Using Web & Digital Literacies to Support Struggling Readers

  What Are the Foundational Skills Needed for Comprehension?                Reading is an extremely complex process which requires many different functions of the brain to interact simultaneously, and is very unique to each learner (Schwanenflugel & Knapp, 2016, ch. 1). As a teacher, it is imperative to remember this when supporting students in developing their reading skills. Each component of reading comprehension has a reciprocal relationship with the others. In order to fully explore the areas in which students need further support, it is necessary to first have a clear understanding of the foundation of specific skills students require for reading comprehension.   Phonics  In order for children to be able to understand what they are reading, they first need to be able to read. Students need to understand the basic principles of language and writing by building an understanding of how letters and words work (Schwa...

  I have been teaching reading in the intermediate grades for ten years. Every year I see a wide range in reading abilities, however there is generally a common trend. Typically about twenty percent (give or take) of my students struggle with reading comprehension in some way. Usually a small handful of those are, or become, identified with a learning disability or medical diagnosis that contributes to their performance, and receive special services to meet their needs. So what about the other struggling students? These ones we say “fall through the cracks”. Why do they continue to struggle though they are receiving adequate instruction? Furthermore, what can we do as their teacher to intervene? Word Recognition and Fluency A large body of research has suggested the lack of foundational competency in word recognition and phonics knowledge to be a great contributor to deficiency in reading comprehension by third and fourth grade (Rasinski, 2017).  Students who struggle wit...

       Literacy is a term that many people identify as simply the ability to read and write. In reality, the concept of literacy is far more complex and fluid than this (Johnson, 2014). Considering the purpose of reading and writing is to share ideas and information amongst others, the methods in which they are shared is equally important.  While teaching our students the foundational reading and critical thinking skills is necessary, it is not sufficient in preparing them to be successful readers in society.  Students need to be able to comprehend text as well as navigate the platforms in which it is presented (Serafini, 2012). Furthermore, they need to be able to effectively and productively contribute their own ideas.  Students need to be experienced with the modalities in which they will interact with information in the real world, and in today’s world that is predominately online.       Literacy is changing due largely to the f...

       New literacies have become a necessary part of our literacy curriculum in order to prepare our students for our evolving world. Beyond developing these skills, engaging with digital tools and web inquiry can actually provide support in strengthening foundational reading skills as well as social development. Digital Texts and Multimodal Literacies The affordances of digital tools provide opportunities to support complex reading skills. Read-aloud capabilities of e-books and digital texts can be extremely helpful for students who struggle with attention or fluency. Digital text has also shown to be more engaging for struggling readers than traditional text (Biancarosa & Griffiths, 2012). Furthermore, the wide selection and flexibility provides a more personalized reading experience. With the support of digital tools, students are able to interact with a wider variety of texts. This introduces students to new ideas, concepts, and domains of knowledge; whi...