Part 1-Overview: How to teach high school student’s how to read: 5 Part blog series

How to teach high school student’s how to read: 5 Part blog series

Having spent 10 years in the education system should guarantee students have an adequate level of reading literacy. However, as I explained in my blog “Why can’t my high school English students read?” there are many reasons why students are entering high school with inadequate reading skills or as functionally illiterate. The PISA and OSSLT data, as well as years of Wechsler test data from my classes, demonstrate that the applied level and locally developed classes are reading at grade levels well below their current grade. Why this is happening isn’t as important to me, a high school teacher, as what I’m going to do about it now.

Given that good pedagogy demands that a teacher should start where the students are, I have spent more than a decade working to find ways to help my students improve their literacy skills. Many of these techniques are based on balanced literacy, which is already used in elementary schools, and leveraging the teachings of thought leaders in the reading field such as Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher. Based on my experience and learnings, I have created a reading program that is proven to be effective at improving students reading literacy (see OSSLT results in previous post). My reading program includes three main components: getting students to buy into the program, improving reading ability through the explicit teaching of reading strategies and ultimately fostering a love of reading which you can learn more about by following these links:

Learn all about the program in my 5 part blog series: How to teach high school students to read:

• Read part 1 of this article: Part 1-Overview: How to teach high school student’s how to read: 5 Part blog series
• Read part 2 of this article: Getting Them to Buy in
• Read part 3 of this article: Teaching Reading Strategies
• Read part 4 of this article: Fostering a Love of Reading
• Read part 5 of this article: The positive impact of teaching high school students how to read
• Why Can’t my High School Students Read? outlines the need for the program

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If your interested in how to teach high school teachers how to read or you have questions or comments please feel free to leave a comment or contact me.