During the last two years, one of my curriculum requirements has involved intensive preparation for the ACT Reading test. Does anyone have suggestions for improving reading comprehension — especially as related to the type of texts used on the ACT — for some of my students who have learning disabilities?
Here’s a reply that many people don’t want to hear, but too bad, because this works:
Read, read, read, and read some more. Read until it comes out of your ears. NOT just the kind of short excerpts on tests, but whole articles, stories, and books. Read on all different kinds of subjects from science and social studies to short stories of every genre to popular culture and cars.
Read aloud as much as possible. Encourage students to take turns reading aloud in class. Connect reading to spoken culture.
Talk about the reading, all the time. Stop after each page or even each paragraph and talk about what it means and where this is going. Talk about what was said, who did which. Talk about why and what if. Talk about opinions and facts. Talk about subtleties of expression and connotations.
Aftet you’ve read and discussed things that are beyond the level of a test, then go back to the sample test and treat it the same way. After you can read critically in general, reading test excerpts is easy. Then all you have to do is teach the subtleties and tricks built into your standard multiple-choic questions.