According to BookTrust, reading is essential for acquiring knowledge and creating pathways to greater learning, equitability, creativity, performance, well-being and empathy. Children begin learning to read long before entering school as they acquire vocabulary and background knowledge. But when they enter school, it is not long before they can and must use reading skills and strategies to learn all about the world around them in every subject and content area.
Through the William Paterson University (WP) online Master of Education (MEd) in Literacy with a concentration in Reading Specialist program, educators gain the insights needed to build literacy programs and prioritize essential reading skills for elementary students.
Teaching Reading and Comprehension Skills
Reading is a complex process involving skills such as decoding, making predictions and asking questions. Good readers know sight words, use context clues to understand unfamiliar vocabulary and refer to their background knowledge to make connections from what they know to what they want to learn. Teaching children to read is a complex process, too. Students come to the classroom with a variety of abilities and learning styles.
Many factors affect early learning, including a child’s experiences, family dynamics, and health and nutrition. Those who teach reading at any level must help children of every learning style and ability acquire the skills to comprehend text in all subject areas.
A teacher’s impact on a child’s ability to read and be more successful in school can’t be underestimated. According to literacy educator Laura Robb, teachers are irreplaceable because, unlike “computers and robots, when you possess deep knowledge about how children learn, you can process students’ actions, words, and written work and provide feedback that moves each child forward.”
While the traditional theory that children learn to read in the primary grades and read to learn in later years is somewhat controversial and often debated, the bottom line remains the same: Children who can read fluently will be more successful in school.
Reading in Content Areas
Reading and comprehension skills in math class have become an area of particular concern. Teachers report that it is not uncommon for students who excel in math to complain about “word problems.” Students who can calculate arithmetic problems and break records in exercises may read through a standardized test problem and say, “I don’t know what to do!”
Teachers face the reality that real-life problems involving math knowledge are seldom presented as a worksheet full of four-step multiplication problems. Instead, in contemporary test settings where students are asked to evaluate and solve realistic problems, students’ reading skills must support grade-level math ability.
Reading and writing activities help students assess, understand and convey mathematical ideas. Without these skills, students cannot evaluate sources of information and test the validity of information, proficiencies essential for mathematical literacy. In response to what she sees as the increasingly abstract nature of math curriculum, math coordinator Allesandra King has students work on projects that engage both, as reading and writing “are complex, fundamental, integrative learning skills that should be used to their potential in math class.”
In addition to using reading and writing skills in math, the skills required to process both math and reading are very similar. The ability to predict, infer, compare and contrast and determine cause and effect are necessary to work through math problems and intricate reading passages. When a student is successful in one learning area, they are more likely to transfer some of their skills to another area. At the elementary level, this ability to transfer builds a foundation of understanding and independence that will serve young students well as they mature and progress.
Consequences of Illiteracy
According to the Stern Center for Language and Learning, “68% of U.S. 4th graders scored BELOW proficient in reading in 2022.” This deficit follows students throughout their school careers. According to research by ACT, roughly half of high school graduates lack the reading skills needed to do well in a typical first-year college course.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 31% of eighth graders read and write at a proficient level. The long-term consequences of illiteracy go beyond the school experience, impacting the individual’s quality of life for the rest of their lives.
Value of Independent Reading
The ability to read influences more than graduation rates. People of all ages who read fluently are more likely to read independently, and the benefits of reading independently extend far beyond academic success. Students who read independently and fluently are likelier to attend college or engage in professional trades.
As literacy experts Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst write in “Literacy Today,” independent reading “is about creating independent thinkers who think with compassion, logic, and curiosity, and without manipulation from others.” They emphasize the need to allow students as much freedom as possible, which helps nurture independent thought and a life-long interest in reading.
Experienced teachers who want to study reading and comprehension in greater depth can earn a postgraduate degree, such as WP’s online MEd in Literacy – Reading Specialist. This CAEP-accredited program reinforces the skills necessary to help you launch your students into a more successful personal and professional future. It prepares you for the New Jersey Reading Specialist certification (Endorsement 3310).
Learn more about William Paterson University’s online Master of Education in Literacy with a concentration in Reading Specialist program.
