The Reading Process....Not So Simple

Today we started the class with an in-depth analysis of what happens when we read. Those of us that enjoy reading, don’t think about what we do when we read, and those who struggle don’t think about why they find reading difficult. When you dissect the reading process, you quickly realize that there are ample opportunities for something to go wrong. We first look at the motivation to read. If that is not in place, which happens for many students who find the reading process difficult, the battle begins. If a student is not motivated, they already have a perceived attitude about the process, which can make it difficult to be willing to engage in the activity with an open mind. Students need to be emotionally engaged when reading, and if they can’t make connections because they lack experiences, being engaged can be difficult. Long term memory to recognize patterns and symbols, predicting, sequencing, visualizing and reflecting are a few of the processes involved the reading process. All of this is just for the first sentence and then we start the process all over again for sentence two. No wonder some students feel so defeated.

We also looked at the difference between remediation and compensatory strategies. With reading remediation, we are involved in the process of learning how to read. Through phonetic awareness, students are encouraged to enhance the reading process. Through APPs such as duckduckmoose, bitspro, and montessori crosswords and many more, students can develop the phonemic awareness that is a prerequisite to learning to read with efficiency. With compensatory strategies, teachers need to ask what the next step is after remediation has been exhausted and students have plateaued. As we have discovered, the reading process is a very complicated task and there are so many opportunities for something a student to struggle. What do you do to supplement the reading process to help with understanding when something does go wrong?Through compensatory strategies, students are still immersed in the reading process, and APPS such as voice dream, NaviDys web browser,  speak selection on devices and simple language on wikipedia, all help students who struggle with the reading process, to get access to the content of the text. 

The students I support are in high school and have received reading remediation since early elementary. Some have become better readers that can read the text successfully but most continue to struggle with comprehension, context, inferences and scanning for pertinent information. Academics are coming at them full speed and if they struggle with the reading process, they better figure something out or they will quickly be left behind. This is when compensatory strategies are crucial for success.  Something as simple as digitizing text gives access to the student. High school students want to be able to read the text and complete the assignments their classmates complete. Using Apps that can digitize the one dimensional piece of paper and have it read out loud, change size of text, character spacing etc. open up opportunity for students who want to be independent. Digitizing can also help students who struggle with organization because they can send it electronically, so no paper to lose.

We looked at how language was innate and that we are programmed to learn language. Reading is not….The visual system mostly evolved so that monkeys could find fruit high up in the trees amongst the leaves. Writing was only invented 5000 years ago. I found these facts to be really interesting because I think a lot of people assume reading is something we just do, and we should be able to do it easily. Obviously if humans have not always been involved in the reading process, it had to be learned. And with it being learned and not an innate trait some people will struggle with the process.

We also looked at Chrome Web Store, Google Play and the Microsoft store for APPs that would help with reading remediation or compensatory strategies. Chrome Web Store has a few APPs such as Early Literacy and Read with Me, which help with the fundamentals with reading. Google play had hundreds of APPs to choose from for early literacy. Phonics with Phonzy helps young children practice letter sounds and words. Kids Alphabet Game Lite helps children learn to recognize the letters of the alphabet. The APPs for Microsoft were limited but had a few APPs for early literacy. ABC Letter and Phonics for Preschool and ABC Book 3D.

We also used the APP Read Iris, which let us take a picture of a document and instantly digitize it. No more scanners! This type of APP can give students the option to be able to digitize a piece of text easily. Once it is digitized, they can manipulate the text to help them be independent learners.