a plan of action
If you have a student who struggles in reading, and there is rarely a teacher who does not encounter this situation, there are things you can do to provide support. First understand that it is NOT enough for the child to receive a pull-out program or an EA. The EA is not responsible for bringing the child to grade level. Literacy Interventions in the classroom can be short, but they must be consistent, and extremely focused. Explicit and systematic instruction is a MUST for bringing a student up to grade level. Literacy Interventions for students who struggle with decoding first requires assessment of some basic skills. In our Action Research projects, we focused on word-level reading skills such as high frequency words, common clusters and increased independent reading. Additionally, we ensured daily, focused guided reading in order for students to build recognition and fluency with connected text.