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How to Help Students Who Struggle with Reading

March 13, 2018 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Chances are good that you work with students who struggle with reading. It can be challenging, but there are some easy, tried and true strategies that effectively help students to comprehend what they read. Better yet, these strategies help all readers, even students who don’t struggle with reading, to read with better comprehension and fluency.

Imagine that a teacher gives students a very common task, to “read chapter seven,” and follow up by answering a series of comprehension questions. This is a typical assignment, given thousands of times a day by teachers everywhere.

Teachers make many assumptions in giving this type of assignment. First, they assume students can read the words and know all the vocabulary in the chapter. Second, they presume that students will be able to connect the material that they read to other topics and content they have already learned. Third, they believe that students will be able to pick out the main ideas and details, understand a sequence of events and synthesize the material.

Being able to read and understand a large piece of content is a sophisticated reading task. Many students won’t read the material. They will skim and scan, looking for the answers to the questions. Some students try, but struggle to put the pieces together in order to fully comprehend the material. Others quickly become overwhelmed and stop trying. These students, who are off task, often create distractions and disruptions that hinder everyone.

Fortunately, the solution is not difficult, and doesn’t have to take a long time. When assigning a reading task, these simple strategies will help insure success for students:

Preteach vocabulary.

A quick discussion or review of the key words in the selection will greatly increase the chances that students will comprehend the material and will help them read the material more fluently. Write a list of important words on the board and have a quick discussion. What is the word and what does it mean? How might this word be important in the reading?

Connect the new reading to previous learning.

Take a minute or two to ask a couple of simple questions. Have students look at the headings or titles. Ask them what they think the reading will be about and how they think it will connect to their previous learning.

It also helps to give students a bridge to help them connect previous and new learning. Ask students to give a few key points from recent learning, then give them a connection.

We learned about the characteristics of rainforests. Today we are going to read about the characteristics of deserts.

Another idea is to have students make predictions.

Given what you have learned about plant cells, how do you think animal cells might be different?

Give students a purpose for reading.

This is your chance to help students identify main ideas and important details. It is even better if you can entice them or give them a hint of something fun or interesting to look for as they read. If you know what you are looking for, it is much easier to find it. Give students a purpose with statements such as:

As you read this story, look for ways that bats and birds are alike and different.

In this chapter you are going to find out some smart things that Brian does to stay alive in the wilderness. Think about yourself in this situation. How you would have handled being stranded with no one to help you?

While reading this selection, look for the reasons the colonists were upset with the British and what they did because of their anger.

Help students summarize.

Many students struggle with summarizing. Graphic organizers will help give students a framework to help them summarize. There are different graphic organizers available to help students summarize different types of reading material such as fiction, selections that focus on comparing and contrasting or selections that emphasize sequence of events. There are graphic organizers for different content areas and for all grade levels. Do a quick search for the type of graphic organizer you need and you will find many to choose from. Here are some sites with good graphic organizers:

Graphic Organizers K-12 organized by TeacherVision

Teachnology’s graphic organizers

Graphic organizers selected by Education Oasis

In his Zone of Proximal Development theory, Vygotsky taught us that there is a difference between what a learner can do without help and with help. Students can do more and learn more when they are given a scaffold. These strategies provide students who struggle with reading a helping hand, a scaffold, to increase their comprehension.

These strategies are not new, but they are effective. Spending even just five extra minutes helping students to prepare for a reading task will result in better comprehension. We think that is time well spent.

Happy reading,

Want more about reading? Check out these articles:

Are you Killing the Love of Reading?

Growing Brains: Reading as the Anti-Zombie

How to Remain Positive in the Face of Challenges You Can’t Control

February 6, 2018 by Inspired Together Teachers 2 Comments

It is easy to become overwhelmed by educational challenges and issues that are out of your control. As a teacher, you will be faced with policies, procedures and circumstances that may frustrate you and make you feel ineffective. Most teachers will tell you that it is not the students or the curriculum, but the bureaucratic demands that they must conform to that cause them the most grief.

At a district, state or national level, educational change is fraught with differing viewpoints about what is best for students. Politicians tie educational reforms to any number of issues that are not even related to education. School funding may be a pawn in a chess game for highway funding or tax incentives to entice corporate development. In this arena, change is not only difficult but out of the realm of control for many teachers, especially beginning teachers.

Other struggles come from environmental circumstances that seem out of our control. You may teach in a failing school or in a community with a lack of parental support. Your students may live in poverty and families struggle to provide the basics such as food, shelter and medical care. Teachers are tasked with, and often assessed by, improving students test scores for children who often don’t even show up for school.

How do you maintain positivity in the face of very real struggles and under circumstances you cannot control?

They key to finding success despite the challenges we face is to understand what you can control, and do your best to be proactive in your responses to challenges. Here are 6 ways you can respond positively to issues that are out of your control.

Build your own positive classroom ecosystem.

You may not like the top-down systematic policies that your school must adhere to, and you may wish for better environments for your students. But at the end of the day, your classroom is under your control. You can make it a positive and safe place for students. You can encourage and celebrate student growth and achievement. You can teach students life and social skills. You can teach students the skills they need to learn and to succeed, and help them develop habits that lead to success.

Good teachers know that they teach far more than the curriculum they are given. They help their students to be better people. Building a supportive classroom community doesn’t take a lot of money and it can be accomplished within the boundaries of any required school initiatives.

Take opportunities to educate the public.

You don’t have to be a lobbyist to help to inform people about the issues that educators face. Your family and friends will ask about school. A local school issue will be a topic of discussion at the grocery store or at the community pool. You may even be invited to a school board meeting to share a program you have participated in. Each of these is an opportunity to be frank and honest, sharing your struggles and your ideas about what schools and teachers really need.

Most educational reforms are well -meant. Lack of experience and knowledge by those in power leads to policies that don’t work. You can inform others by telling of your experiences in a non-judgmental, factual way. Share what has worked for you and what you believe students need. All educational reforms need to be made with the input of teachers. You may only play a small part in providing that input, but if every teacher did this, it would make an impact.

Be careful about the negative messages you put into the world.

In many societies, teachers are both revered and well paid. They are treated as professionals and high respected. This is often not the case in the U.S. today, where teacher bashing has become common place.

If teachers want to be respected, they need to be respectable. Most teachers are consummate professionals. However, sometimes the messages teachers put into the world are less professional.

For example, Facebook is full of memes with countdowns to the number of days left before a school break. The subtle message to students, parents and the entire community is “my job is so bad that I can’t wait for the next 21 days until summer break.” Another Facebook meme rejoices, “Off for three months, too bad for the rest of you suckahs…” We all enjoy a funny post, but consider the underlying message before you post.

Don’t let assessments be your only focus.

There is a lot of pressure today to achieve progress on standardized tests. Many teachers are also required to do weekly probes and regular unit assessments. Sometimes these assessments are not even directly tied to the curriculum you are required to teach. Yet when students don’t achieve the required scores, both teachers and students are demoralized.

Keep in mind that an assessment is one piece of data, one picture of one moment in time. Be sure to keep other forms of data that show student progress. Multiple data points will make a stronger case for student learning.

Help students stay motivated and positive by explaining what the test scores mean. For example, standardized tests do a much better job of showing district growth than they do showing individual growth. Show students and parents how they are making progress by sharing their work.

Keep parents informed and engaged.

The key to good parental interactions is to keep parents informed and engaged. Even if parents seem disconnected, keep trying. Use any means necessary including your schools’ parent portal and on-line grading system, newsletters, a classroom web page and good old-fashioned notes home. Share your units, your objectives, your goals for the students and especially, your students’ wins. One positive phone call home can sometimes turn around an unmotivated or under performing student.

Know that you have more power than you think in affecting the lives of your students.

This is the realization that keeps many teachers going. You may not be able to change the system, but you can help this child. You may not be able to provide a safe environment in a troubled neighborhood, but you can provide a safe environment in your classroom. You may not be able to help a student learn everything, but you can help them learn important things that have the power to change their lives.

It is helpful to know that teaching struggles are real and can be overwhelming. We also think it is helpful to know that if you remain focused on the things under your control, you can ultimately affect positive results.

Our best,

Have you gotten our free list of phrases to use to improve your classroom management? If not, get it now!

Huddled Masses: How A Teacher Can be a Beacon of Hope For Students

January 16, 2018 by Inspired Together Teachers 4 Comments

This week we have a guest post written by 4th grade teacher Colin Rust. Colin is also one of the Thriving Young Teachers mentors. One of Colin’s gifts is building a strong classroom community. He finds the strengths of each student and helps students work together to support each other. You will understand why when you read his inspiring post.

Huddled Masses: How A Teacher Can be a Beacon of Hope For Students

by Colin Rust.

Each year as a part of our ELA Unit my fourth graders explore the ever invigorating topic of immigration. No sarcasm here, I promise. I find the learning of a horde of people moving very exciting. The idea that at one time millions of people decided to pack up everything they owned, or what would fit in a small backpack, and move halfway across the globe on a whim of a dream, is an adventure of epic proportions. Along with immigration we discuss a famous landmark that has a close link to these journeys: The Statue of Liberty.

This tall, beautiful symbol of hope holds a great deal of meaning to many immigrants both past and present. She stands for hope, for freedom, and for dreams that wouldn’t have come true if some have never made it to America. She holds a blazing torch which ushers souls into the harbor. The students learn a great deal about this gargantuan guide through research and readings; however, this year it wasn’t the seven spikes on her crown that peaked my interest. It wasn’t the fact that she is resting one of her feet, but it was the little poem that is screwed into the base of this beacon of hope.

The poem, entitled ‘The New Colossus’ was written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 as part of a fundraising campaign by the assemblers of the statue, basically the epitome of the “write the best short story” competitions. Lazarus compares the new shining statue to The Colossus of Rhodes, an Ancient Greek statue that welcomes sailors into the city of Rhodes. That’s all fine and dandy but this isn’t a bloomin’ history post, so move on Rust, move on. Anyway she wrote this poem and this poem has a lot to say, and its meaning goes far beyond immigration.

The poem itself is multiple stanzas long, but I will focus on the most famous part:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

This little bit of this poem, this sonnet, really spoke to me as a teacher. Think about this. Each year a new ship of fourth grade immigrants leave their homelands and venture to the great unknown. We, as teachers, should be their Lady Liberty (or Liberty Lad, if you will), welcoming them with open arms. Our torches blazing the way to their hopes and dreams.

As educators we need to welcome this group. We need to accept them all as they are. Sure are they all shining, first class voyagers? No. Some come to you a little battered and yes, broken. However as an educator, as a teacher, you have a duty to accept those poor, those tired, and those huddled masses.

Some of these kiddos are coming to you, looking to you as a beacon of hope, a fresh start, a living breathing dream. It is a huge disservice to them to look down upon them based on hearsay from others in the building. I know we all dread “those kids”, the kids that seem to walk the halls with a Google Maps pin on their head. A pin that literally shouts,”Hey! This is that kid that people were talking about!” My challenge every year is to try not to listen to what others say about students. Yes, I welcome any helpful advice, but as far as I’m concerned I’ll form my own opinions after getting to know them.

These “huddled masses” have been assigned me as their teacher. Just as the statue didn’t get a choice to say who floated passed her, we don’t get a choice in which students we get each year. However, instead of throwing a fit about it, or lamenting in the fact that you “got the hard class again”, I believe you need to take the opportunity and look at your students and ask yourself: “What do these students need from me?” How can you take your wretched refuse and turn them into shining examples of upstanding citizens of your classroom community? You might be the best thing for “that kid.” Be the teacher to wash clean that student’s reputation. Be the teacher that will change that student’s life.

And, hey, I’m not perfect. In fact this year I found myself in the same predicament. I had a student who I couldn’t grasp. I couldn’t seem to get a handle on what to do to help this child. Was this the best fit? Would this student thrive somewhere else? And the biggest question, why me? These questions may not have definite answers, but if I put them in the golden light of the New Colossus’ torch, some answers seem to appear. I can do something for this student. I can make a difference. I may not know why I was chosen, maybe it was simply that my roster was short, or maybe I was meant to change this student’s fate.

This year I had to come face to face with that sonnet, pull myself up by my gigantic sea foam toga, and do my best for this student, I needed to give them a chance. And isn’t that what we all want as immigrants coming to a land? Give them a chance. It’s free. It’s easy. It could change a life. Or maybe more.

Colin Rust is a 4th grade teacher at Brookdale Elementary School in Naperville, Illinois.

8 Questions that Will Make You a Better Teacher

January 2, 2018 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Do you want to be a better teacher? We believe that in order to be our best- as a person and as an educator, we always need to be growing. Personal growth can come through reading, taking classes, or participating in a PLC, but it can also come through simply asking yourself questions.

These questions have no right or wrong answers. They are meant to be reflective, for your eyes and for your heart. Success does not happen by accident, or by merely doing the things you have to do, but by purposefully seeking to grow.

Take a few minutes and ask yourself these questions. The answers will be the spark you need to ignite growth, which will energize you and set you up for future success.

Here are 8 questions that will make you a better teacher:

What am I proud of accomplishing? How can I use my successes and inspiration and as a blueprint for accomplishing new things?

Where have I failed? How can I use my failures to learn and to grow in the future?

Who has helped me in my teaching career? How can I say thank you and be grateful for the help I have received? How can I give back to someone else? When we work together to pull each other up, we all achieve more.

Who can mentor me in the next phase of my life? We all need people who can uplift us, teach us new things and help us to be better. Look around you. Are there master teachers you can learn from? Can you read about best practices? Can you take a class, join a mastermind group or become a part of on-line groups that will support you?

Who do I spend the most time with? Personal development expert Jim Rohn said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Are the people you spend time with filling you up or dragging you down? Negative talk in the teacher’s lounge can kill your spirit. Find the people in your life who energize you and support your goals.

What have I been wanting to do that I have not yet done? The answer to this question offers you a clear path for growth. Is there a program or strategy you have been wanting to try? Do you want to learn a new skill? What could you do that would make you a better teacher or a better person? Make a plan and get started. You don’t have to wait until you can do it perfectly, just get started.

What is the most important thing about today? The things that are urgent often get in the way of the things that are important. Teachers have busy days and busy lives. Long to-do lists can become overwhelming. Ask yourself each day, what is the most important thing about today? Then make sure you do that thing. This will help you to prioritize and make sure you are accomplishing the most important things.

Am I becoming the person I want to be? It is easy to become frustrated and yell at a student. It is easy to become overwhelmed with grading papers, quit and binge watch your favorite TV shows. We are not perfect. We will slide into bad habits or bad practices and we will most certainly mess up when we try new things. The import thing is not that we have messed up, but that we keep trying to move ourselves forward.

Give yourself credit for the good things, however small, that you do to help yourself move forward. Ask yourself, who do I want to be? Then take baby steps in that direction. Great things are not often accomplished by one big, perfect action, but by many small steps that gradually move you forward.

We know you want to be a better teacher, if not, you wouldn’t have read this far. We hope that you will make your personal growth a goal and set an intention towards growing each and every year. Not only will positive action towards personal growth make you better, it is the key that will keep you energized and enthused about your life and your work.

Happy learning,

You may want to grow by reading books about other amazing teachers. Here are our suggestions of books with inspiring teachers:

13 Inspiring Teacher Movies for your Binge-Watching Pleasure

December 19, 2017 by Inspired Together Teachers 4 Comments

Teacher movies have a reputation for being syrupy, predictable, and clichéd. A typical plot is that of an idealistic young teacher who takes on a class of unruly students and “saves” them by using tough love and encouragement. These are often feel good movies designed to evoke strong emotions and be inspiring.

Teaching is a difficult job, and at times, we all need some inspiration. Teacher movies offer inspiration, but if you watch carefully, you will also learn things about the importance of building relationships, effective teaching strategies, and how to manage accountability while holding high standards.

We offer 13 of our favorite teacher movies for your binge-watching pleasure:

Dead Poet’s Society

Robin Williams is genius in his portrayal of a prep school teacher Mr. Keating, who is out to inspire his students to think and live differently. Watch this to see what a passionate teacher looks and acts like. This movie was nominated for many awards and won an Academy Award for Best Screenwriting. Carpe Diem!

Stand and Deliver

A math teacher is a struggling school manages to inspire his apathetic students to math greatness by giving them both skills and desire to achieve. Tragically, the students, who are mostly poor and Latino, are accused of cheating. Mr. Escalante is a master at getting attention. Watch the scene where he slices an apple with a cleaver or when he connects mathematical principals to the Mayan heritage of the students. You’ll learn how to make learning relevant and be inspired to connect with students.

Mr. Holland’s Opus

Richard Dreyfus stars as Mr. Holland, a wannabe composer who takes a job as a music teacher. The job is more difficult than he imagined, and he is often frustrated and feels ineffective. All teachers have these feelings. Based on a true story, this movie is a testament to the power of a teacher to affect students in powerful ways and reminds us that we, too, may be affecting our students in ways we don’t even know about.

Dangerous Minds

Dangerous Minds is another movie based on a true story. LouAnne Johnson is an ex-marine who takes on a class full of troubled high school students and manages to both bribe and inspire them into achieving. Her real method, however is building connections with students, which is the ultimate strategy to win them over.

Freedom Writers

Also based on a true story, idealistic new teacher Ms. Gruell takes a job in inner-city Los Angeles. A fish out of water, the pearl wearing Gruell does not immediately connect with her highly diverse, at-risk students. When she begins to discuss racism, they gradually open up. This leads to a writing project which helps to change the student’s lives. Though the world may try to beat the idealism out of you, this movie teaches you to hold fast to your dreams.

School of Rock

This is an unusual choice, since character Dewey Finn, played by Jack Black, is not a real teacher. In addition to being entertaining, it is the story of a surprisingly effective teacher. Finn, who does not always use ethical methods, turns his fourth- grade classroom in a rock band. He uses some good teaching techniques and demonstrates a clear understanding of how to motivate students. His best strategy is to understand who his students are and to use their strengths to help them find success.

Lean On Me

Morgan Freeman stars as Joe Clarke, a tough guy principal who takes on a gang and violence ridden New York City school. His methods are unorthodox; he wanders the halls with a baseball bat and instantly expels troublemakers. He manages to raise standards and ultimately, turn around the school. The message here is that we CAN change things in education that aren’t working.

To Sir With Love

This classic 1967 movie stars the superb Sidney Poitier as a black engineer forced by discrimination to take a job as a teacher in London’s rough East End. At first he is both shocked and appalled at the behavior he sees. He challenges the students to act more respectfully, which accounts for his new title as “Sir.” Gradually, he wins them over and changes how they see themselves and their future.

Goodbye Mr. Chips

This is another classic movie, which won Robert Donant an Academy Award in 1939 for best actor, beating out Clarke Gable in Gone With the Wind. The film is about an aging headmaster who tells the story of his teaching career through flashbacks from his past. The delight in this movie is watching Mr. Chips transform from a young, ineffective teacher, into a master educator. If you study how he changed as he learned through the years you will have a guide from an excellent mentor.

Music of the Heart

Meryl Streep stars as a middle-aged woman who takes a job as a music teacher in Harlem when her husband abandons her. With no experience, she struggles in the job, but hangs in there and keeps trying. She gradually has a positive effect on her students and on the school community. The teacher who perseveres wins, which teaches us that you can get better at your job and ultimately, make a difference.

Front of the Class

This is the story of a young boy with Tourette’s Syndrome. He is tortured and bullied as a child, but refuses to let his condition hold him down. He ultimately becomes a successful teacher. This movie will help you understand Tourette’s syndrome as you root for the underdog. By the time he gets a teaching job, you believe that he will accomplish anything he sets his mind to, including being an effective teacher.

The Ron Clark Story

This is the true story of Clark, who is now leads his own school and has written extensively about education. Clarke leaves his successful job in a suburban school in North Carolina and heads for New York City where he hopes to tackles the challenges of the inner city and raise test scores despite all odds. This movie will lead you to challenge yourself rather than accept mediocrity and complacency.

Akeelah and the Bee

This is a story about the power of education in transforming a life. Akeelah is a bright but unmotivated eleven-year-old. Akeelah’s environment, with its low expectations, gangs and apathy towards education threatens to destroy her. Faced with detentions for her many absences, she gets involved with a spelling bee and wins. She is sent to train with an English professor, whose methods involve deeply understanding your content and believing in your inner power.

We hope you relax and enjoy some of these teacher movies over your break from school. Also, we’d love to hear your favorite teacher movies. What teacher movies do you recommend? Just let us know in the comments below.

Happy watching,

Do you want some more teacher inspiration? Fill out the form below and get a list of 25 Books with Inspiring Teachers!

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