Struggling Readers

 Text:
 “When Kids Can't Read, What
Teachers Can Do”
 Kylene Beers
© 2003


Focused on handbook approach to assisting teachers with identifying who the struggling readers are, what they need, and how to support them effectively.

Book focuses on:
 Comprehension… Vocabulary… Fluency… Word Recognition… Motivation…

 Part 1:
Chapters 1-3
Who struggling readers are.
What are their challenges?
How can they be supported?

Part 2:
Comprehension

- Explicit Instruction in Comprehension
- Making Inferences
 - Pre-reading Strategies
- During-reading Strategies
- After-reading Strategies

Part 3:
Vocabulary

 Part 4:
Fluency, Word Recognition, Spelling

 Part 5:
Motivation
- Creating Confidence
- The Right Book

Appendices:
Include important literacy supports including:
Templates, word lists, word roots, grammar rules, spelling rules, and interesting word sorts.

Chapters are:
Relatively short and manageable.
Structure is often:

• Defining the strategy or approach.
• Demystifying some common misconceptions or assumptions
 • Stepping into the classroom; which shows actual practice
• Transcript of student/teacher interaction
• Reflections

This is an excellent book to support an inquiry approach to teaching reading for struggling readers. Text should accompany school-wide reading and structures to allow teachers to assess the efficacy of implementing these strategies. Approaches can comprise a school-wide approach o literacy development in situations where teachers are faced with struggling readers. ELA teachers will especially find this text helpful.