Books for Struggling Readers 1 – most able strugglers

posted in: Post-16 & Adult Literacy, Resources and Lesson Ideas, Secondary literacy |

When I read Dr Bethan Marshall’s comment that: many teenagers will think that being made to read Dickens aged 16 is just tedious… I felt incredibly deflated by the thought that we’ve created a world where people will miss out on the colour, characters, truths and entertainment of reading Dickens. John Walker writes more about the whys of the matter on his blog and comments: Too often the velleities of secondary school expectation are to blame. After looking up “valleity” … Read More

It’s Not Magic – It’s Reading

posted in: Resources and Lesson Ideas, Secondary literacy |

I once had a call from a TRT trained teacher who told me it was going well, but the boys were getting through all of the TRT Levels without making much improvement in their reading. That’s not the most thrilling news I’d ever heard so thought I’d see if the problem was with TRT or with the way it was being delivered. Me: How much time are you spending reading in each session? Teacher: Oh I’m just going through the … Read More

3 Misconceptions of Struggling Readers

posted in: Post-16 & Adult Literacy, Secondary literacy |

Lacking an MRI scanner, I have to depend on intuition (ie mind reading) when trying to figure out what’s going on inside the brain of a struggling reader. Following are a few of the more common misconceptions that struggling readers live with but never vocalise unless asked. When my son was four, someone asked him is he was going to go ice-skating. He replied, “First I’m going to get my balance, then I’m going to start skating.” He didn’t understand … Read More

Llywio Darllen – TRT in Wales

posted in: Secondary literacy |

We’ve finally finished adapting and trialling Llywio Darllen, the Welsh adaptation of ThatReadingThing. It doesn’t translate directly into English but roughly means “being steered into reading”. The Year 6 pupils in Cardiff had eight hours of LLywio Darllen over two weeks and made substantial progress in both reading and spelling. Many thanks to Eirian Lloyd Jones and the Welsh Dyslexia Project/ Prosiect Dyslecsia Cymru for all their hard work and support. If you’re interested in Llywio Darllen please get in … Read More

Evidence 4 ~ One Story

posted in: Evidence, Secondary literacy |

One particular line of numbers caught my attention. F 13 05:11 06:05 00:06 5 hrs continuing White British truancy It’s the “Data Story” of a thirteen year old white British girl with truancy issues who struggles with reading and agreed to start meeting with a ThatReadingThing tutor.  I’m going to call her Amber. At their first session, her reading age was 5 years and 11 months which is what we would expect of a child at some point in Year … Read More

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