Abstract
As an undergraduate student, I took classes to understand the reading process, but I did not learn how to teach students how to read. I understood how students learned to read as elementary students, but I did not learn how I, as a secondary teacher, could improve reading skills. As a first year teacher, I encountered students who were not great readers, but they could read. However, throughout the years, I encountered more and more students who did not like to read and did have difficulty comprehending texts. My traditional methods of teaching literature were not meeting the needs of these students. It was this situation that propelled me to enter graduate school and enter the North Carolina State University NLGL K-12 Reading program. When I entered graduate school, I did so in order to answer the compelling question "How do I help adolescents become better readers?"
Through my graduate courses, I have learned many reading and learning theories as well as strategies to help my adolescent students be better readers. I also had the opportunity to work as a research assistant with Dr. Kristin Conradi which gave me the opportunity to administer several different reading assessments as well as reading and summarizing several articles about reading issues related to adolescents. Through the synthesis of these experiences, I realized that all the answers to my compelling question related to the texts, activities, and student.
In answering my compelling question, I am using the RAND model to explain how the interactions of the text, activity, and reader within the sociocultural context can improve reading. As the teacher, my objective is to help bring together the best text and activity to help the reader improve his skills.
Through my graduate courses, I have learned many reading and learning theories as well as strategies to help my adolescent students be better readers. I also had the opportunity to work as a research assistant with Dr. Kristin Conradi which gave me the opportunity to administer several different reading assessments as well as reading and summarizing several articles about reading issues related to adolescents. Through the synthesis of these experiences, I realized that all the answers to my compelling question related to the texts, activities, and student.
In answering my compelling question, I am using the RAND model to explain how the interactions of the text, activity, and reader within the sociocultural context can improve reading. As the teacher, my objective is to help bring together the best text and activity to help the reader improve his skills.