| The lower performing ESL student needs two | | | | reading plan. |
| important things to reach success - a good solid | | | | A tutorial is the first positive step in creating clear |
| reading program and lots of opportunities for positive | | | | boundaries of understanding between teacher and |
| reinforcement. | | | | student that would have otherwise not have been |
| Making a remedial reading class work is just like any | | | | acknowledged in a regular classroom environment. |
| other class, only the rate of success is sometimes too | | | | From experience, a tutorial proved useful in neutralizing |
| often slower and not always easily felt amongst the | | | | off-task behavior. It is important to make questions as |
| ESL teacher. Teachers need to quickly find the right | | | | subject-specific. The purpose of the tutorial should be |
| approach and practical methodology that speaks to | | | | communicated as mutually as possible already in the |
| the students and while the student doesn't always see | | | | beginning. Some questions can include setting |
| the success, more often s/he feels incapable of | | | | expectations: |
| coping with a particular reading task and the gap in | | | | 1. What do you expect to learn from the reading |
| reading ability grows wider. | | | | lessons this year? |
| In my first year of teaching Junior High School, I taught | | | | 2. What do you expect from me? |
| a reading recovery class. This particular student was | | | | 3. How can I help you? |
| diagnosed as a remedial reader. He could recognize | | | | 4. What is your attitude towards reading? |
| only sound-letter correspondences and read one | | | | 5. What has been your experience in reading until |
| syllabic words with a basic rudimentary technical | | | | now? |
| understanding. | | | | 6. How would you like to improve in your reading? |
| After mapping the reading skills following administering | | | | 7. What can I do to help you achieve your reading |
| a diagnostic test, it became clear to me that he | | | | goals? |
| needed a reading plan that would include a lot of | | | | From that point on, this student became more |
| language input from a variety of graded reading texts, | | | | 'teachable' and I didn't have to struggle so trying to get |
| learning and reading strategies to help him. Like many | | | | his attention. I learned that his personal shortcomings |
| other emergent readers of his reading abilities, he | | | | with reading in his previous elementary school years |
| needed help closing the gaps to bring up his reading | | | | had weighted his confidence and self-esteem. Sensing |
| level. He would also be able to benefit from a variety | | | | that learning was no longer a threat, he began to work |
| of strategic lessons. Finally, he would need reassessing | | | | cooperatively with my reading plan. |
| and periodic check-ups to evaluate his progress. | | | | I was able to obtain a very different picture of this |
| He had no interest whatsoever in reading. He avoided | | | | student's reading abilities from that point on. Initially, his |
| as much as possible reading tasks that required | | | | test grades revealed a basic capacity for technical |
| serious mental efforts and told me he couldn't do the | | | | reading of one syllabic words without genuine |
| reading task as he didn't understand and quickly turned | | | | understanding. |
| off-task. I came to realize we shared very little in our | | | | His lack of patience to read challenged me to build a |
| approaches to reading. I grew up loving to read; he | | | | reading program that involved a variety of texts and |
| hated to read and avoided it whenever possible. I | | | | strategies. I quickly grounded myself in the global |
| approached reading with active interest, he gave up on | | | | approach, convinced that it would help my students |
| the struggle. | | | | become better readers. This approach soon frustrated |
| This struggle held him back for a few months, which | | | | them, especially Shalev as he had little or no reading or |
| had a crucial effect on his reading development. In fact, | | | | learning strategies to help him cope with decoding |
| most of the students in Shalev's seventh grade class | | | | words in context and couldn't understand what he |
| hated reading and it quickly became a class of | | | | was reading beyond the technical level. |
| reluctant readers. | | | | If there is anything I have learned from this student, it is |
| This student's lack of cooperation and interest made | | | | the understanding that there is no one right approach |
| him a target for disturbing behavior. Avoiding | | | | towards teaching reading. While this may appear |
| classroom confrontation, I quickly sensed the need | | | | logical for pre-service teachers, I myself needed to |
| develop a one on one approach that would better | | | | implement several theories for teaching reading for this |
| serve me as both a teacher and an educator and | | | | level that was new for me in order to find the right one |
| ultimately, help with the progress of the classes' | | | | that spoke to my students. |