One Major Reason Your Reading Intervention May Not Be Working

We go to all the classes and training seminars and know exactly what we need to deliver high-quality reading intervention. We have a scope and sequence and well-designed intervention program based on hitting all the core components of reading, and we are individualizing the program based on student need but sometimes even with all of that - progress seems to be lackluster at best.

We recognized early on, that beyond all of the typical necessities of providing evidence-based reading intervention there was another key ingredient that was absolutely necessary to get consistent growth from our students.

Engagement.

Period, end of story. Students don't learn well when they don't feel connected to the material. But let's face it - the material is boring as all get out. It just is. There is a lot of memorization, a lot of repetition, and a TON of rules to store about a subject that has been a significant cause of frustration.

As an interventionist - what do you do? How do you engage students in a fairly boring subject matter?

One of the best ways I have been able to get my students engaged is through games and review activities that step beyond the typical worksheets. Often, I use three to five minutes to play a quick review game of the previously introduced concept. And then when any particular concept isn't sticking, we go back to a review using a game.

This way we are able to move away from the worksheets and students are excited about learning and playing. You can basically turn anything into a game, often I just have kiddos read a word card and if they get it correct they keep it and if they get it incorrect it goes to the side. I take turns reading word cards with my students for a set period of time and we count how many each of us got correct. We have a number of other games we have designed as well.

If you are looking for other resources to pull into your structured literacy instruction, then check out the 5CCL Activity Library. This library has hundreds of activities aligned with the science of reading and will help you target your instruction in all 5 core components of literacy + writing. Click below to learn more!