  The first one is for nonfiction and the second for fiction.  The first one starts off at higher level but moves on to younger kids later on.

 

Developing advanced reading skills

How to work through progressively more challenging works

 

HTH,

 

Ruth in NZ

[HappyGrace]

Thanks, Ruth-Lori had linked me to the first one, but I didn't see the second one-just read it and it's fantastic, thank you so much!

[threedogfarm]

HappyGrace,

 

I didn't go back and read the links to the other suggested threads so this may be a repeat of that info.

 

But find out WHY your son doesn't like to read.  Why doesn't he want to progress to harder books? 

 

I was surprised to find out last year that my daughter wasn't progressing beyond a certain level because, while she could mechanically read well and her comprehension was excellent with read alouds and books-on-tape, she wasn't reading EVERY WORD on the page.  She would read a paragraph quickly and skip words or details and deduce the general idea of the passage/paragraph/chapter.  With more complex books, though, this strategy was a complete failure.  It lead to confusion and therefore a dislike for books beyond a certain level (simple chapter books).  Harder, more complex books were "uninteresting" or "confusing" to her because she missed important details.

 

I wouldn't have figured this out if I hadn't asked my daughter why she didn't like some of the books I had chosen for her for independent reading.  After she repeatedly said that the books were confusing, uninteresting, etc. even on subjects she really enjoyed (like horses) I knew that something else was going on.  Like I said earlier, mechanically she could read without any issues but she was lacking the ability to process the details because she was skipping words she didn't understand or skimming the pages to get the general idea but with more complex books, the details help to carry the book.  If reader doesn't understand the details then the book doesn't make sense.

 

 

I found WWE 3 &4 as well as SOTW with the comprehension questions in the activity books to be well suited to working on this issue.  The passages in WWE and the chapter sections in SOTW are short enough that I could easily say "Go back and read the passage" each time she got the answer wrong.  Over time this really helped her to become a more careful reader which in turn helped her to enjoy the harder, more complex books.  The questions helped tease out the details and she learned to look up words she didn't understand or figure out the definition by the context.  A year later she is really, really enjoying books she had previously avoided. 

 

I'm not saying that this is the issue your son is having but if you do a little detective work with him, you might find out why he has a lack of interest in harder books and then you can work on that issue.  Continuing to read aloud or listening to books on tape, while they have their place, would not have helped me to discover what was contributing to my daughter's lack of progression or interest.

 

[Lori D.]

Ds is a rising 6th grader who has never enjoyed reading, doesn't read for pleasure..

 

… he reads slowly and gets overwhelmed with more difficult books, long descriptive passages, etc.

 

:: smacking forehead ::

 

HappyGrace, I don't think any of us, in either x-post, thought to mention starting with ruling out any vision problems -- either a possible need for glasses (with a regular optometrist), or vision tracking or convergence issues (with a specialist) -- or even mild dyslexia, a processing issue, or other learning issue… Any of those issues would make reading difficult and unpleasant.

 

A lot of times, if mild, those issues can remain hidden until along about middle school, as the student is able to cope or find work-arounds. But with middle school come longer books, with lines of text closer together, and no occasional illustration to give visual relief or visual clues as to what is happening. Then the student really starts to struggle with reading, and since so much of education is based on reading, everything starts to suffer.

 

Definitely a good idea to get some testing done to make sure there is not a previously-hidden issue that needs to be addressed! BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.