Teaching Reading in an Elementary Inclusionary Classroom

Research on the teaching of literacy consistently places great emphasis on the need for as much individualized instruction as possible, especially when teaching students with learning disabilities. However, in this age of standardized testing and misinterpreted ideas about accountability, teachers' days are already filled to the brim, making it challenging to provide the one on one support that students need. In an inclusion classroom, this becomes increasingly difficult - and increasingly crucial.

To this end, I have sought out strategies and activities for the teaching of reading that are easily applicable to a wide range of lessons and assignments, and that can be used successfully by all students. Because it is important to individualize literacy instruction, it only makes sense to also define children's success individually and subjectively. Teachers must guide students in developing personal and attainable goals for reading while concurrently communicating high expectations and offering the necessary support that will result in achievement of goals. All of the following methods are tried and tested; in my work in elementary inclusion classrooms, I have either employed them myself or observed them being implemented.


The Teaching of Reading

According to the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA), the process and teaching of reading can be divided into two general areas: decoding and comprehension (LDA, 2005; Fountas & Pinnell, 1998). In order to master comprehension, or the understanding of a text, children must first develop decoding skills, or the problem-solving strategies used in translating written words to spoken words (LDA, 2005). In fact, many elementary reading programs focus on building decoding skills from kindergarten through second grade, leaving the teaching of comprehension skills to begin in third grade (LDA, 2005). Although this is not the approach that I necessarily endorse, it is for this reason that I begin with teaching decoding skills in an elementary inclusionary classroom.


Decoding