Native American students learn reading by reading. Schools must teach each child a love for books. Many states have book depositories which give organizations books for free.Every child needs to experience his/her very own books. Open that new book up. Smell that wonderful smell. Books are the way to that brave new world for all of our children.The decades long argument between reading teachers about whether the phonics approach is best or the whole language approach is best is over. Native American children need both approaches and anything else that is effective. Whole language and phonics need to be seen as two approaches to reading, both needed to assist the student in reading.

Reading Time

If students are going to read, the educational leadership is going to have to lead. Every school serving Native American students needs to set aside a school reading time of a minimum of thirty minutes per day. During this time, every single person in the school, including the principal, the teachers, the students, the aides, the maintenance staff, the clerical staff, the cafeteria workers, the volunteers, and any parent present reads with or to the students. Based on Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, the idea is centered on modeling important behaviors that schools want the children to imitate. Through observing adults and other students reading, and reading or trying to read themselves at their own level, the students are truly internalizing important qualities and skills related to reading. Most of all, watching the importance that all the school’s adults give to reading, encourages the students to want to read also.

Reading is a Multisensory Experience

For all the reading textbooks ever written, for all the research on reading ever carried out, for all the different philosophies of teaching reading, no one can actually say why it is that students learn to read. The closest anyone can say about the reading learning process is that in each student something suddenly “clicks on” and the student learns to read.Reading is a multisensory experience. If all of the student’s senses are involved in learning, the student is more actively learning than he otherwise is. A student who hears the words, sees the words, says the words, feels the words, and can use the words in his daily life, will probably learn to read faster than other students. Phonics will work well with some students and not others. Whole language will work well with some other students. Practical reading skills are going to come from a variety of methods. Students must learn the basic sight words: Some study skills are required. Students follow along as the teacher reads. They hear the words, they see the words, and they move their finger under the words as the teacher reads. The teacher teaches the students how to study. The teacher points out the new words every day. The students practice the new words in the classroom all day. They use the words. They experience the words. The words are modeled. The students internalize the new words and the next day they can read the new words. Students learn to read by reading and using words. They are rewarded for their efforts. They are recognized and honored. The new words are on the board. The new words are on their desk. The new words are everywhere.

Every Student a Star

One quick way to teach students to read is to create an environment in which they really want to read. Teachers can build a small podium for their classroom. In front of the podium, the word star is placed on a star. It can be colored gold with Hollywood glitter.Every child reads from the podium. When that student is reading, they are the absolute center of attention. Everything is focused on them. The students act the part of the star.They get very drammatical. They sometimes act a little silly. They really do begin to read up there. Maybe it is all the attention they are receiving. Maybe it is the extra motivation they get from that star. Whatever the reason, students do learn to read. This technique causes reading to “click on” for them.

One day, a severely emotionally disturbed student asked to read. The class let out a collective groan. This was not a good reader. It would be a tough time. The teacher called the student to read. He was reading Where the Red Fern Grows. He read with passion, perfectly, never missing a word or context clue, reading without error and with perfect pose, making the story come alive. His classmates watched him in awe and disbelief.

He read the entire period without stopping. When the bell rang, the entire class was on its feet, wildly applauding this student. He bowed and smiled. Shortly afterward, he exited special education forever. It was a day to remember. Years later, the teacher could still see every face in that room, hear every word that student said, see every cloud that passed by the windows. It was a moment when time stood still. A moment when reading just “clicked on” for a student.

Reading 1:1

Nothing in education can compare with finding a junior high or high school student considered a child with problems, matching them in a 1:1 situation with a younger student and watching both parties thrive in a new relationship while the older student works with the younger student on reading. Reading may be the end result but a lot more than reading is happening here. It is making a student having a bad educational experience feel better about himself while assisting a younger student. It is about caring for another human being. It is about feeling important as the younger student greets him with excitement and hero worship. It is about establishing a sense of self-worth and understanding the value of an education. Sometimes it is about keeping the older student in school and out of trouble. Sometimes it is about just keeping the older student alive. It works.

Reading Words Within Words

All children look with fear at the big words. This fear is easy to overcome. A good technique to improve the reading skills of Native American students is to teach students to look for small words within the bigger words. This will take the student’s fear away from the big words that they see. Teachers write the words on the board which the class is studying and then the teacher asks the class to identify the words within the words. Some have few or none, but many have a lot. For example, take the word justice. Write the word on the board. Underline just, us, tic, and ice. Four little words make up that one magnificent word that we are all fighting to have for our students. This technique also helps students remember the new word by associating it with a word they already know and assists them in spelling.