Who is at risk?
In the classroom there are those children who are termed “at
risk”, that is to say they are at a potential disadvantage
in terms of academic success. At-risk children are children who,
by age 5, have not been exposed to reading in the home or who have
been exposed to reading but are showing signs of difficulty with
the written word.
To be at risk means an unsteady future
In 1998, The International Reading Association declared
that ”one of the best predicators of whether a child
will function competently in school and go on to contribute
actively in our increasingly literate society is the level
to which the child progresses in reading and writing.” We
live in a world that is increasingly information-based,
and without basic reading and writing skills it is difficult
for individuals to participate. “Society rewards
individuals who are proficient and penalizes those who
are not, whether expressed in terms of employment success
or active social cultural and citizenship participation
in society.”
So, if boys are experiencing challenges reading (as discussed See
Dick run…January 13, 2004), then these challenges will certainly
compound as they continue through school. They are then more likely
to drop out of school before graduation and will have added difficulty
entering the job market. According to studies by the Organization
for Economic Development (OECD), girls are performing at a higher
level in high school and have higher graduation rates both in high
school and in University than boys. As well, girls are more likely
to get a university degree. The only OECD countries where this is
not the case is Turkey, Japan and Switzerland.
Reid reads…
Reid Spencer is an example of an at-risk student. Fortunately,
his parents are taking a very active role in order to ensure his
success. When asked if he finds reading difficult he says,” It
was hard but now it’s easier because I know more words.” His
mother read to him everyday from the age of 6 weeks on and was surprised
when he showed difficulty reading and processing language, however,
Reid is now working with a tutor and his reading is improving daily.
Reid’s advice for boys that are experiencing reading challenges?
“Once you read it, it gets really interesting.”
His advice for parents?
“Buy them the books they want.”
Other at-risk students
are those who have not been exposed to sufficient levels
of literacy because of economic reasons.
They have not been exposed to books in the home, or
trips to museums, or the opportunity to participate in arts-related
activities.
In light of this, some US schools have began to implement
programs to identify these children by age 5, and put
them in
what is called
an Entrants Class. According to G. Gonzales, a speaker at the Oregon Reading Conference
in 1994, the purpose of these special classes is to “bathe
them [young children] in language.” This alternative kindergarten
introduces students to a variety of experiences they might have
missed in throughout their development thus far that will enhance
their ability to comprehend both the written and the spoken word,
with the curriculum mainly focused on fostering the child’s
natural curiosity for reading and writing.
Strategies for success
Kari Winters is currently completing a master’s degree specializing in
arts-integrated approaches to reading comprehension and written composition from
The University of British Columbia. She is also the mother of a three-year-old
boy, Liam.
Her goal is to “investigate the efficacy of using
arts-integrated and multimedia programming when teaching
narrative reading comprehension and writing among children
in the intermediate grades who struggle with literacy.”
When asked what she has observed in the classroom and in
her research, Kari replied, “Until recently, within
the last ten years, the focus of reading comprehension
was on answering questions based on the content of the
text. Today, many boards of education are focusing also
on the strategies that readers use to understand text.
For example, instead of questions like ‘Who was the
main character?’ a teacher may ask students to make
inferences about the text, or activate prior knowledge.
These changes make readers think in more critical, meta-cognitive
ways.”
As a mother she is aware of the importance of early engagement
with the literacy. “I believe that by working on language
skills - for example, singing with him, engaging him in rich
conversations, providing vocabulary in contexts, reading
to him daily and talking about the experiences that he thinks
are meaningful - I am providing him with a very good start
for his future.”
Early identification and participation with literacy and
literacy-based activities such as reading, drawing, writing,
and engaging in conversations that are meaningful will help
ensure boys, as well as girls, have all the tools they need
for academic success.
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