Reading Problems

When thinking about my personal literacy problems, I immediately think back to primary school. I myself started school in 1990 at the age of 4. By year two, all students who were a year younger got the option to repeat and be in a similar age-group. Some students whose parents did not want to hold them back stayed in the same year while other students were pulled back. These students were not pulled back because of their classroom knowledge (one of the students who repeated with me is now a Forensic Scientist), but were held back by their age. This would have helped in the learning process, because I would have gained an extra year to use metacognition in helping myself to read.

Reading programs were set in the school, during school hours. Reading sessions would be on Monday for 60 minutes. They were incorporated into the school life to benefit children’s learning. Which I think is a big responsibility that good primary schools have to undertake. The basic levels of primary learning that need to be established at an early age as a foundation for future learning.

The reading program at Dudley Primary School was run by the parents of students. So the learning was all kept in house and was voluntary. This was also a good learning experience for the parent’s as well as the children as they got to interact with children, as their own child to benefit their learning and therefore become quality readers. Parents gained a sense of fulfilment and aspects to help future teaching skills with their children. My mother was one of the parents involved in the Reading program. She had a lot to do with my continual progress.

The program was not complicated or prestigious, rather it was simple in the fact that one parent and one child would sit and read. The child would be reading a book to their personal ability and the parent would be helping them with difficult words. If a child had difficulty pronouncing a word parents would sound them out so students could mimic and try again. When a child did not comprehend a word, the parent would then give a definition so that deep understanding could occur. By defining a word and its meaning within a preconceived context it makes the comprehension easier. By simply defining a word without placing it within a sentence or context would not be received as well.

Outside the education institution I was continuing in my reading development. My mother would sit down with me every afternoon after school and we would read together. We would take turns in reading so I would not be reading on my own. She helped me a great deal in my learning progress. I would not be as good of a reader today without the help of my mother. Dr Seuss was a popular choice during the fundamental learning period. I participated in the reading program at school for two years, but I continued to read at home.

By the time the reading exam came around in year six, I was reading far above my age level. I had read the most books in the class (the book chart had to be expanded for me). At the age of 12 I was reading to the capacity and understanding of a 15 year old.

I was always fond of books, before I could even read. Even though I am very much a visual learner, books always enticed me. Once I got a hold on the reading curb, I quickly stepped up to the mark. I remember fondly the beginnings of early reader obsession when I started to read books on my own at the age of 9. Goosebumps my choice of book, as it was with a lot of young children in the mid nineties. I was drawn to Goosebumps and I always enjoyed thrills and chills, liking horror and adventure from an early age. My obsession did not stop there; I then went onto Sweet Valley High, Fear Street and other teen novels. Only to find my literacy true love was to be found in the words of Stephen King. I read my first King book at the age of 15, starting with “IT” which spawned over 1100 pages.

By my twenties and as my love for film expanded, I turned to more unusual titles such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, American Psycho and Naked Lunch.

In reasearching about my Reading Programs I came across a letter titled Ten Myths of Reading Instruction.

I would like to draw attention to Myth 3 and Myth 9.

Myth 3: Reading programs are “successful”

Myth 3 states: “Although such reading programs can be a useful part of a larger reading curriculum, no reading program by itself has ever been shown to be truly "successful"— not with all children and all teachers. And no reading program by itself has been shown to accelerate all children to advanced levels of performance.”

There in fact identifies that no teaching structure of literacy’s can be perfect for all students, but I do think that a reading program implemented within a school and supported by parents outside school time would be beneficial to a lot of children undergoing reading problems

Myth 9: Short-term tutoring for struggling readers can help them catch up with their peers, and the gains made will be sustained.

Myth 9 states: “But it is evident that such gains as are made by children in these programs are not sustained for very long once they are exited from the program. Studies of pull-out tutoring programs have shown that children who are not thriving like their peers in the classroom continue to fail to thrive when they are placed back in that classroom full time.”

I disagree with this statement. In conjunction to myself I find it definitely untrue. Whether my experience is problematic of not, I am not sure. I think it could be in result of the inconsistency of the reading program over a few weeks, but having it accessible for students over a longer period of time to ensure that sustainable development has occurred.

Another attributing factor is offcourse the continuation of reading after school hours is that I had help from my mother. There seems to be blatant blaming on teachers for poor student literacy’s. But education is not just within the classroom and should be reinforced at home, especially for struggling students.

Myth 9 states: “Studies have shown that the best hope for these children is to place them with a "strong" reading teacher full time — a teacher who has a sophisticated understanding of the process of learning to read, a tendency to use assessment data to inform individualized instruction, and a talent for engaging students in focused and interesting instructional activities.”

Again, this almost states that students with learning problems are disinterested children. I find these expansions of myths to be false.