Critical Issues With Developing Reading Skills Essay

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Learning to read is beginning to develop earlier in elementary grades. Students are expected to be emergent readers by the time he or she leaves kindergarten and enters first grade. If a child is not, he or she is labeled as being behind. According to Hughes (2007) emergent readers are using early reading strategies in consistently, read easy patterned text, retell text with simple storyline, and respond to text at a literal level. Hughes (2007) also says literacy develops in young children through play, daily conversation and interactions with text of all kinds. Many children come with emergent literacy skills; can recognize signs and labels, scribble letters, retell stories by pointing at pictures and talking about them, and some have varying degrees of phonemic and phonological awareness. This essay will define and explain implication for each theory in learning to read.

Reading is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information which is essential in being a productive member of society. If and when a student missed an opportunity to learn the skills necessary for reading, it’s has a profound impact on their lives. As educators we realize that teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction. We are also aware that children, who are struggling with reading must receive

The role of the reading specialist is to be able to teach all children to read, which requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction and that children who are struggling with reading receive additional instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach them. Teaching all children to read also requires reading specialists in every school because the range of student achievement in classrooms, with the inclusion of children who have various physical, emotional, and educational needs, requires different educational models from those of the past. In order to provide these services, schools must have reading specialists who can provide expert instruction, assessment, and leadership for the reading program. Reading specialists are professionals with advanced preparation and experience in reading who have responsibility for the literacy performance of readers in general and struggling readers in particular. This includes early childhood, elementary, middle, secondary, and adult learners. Learners can be in public, private, and commercial schools, or in reading resource centers or clinics (Roles). This paper will explore what it means to be able to encourage and enhance instruction within content area learning and literacy competence, as well as identifying research initiatives, which have a profound impact upon teaching, and learning of reading and the language arts.

With the emergence of No Child Left Behind, the National Literacy Strategy of 1998, and even more recent the Ohio Third Grade Reading Guarantee test, it is not longer the norm to accept that a child may be unable to read. The Literacy Strategy of 1998 has certainly put primary schools under more pressure to teach reading (and to teach to the tests) and they have been doing so much more intensively since then. The National Literacy Strategy that was introduced in fall 1998 intended to play a major role in increasing the standards in literacy and reduce the lower expectations of the education system. (Wall, 2003)

After taking the literacy survey I asked my dad why he thought reading was important. He gave me a look that said I’ve told you this a million times and said, “Reading is the key to success.” This is a common truth. However, the real question is, if reading is so necessary, then what can I do to master it. After twenty-one years of life I cannot say that I know all there is to know about reading and writing, but I can say that through my experiences I have learned to love reading and it has made all the difference.

Regardless of the fact that children start in the same spot when it comes to learning, every child is different therefore, there are possibilities to developmental delays. During one’s middle childhood period, cognitive processes, among many other factors are developing. Children encounter many hardships during this time. Learning to read is a major developmental challenge for many kids. According to an article regarding struggling readers, “learning to read is a challenge for almost 40% of kids” (Reading Rockets, 2015). As life progresses, so does a child’s development and how they manage to go through life day by day. The challenge of learning to read can definitely affect the adults present in a child’s life. Teachers and parents are two of the biggest roles in a child’s life that has to deal with this obstacle in development. A teacher needs his or her students to become well-rounded educated citizens. However, this period of time is definitely one of the hardest stages for teachers to be successful educating all of their students only because this is the time in the learner’s life where they are being taught many different new concepts required in life for them to

One-hundred and twenty-five children who had completed grades 1-3 and were at-risk for school and reading failure were randomly sub-divided into three groups to test the effectiveness a three-week summer reading program on retention and improvement in reading skills.

The challenge that many students face upon entering first grade in a low social-economic status area is low literacy skills. The students represented in this developmental paper come from low income families whose parents were poorly educated, many illiterate. As a result, students would rarely read to at home, either due to the lack of literature in the home or the parents were non-readers and unable to read to or read with their child.

Reading is a basic skill that students develop and improve throughout their whole life. There will always be room to improve a person’s reading skills; whether they be nine or ninety, one’s brain will always be building and making new connections and like Jonathan Seagull, one should strive to improve.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Report of the National Reading Panel. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved March 28, 2018 from http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/smallbook.cfm. In 1997

Reading is one of the most difficult and challenging skills to master in school. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP; 1997) reported that 40% of fourth graders, 30% of eighth graders, and 25% of twelfth graders were reading below grade level. Snow, Burns, & Griffin discovered that the percentages are even higher and the gaps even wider between grade levels in schools predominately made up of free or reduced lunch eligible student populations (as cited in Joseph, 2002). It is up to the schools and teachers to find strategies to help these struggling readers master the skills that are necessary to be better readers. Even with the growing number of programs being made available to help assist with struggling readers, most

For a child who is just starting to learn to read, they need sufficient practice in reading a variety of different books to achieve fluency. Reading can be complex and has many different aspects (Burns,1999). It is suggested that children who have problems reading and writing at a young age will find it hard to catch up as they get older and will not reach their full potential as adults, many will withdraw from school or society and some becoming involved with crime (MacBlain,2014). 40 percent of children find learning to read a challenge but with early help, most reading problems can be prevented (Reading Rockets, n.d.).

I wouldn’t say that I am a good writer, and I really don’t like to read books either. Through my years in school I became literate in these two categories. I was and still am not interested in writing, or reading books in my spare time. The only writing I have ever done is for school. Writing just does not interest me, and the only reading I do out of class is reading about sports in magazines, or reading the news, or looking at web pages. I have only read a couple of books on my own, 95% of all the books I have read have been for school. The reason for not writing out of class is probably attributed to the fact that I am a very impatient person, and I have a short attention span. I have no interest in writing and reading so when

Reading is believed to be an easy task, something we all learning and develop through the years as we grow, however, is it really that simple? To reading and understanding are both essential when a student begins to read. It is a complex action that requires a multitude of different actions/components, all working at the same time, to become a successful reader. The components that are pertinent to reading are: comprehension, oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency and vocabulary. Without these components, reading may very well be irrelevant because it does not make sense to read and not understand what is being transmitted/relayed. According to the National Reading Panel (NRP), “a combination of techniques is effective for