Good social studies teachers have a responsibility to require students to read and help them develop their reading skills. Such skills are particularly important in the study of history, because when history is taught as the process it is, it requires students to read and interpret historical sources to reach their own conclusions and syntheses.
Many teachers, in all subject areas, face the challenge of teaching students who may not be reading at grade level. This however is not an excuse to attempt to teach students without requiring them to read. When students are not reading at grade level, teachers must simply differentiate reading assignments so students are challenged appropriately and also learn content knowledge.
When I first began my training as a teacher, I must admit that I did not recognize how complex the reading process is. Being an avid reader since I was quite young, I took the process for granted. Not only must students rely on stored information and experience to interpret what they are reading, they must also read strategically and fluently to be able to comprehend what they are reading. Recently I was re-reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, and I found that reading the unfamiliar dialect used in the novel gave me some idea of how difficult it is for struggling readers to not only read, but also understand the meaning of what they are reading. Some of the dialect I read aloud to better understand it. Know what strategy to use to understand what I was reading made me realize the importance of teaching these strategies to students.
Teachers must also provide students with motivation or a purpose for reading. Reading is an active experience, which is what makes it so fulfilling. One can learn a lot from passively watching an educational video, but reading leads a sense of accomplishment because it requires complex thought processes. Most importantly, reading is an essential life skill that students will undoubtedly use for the rest of their lives. It is important for teachers to show students their own commitment to finding more effective and efficient reading strategies themselves.
So teaching reading is important. The question is, what is the best way to teach reading skills? I believe the techniques that have the most potential for success are those that help students understand what they are reading and make connections to content based on their own knowledge. Students will become more involved in reading when they can relate it to their everyday life or form their own opinions about it. I often have students connect course content to newspaper articles. I believe it is important to have students read newspapers, because they are an example of reading material that many people voluntarily read everyday. I believe this sets a good example to students who are unmotivated readers and only read what they are required to.
Activating background knowledge is also a fundamental way to get students interested in reading. Asking open-ended questions that relate to a reading helps get students focused on why they are reading. Having a reason for reading elevates students' confidence when faced with a difficult text. Even if they are unsure whether they will understand what they read, they at least know what they are looking for.
Here are some reading strategies I have used within my own classroom:
- Vocabulary Concept cards - these include the vocabulary work, definition, characteristics/features of the concept, and example from the text, and an original sentence.
- Photographed vocabulary - this requires students to illustrate or sometime act out vocabulary terms.
- Previewing words in context - as a class we discuss difficult words prior to reading. I often use think-aloud strategies or ask students to explain how they used the context to determine the meaning.
- Anticipation guides - Prior to reading, students respond whether they agree or disagree with statements and conclusions from the text. During the reading, students underline sections of text relating to these statements. After the reading, student use text references to support their earlier opinion, or justify why they changed their mind.
- Flow charts - Outline causation explained within a reading.
- KWL Charts - Know/Want to Know/Learned
- Previewing - Students look at the layout of the text, how it is structured, its features, and determine the best strategies to locate answers to various questions.
- Inquiry reading - Reading to answer a question
- Say something - Students read with the knowledge they will be expected to say something about what they read. They can summarize a section of the reading, talk about the main argument, supporting points, or even ask a question concerning the text.
- Two-column notes - One side of notes has headings/Other column has main ideas
- Group Summarizing - Students are asked to summarize a text and then meet with a partner to revise their summary collaboratively. I often pair students across ability levels during this exercise so that more skilled readers can help those who have more difficulty recognizing main ideas in a reading.
- SOAP - Students identify the speaker, occasion, audience, and purpose of a text. This is a good activity for primary source documents.
