How to Teach
"Hard to Teach" Students Arlyne
LeSchack
Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop are joyous
ways to learn to read and write. Essentially, the child is learning
to read by reading and learning to write by writing. Of course,
as the teacher you're providing strategies and skills through mini-lessons,
but mostly the children are learning by doing.
We all know that there are some children for whom
this methodology is not going to work. It may become frustrating
to teach these students, but you can't stop trying. Presenting the
material over and over in the same way is probably not going to
work. Here are some ideas about how to work with these hard to reach
students.
Change the Way You Communicate
You're going to need to develop your own skills and knowledge further
and change the way you communicate with the student as well. Communication,
both verbal and non-verbal, will have an impact on these "hard
to teach" students. Try talking about something the child is
interested in before starting the lesson. If you know the students
are interested in cars or dinosaurs say something about that just
to put the student(s) at ease before the lesson begins. Also, when
you do start the lesson, don't assume anything-- carefully assess
if the student knows what you are talking about, but don't be negative
if they don't. It's especially important to stay calm and consistent.
These children need to know you're listening to them and they need
to know what you expect.
Adopt a Can-do Attitude
It's important to have a can-do attitude and to show excitement
and pride when children learn something that they previously found
challenging. Keep in mind that “can-do” does not mean
know-it-all. As a teacher of these students you need to think of
your teaching practice as a continual work-in-progress.
Get to Know Them
It is important to continuously learn about your students, to discover
how they learn and to see things from their perspective. The more
you know about how your students learn, the more readily you’ll
be able to offer effective strategies that will help them learn
to read and write. For some tips on getting to
know your students, see Judi Fenton's Knowing
Your Students and Letting Your Students Know You.
Be Flexible
Flexibility in your teaching approach helps you devise a plan that
reduces the students’ anxiety. If sounding out starting with
the first letter doesn't work, ask the student to look for a word
they know that is inside a bigger word. Many students learn the
word families like at, bat, cat, etc., but still need a prompt every
time they come to one of those words. Continue to give the prompt--without
comment or judgment. Hopefully someday they won't need prompting.
Accentuate the Positive
It's especially important to recognize what your students do right,
even if they are partially wrong in their responses. When children
begin to speak we recognize their speech approximations; this needs
to be done with reading and writing, particularly with hard to teach
students. Since these students discourage easily, it's important
to offer help- don't let them keep struggling. Try not to convey
that they can't do it, find another way to teach them. Demonstrate
exactly what you want them to do and praise them for their hard
work.
Provide Opportunities
Finally, provide these hard to teach students opportunities to learn
while reassuring them that it's your job to take care of them and
teach them. This keeps the intricate balance between the emotional
and cognitive sides of learning and teaching intact.
As a teacher of "hard to teach" students,
you will engage in a process of continuous learning yourself, always
studying your students and how they learn. In so doing you will
be able help the students find problem-solving strategies and devise
their own plan of action. This is a challenge, but one that pays
off with your own developing expertise and your students' success.
Bibliography
Lyons, Carol A. (2003), Teaching Struggling Readers,
Heinemann
If you have comments or questions, please contact
me at aleschack@aol.com.
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