¶ … individual child help you to better understand some problems of the struggling reader? A major part of the classrooms in the nation's public schools consist of struggling readers. It has been suggested by researchers that subject teachers can enhance reading abilities of students by imparting: (a) strategy and skill instruction and (b) reading and text-discussion opportunities in several ways. However, giving better or more reading instruction doesn't mean students will apply it. It has been suggested by some researchers that poor as well as good readers don't apply reading skills that have been imparted to them, despite understanding how it is to be done and being interested in learning information through texts. Moreover, struggling readers might opt for engaging with instructions and texts in ways that they realize are damaging to their progress as readers, despite saying that they aspire to improve (Hall, 2009).

Not much is known regarding the way struggling readers decide on tasks pertaining to classroom reading. Researchers have speculated that the decisions of struggling readers are linked with poor self-worth, low motivation or inadequate cognitive abilities. These conceptualizations regarding struggling readers indicate that if appropriate cognitive proficiencies are developed by them, and they experienced enhanced self-efficacy and motivation, they would resort to more positive decision-making with regards to reading, and would possibly enhance their skills. However, other researchers have postulated that how a student identifies him/herself as a reader, and how he wants others' recognition, can impact decisions. Schoolrooms need students to represent specific identities to become successful; struggling readers might not believe that they should or can assume these identities. If precedence is given to identity, in the way students handle reading tasks, then their decisions might revolve around what they are required to do for hiding, maintaining, or promoting a certain identity among family members, teachers or peers. Thus, the amount or quality of reading instructions and tasks they receive might influence their actions slightly, unless it is receptive to identity issues (Hall, 2009).

Individually investigating Jailah helped me to understand categorically the study-related problems that she was undergoing, and how exactly these problems can be overpowered. Also, it was revealed that a key contributor in Jailah's struggle was her private life, since she isn't attentive to work when she becomes frustrated. Jailah is a female student, eight years of age, and currently a third-grader, who was referred to assess her reading capabilities as she might be lagging behind at school and in academic tasks. While there is no recorded history of anxiety or depression in Jailah, it is essential to record her living circumstances as being slightly hectic. During the assessment, she was cooperative and pleasant; she did, however, express frustration while reading passages in her tests (despite doing well in them), and got quite restless and discontinued passage-reading in her second assessment. Therefore, some evidence is seen that indicates that when Jailah gets frustrated, she doesn't put extra efforts in academic work. Nevertheless, the evaluation seems to be consistent, and a valid estimation of Jailah's reading abilities.

How will this understanding influence your future practices as a teacher?

Though students struggling with literacy require time for reading fairly easy pieces of text so as to become successful, they can profit from the opportunity to read more difficult texts. Background knowledge and interest are two aspects that help students in reading beyond their regular reading level. Knowledge on the topic supports comprehension and word identification in children by facilitating them in drawing on that which they know, while interest promotes persistence as well as the desire to comprehend. Teacher knowledge proves crucial to the success of students: Teachers should know interests of students and have knowledge of (or know how to get) books on such matters (Ganske, Monroe, & Strickland, 2003).Instructional formats such as literature circles might also facilitate children's comprehension. When texts utilized build on the knowledge and interests of students, the integration of being highly knowledgeable on the subject and the ability to talk about the texts with better readers facilitates strugglers to cope with material, which would have been too difficult otherwise. As books that 'hold and hook' readers are likely non-fictional ones, children should be taught how to navigate the distinctive features that accompany informational text (for example, interpreting charts and graphs, and matching illustrations with captions). Teacher modeling by way of graphic organizers and think-alouds can prepare children in maximizing their learning (Ganske, Monroe, & Strickland, 2003).

2. Please discuss how your project helped you to find new strategies to implement as a teacher and aided you in finding new resources to use as a teacher of literacy, particularly for students with reading problems.

The outcomes of the academic evaluation and reading assessment indicate...

A comprehensive assessment of Jailah's letter identification abilities, sound/letter decoding skills and comprehension of phonetics portrays that she possesses significant difficulties in grasping vowel sounds. In her word- reading skill test, it was evident that her ability to decipher and recite consonants was a lot better than her vowel comprehension and reading. A detailed examination of her reading difficulties reveals that she can generally process consonant phonics, and visualize and read consonants in nonsense or irregular words. Jailah struggled significantly with deciphering and expressing vowel sounds. She seems to find it difficult to analyze sounds (mainly vowel sounds), recalling letter sounds (mainly vowel sounds, again) and blending and sequencing them into words. She appears to possess fine rote memory proficiencies as she can adequately join and examine consonant sounds. However, as progressively more complex reading will be required from her when she moves up through the academic system, Jailah won't be capable of using her rote memory approach for identifying unfamiliar, new words. She seems to possess good visual processing abilities; however, she portrays deficits in associating particular sounds with visuals symbols, in addition to a few minor deficits in aural processing.
Explicit Phonics Instruction

Three crucial reading strategies were cited as being essential by the ten educators and all six programs. These included reading, phonics and listening comprehension. It was agreed by each of the ten educators that the main skill which struggling readers were deficient in was phonics. Similarly, an interesting aspect to note was that a major part of the instructional time is devoted to fluency and word recognition, in the six programs, through clear phonics instruction. These programs usually make use of prescribed texts, wherein stories contain words and letters that students are familiarized with (Kelly & Campbell).

Listening Comprehension

Educators also identified listening comprehension as a vital skill that should be taught. They proposed that teachers should teach listening intentionally. They also believed that teachers could act as role models, showing children how to comprehend unfamiliar words, employ self-questioning and monitor comprehension (Kelly & Campbell).

Reading Comprehension Skills

While structured programs and educators may take different approaches to the teaching of reading comprehension abilities, shared themes were clearly seen. Teacher modeling reading for various purposes providing children with simulated or real experiences for establishing commonly shared past knowledge, teaching of distinct behaviors used by good readers prior to, during, and on completion of reading, and exposing students repeatedly to a particular story followed by giving immediate feedback regarding their understanding of the story's elements could improve reading comprehension (Kelly & Campbell).

3. How did studying an individual child in depth better enhance your teaching?

During the assessment, Jailah was cooperative and pleasant. She did, however, express frustration while reading passages in her tests (despite doing well in them), and got quite restless and discontinued passage-reading in her second assessment. Apart from the above-mentioned frustration tolerance issues, Jailah seemed capable of concentrating sufficiently during the assessment. She didn't appear distractible, incapable of maintaining attention over a majority of tasks on which she was evaluated, and there wasn't any significant proof that suggested she had hyperactivity or impulsiveness issues. Such characteristics assisted me in enhancing my teaching abilities in many ways.

Motivational Skills

Efficient teachers possess good strategies to assist students in motivating themselves to learn. It is increasingly believed by educational psychologists that this self-motivation is best achieved by offering each student with real-world opportunities for learning, which are of optimum novelty and difficulty. Efficient teachers are aware of the fact that children become motivated when they are allowed to make choices in keeping with their individual interests. Such teachers grant them an opportunity of thinking deeply and creatively about projects (Educational Psychology, n.d.).

Communication Skills

Skills in listening, speaking, overcoming verbal communication barriers, becoming attuned to non-verbal communication of students, and offering constructive conflict resolution are also vital to teaching. Skills in communication are essential not just for teaching children, but also for effective interaction with parents. Effectual teachers employ fine communication skills while talking 'with' instead of 'to' children, administrators, parents and others; minimize criticisms; and possess an assertive communication style, instead of one that is passive, manipulative or aggressive. Besides, effective teachers strive to enhance communication skills of students as well, which is particularly…