The Daily CAFE Discussion Board

Reluctant Readers/Students who shut down

patriciamarcus 2016-01-04 02:23:12 UTC #1

I have a student who literally refuses to do anything he doesn't want to do, and reading is usually his first refusal. I have tried talking with him to find his interests and then found books at his reading level for him and he still refuses to read. He is one of my struggling readers, so I know he doesn't enjoy reading. Any ideas/suggestions on how to get him to Read to Self? Thanks in advance.

srea 2016-01-05 11:22:01 UTC #2

I have had that same experience with readers. I'm reading this early this morning, but will get back to you later today :).

srea 2016-01-05 13:27:05 UTC #3

Here's one article from the website that may spark some ideas for you to try. https://www.thedailycafe.com/articles/Reluctant-Reader-Remedies

How old is your student? I did find that with the 4th graders I work with, the suggestion of reading the first chapter to them, and then continuing to either take turns reading or for sure being there for support really helped get them interested in trying. It still took time for him to get into read to self, because he needed so much support for a while, but eventually we got there!

With a 2nd grader, giving him LOTS of easy reading books helped him realized he COULD read--that he didn't always have to be working on the hardest book he could.

Maybe try graphic novels with good illustrative support might help.