Synthesis Blog 2- "Help for Struggling Readers"

Reading was never a strong suit of mine in school. I was able to understand books that I chose to read; however, school assignments centered around reading were extremely difficult. As a result, I struggled with reading comprehension and showing what I learned and understood from the text. This chapter shared a lot of these similar ideas that many students face. However, the approach throughout the article was how teachers can impact students and shift their mindset. As future teachers, we can see that studies show, "to help our students understand and learn from the tasks we assign them, we must work with their reading process" (278-279, SM). While we are continuing to teach an entire class, we must recognize that we need to alter and shift the assignments and reading based upon each individual student. 

I was encouraged and challenged by the idea that we must build trust with our students in their learning. A student will be more engaged and have a greater desire to learn and grow when they know that we believe in them, as their teacher. I want to promote this environment in my classroom, so that students feel the freedom to express their ideas and thoughts whether they are right or wrong. As a result, students can see that they are not trying to find the solution or arrive to an answer alone but are able to process it with other students or the teacher. For many students, all it takes is for one person to show that they believe in them. I think that we each have the potential to instill confidence in each of our students, regardless of their academic struggles or rigor.

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