Teaching the Reader First

Part 2 of 3, Lens 1: Ability

In the first part of this series, I introduced the three lenses for seeing the whole reader. In this post for paid subscribers, I share a narrative - a composite of multiple literacy experiences - that shows how the ability lens can serve as an entry point for teaching the reader first.

Jayne, an elementary special education teacher, looked at her students’ reading data. One out of eight of her students were proficient on the fall screener. This percentage (13%) was much lower compared to students without disabilities. Digging into the results more deeply, she noticed that Wisconsin ELA Standard R.3.1 was a challenge:

“Develop and answer questions to locate relevant and specific details in a text to support an answer or inference. (RI & RL)”

Jayne determined that her students needed additional practice in reading texts that included opportunities to determine the main idea and key ideas that support understanding. She selected the free resource Readworks (https://www.readworks.org/). Th…