Fight The Summer Reading Slump And Bridge Achievement Gap With These 5 Strategies

24th February 2023

Research reveals that's students who are not encouraged to read in the grade level struggle every year after the third grade as 85% of the curriculum is taught by reading.

Summer break is on and your students are all set to go on their favorite trip, visit their grandparents or enjoy a study-free holiday. While summers are usually a stress-free time for most educators, many are still in a state of panic. Reason- Reading Loss!

Reading is a huge concerning aspect for many teachers as independence in life depends on one’s sole ability to read. Furthermore, non-readers and struggling readers are always at risk of being demotivated or facingbehavior problems in class, becoming school dropouts, failing grade-level assessments, being unemployed or dependent on their parents, etc. In short, a student's ability to read dictates their trajectory for success in school and independence in life.

What Is Achievement Gap?

As per the National Center for Education Statistics, Achievement gaps occur when students outperform one another and the difference in their average score is statistically significant. This disparity in performance is detrimental to the differences in test scores, college acceptance rates, dropout rates, and more.
 

Source: www.scholastic.com

The difference between the student’s actual performance and their expected performance often contributes to larger achievement gaps. Hence, achievement and learning gaps can be reduced when the learner’s reading achievement is enhanced.

Why Summer Reading Pays Off?

As educators, you always believe that the best way to transform children into better readers is by simply picking a book and reading to them. This is definitely true because reading helps a child with:

• Vocabulary building
• Improved reading comprehension
• Verbal communication
• Writing and spelling
• Grammar usage and knowledge

5 Strategies To Close Achievement Gap With Reading

While teaching a variety of kids you must have noticed that some kids are natural readers while others force themselves to stay interested. When you find students facing difficulties in pronouncing letters, then simply providing alphabet worksheets is not going to help.

Here are 5 ways to get your kids passionate about reading.

1. Mix Reading With Daily Activities

When children are on their summer break, you can provide them with home assignments that can be mixed with their daily activities. Meet up with the parents to learn about the child to figure out what activities to give.
 

Source: www.scholastic.com

For example, if someone likes to help their mothers with cooking and baking, then you can ask them to read a recipe while helping out in the kitchen. If someone is interested in assembling things with their fathers, then ask them to read the instruction manual. Children are surrounded by various informational texts that can help them gain vocabulary and literary skills.

2. Uncover Student’s Passions

It is pretty obvious that students will not read if they are not interested. However, you will have to use your child’s passion as a catalyst to find fascinating books that they will love. Fiction is a good choice but if students are reluctantto read, they might not be willing to stay tuned for such stories.

Thus, involve parents to know more about their passions and gravitate towards topics they would want to learn about. Depending on that you can assign books or magazines to them. Some kids also learn well from articles like National Geography or pictorial books related to wildlife and nature.

3. Use Audiobooks For Reluctant Readers

Now you might be wondering how audiobooks can help your students to read who actually are not inclined to read. Well, just a disclaimer you should not solely rely on audiobooks for summer reading, but you can incorporate this as a necessary tool for giving interesting assignments.
 

Source: www.scholastic.com

To spark interest in reading you can recommend them some audiobooks during the summer break that will increase their comprehension and vocabulary. Once they find themselves interested in knowing the story you can then shift them to physical books to learn more. Along with books, auditory tools can sometimes be great for learning.

4. Engage Students In Stem Books

When it comes to developing reading skills there is no differentiation between students based on age and gender. With the demand for STEM skills rising each day both girls and boys should be facilitated with knowledge on such topics. Furthermore, studies show that only 9% of the books read in schools are STEM books, and only 57% and 53% of the girls were interested in such books.

Thus, if you want your students to enter the fast-paced world and land their dream job eventually these numbers need to change. As teachers, you can increase exposure to STEM topics and pique their interest by raising visibility about STEM careers. Once students figure out why they are reading and what is in it for them, they will develop interest automatically.

5. Help Struggling Readers Catch Up

Understanding why readers are struggling is another major part of being an educator. Thus when you see third-graders struggling to read you should provide them with optimum support so that they reach the benchmarks when they grow up.

During summer break ask them to spend 5-10 minutes of the day reading and as an assessment, you can ask parents to record their learning. You can prepare a chart where they can fill in the new words they have learned, or write a summary to showcase their comprehension skills, etc.

Bridge The Gap

Reading is one such activity that can be enjoyed inside and outside the classroom. Reading can change perspectives, spark imagination and make students think deeper about the topic. Thus, for students, you need to ensure that you are promoting best reading practices to impact their overall learning experience. However, if you are unsure about what reading strategies to include consider pursuing International Teaching Diploma in Kolkata for better insights.

Written By : Sanjana