Student Participation

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Reading Teachers Chatboard

Student Participation

by J.M.

Nov 30, 2010

I am a new teacher in an 10th grade English class. Lately I have been having some issues with time management when it comes to student participation. There is one scenario in particular I am beginning to develop some concerns about, and I was hoping for some fresh perspectives.

The scenario is as follows: when I do textual readings in class, there is rarely a shortage of hands for volunteers to read, and there is one student in particular who always wants to read. The issue is that he is a very slow reader. He is very enthusiastic, but his reading skills are such that what might take other students 5 minutes to read, takes him 10. I find that his reading eats up a lot of class time and I am losing ground on my lesson plans. I do not want to deny him the chance to build his verbal and reading skills, but I also don't want to deprive the other students a chance at the same time. I often end up having to rush through the remainder of the reading myself just to get back on track....See More

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Tom Here's one thought: Instead of having volunteers, just go up and down the rows ... having each student read a small to moderate amount. (I usually give them a range of "three to five sentences.") This way, everybody gets the opportunity to read out loud, but no one person dominates.

All my best,

Tom

On 11/30/10, J.M. wrot...See More

Nov 30, 2010

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Sara On 11/30/10, J.M. wrote:

Why is his reading so slow? Some people are not meant to be aloud readers. I too call on everybody who volunteers but - you don't have to call on him every class. Call on him once a week and don't let him read for 10 minutes. I will break into a student's reading and say 'thank you' and call on someone else who ha...See MoreOn 11/30/10, J.M. wrote:

Why is his reading so slow? Some people are not meant to be aloud readers. I too call on everybody who volunteers but - you don't have to call on him every class. Call on him once a week and don't let him read for 10 minutes. I will break into a student's reading and say 'thank you' and call on someone else who has volunteered. Just because he reads more slowly does not mean he should be allowed to read the same length of passage.

I think a mistake in your thinking is when you say you're allowing him to 'develop his skills' - reading aloud is a skill but not one that everyone has. And some people read more slowly than others in general not just in their aloud reading. Rarely in life do any of us need to be aloud readers.

You can still allow him to read aloud but not the same length of passage. This seems a simple solution to me. That your students don't grow restless and contrary while he's allowed to read for 10 minutes speaks very well of them.

> I am a new teacher in an 10th grade English class. Lately I > have been having some issues with time management when it > comes to student participation. There is one scenario in > particular I am beginning to develop some concerns about, > and I was hoping for some fresh perspectives. > > The scenario is as follows: when I do textual readings in > class, there is rarely a shortage of hands for volunteers > to read, and there is one student in particular who always > wants to read. The issue is that he is a very slow reader. > He is very enthusiastic, but his reading skills are such > that what might take other students 5 minutes to read, > takes him 10. I find that his reading eats up a lot of > class time and I am losing ground on my lesson plans. I do > not want to deny him the chance to build his verbal and > reading skills, but I also don't want to deprive the other > students a chance at the same time. I often end up having > to rush through the remainder of the reading myself just to > get back on track. > > Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can give this > student the opportunity to develop his skills without > sacrificing the other students' time or my lesson plans? > Thank you so much for your suggestions and input!

Dec 7, 2010

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