Reading and Writing Strategies for Teachers

Reading and Writing Strategies – This post is designed for teachers or parents who want to teach their students or children to read and write.  There is no wrong way to teach reading or writing.  However, the strategies that are outlined in this post may help accelerate the learning process, and, more importantly, make it more interesting for the teacher and the student.

Reading and Writing Strategies

Below are some specific reading and writing strategies –

Focus on comprehension as opposed to specific skills - If you think about it, the purpose of reading is to better understand ideas and the purpose of writing is express your comprehension of ideas.   Have conversations with our students before, during and after your reading and writing project to understand their perspective about what they are reading and writing.

Ask leading or broad questions to have them think about the material in a different way - Spending 30 to 40% of your time on these specific conversations will stimulate the mind and will allow for a richer experience for the students.  Teaching specific skills and repetition can be beneficial but without the proper context behind the work, you will find that the lessons of content will be lost pretty quickly.

Have an abundance of resource materials - Especially in the age of the Internet, have as much resource material available as you can.  This may include books, web pages or magazines.  Even videos can enhance the learning experience.  You can never be sure what resource will enhance the learning process, so have multiple resources available and you will teach a much broader audience and facilitate a richer learning experience.

Follow these reading and writing strategies and you will be closer to achieving success in your teaching activities.