Teachers often have their students read
aloud one at time, which most students hate. For students struggling to read,
it’s their worst nightmare and unlikely they will benefit at all from this
exercise. Shyness is a combination of emotions derived from fear, tension,
apprehension and embarrassment; some students will have a shaky voice, while
others may feel so overwhelmed that they break out in tears.
Nurturing a Struggling Reader
This why it is extremely important to
understand why they feel this way so they are not left behind academically.
These students need compassion, but must still be challenged. Arranging the
struggling student(s) with more advanced learners who do not have an
overbearing demeanor when doing small group reading comprehension exercises
will allow the child to challenge them self with a ‘model’ to follow. This
arrangement is effective because it’s observational
learning, which may simply be how the student understands concepts and the
environment around them.
Observational Learning
Observational learning is most associated with the work by social theory psychologist Albert Bandura. He pioneered the study of children using the people they have an emotional connection with as models to emulate when conducting themselves, whether it be their mother or a character in a cartoon. These models then become the child’s source of positive reinforcement with congratulations or shame (negative reinforcement) and shapes the child’s behavior as well as his/her ability to learn. The primary motivation is to take on the other person’s values, beliefs and attitudes. In relation to learning how to read, it may be more effective to have a student that is struggling with reading comprehension to learn from watching an academically-gifted peer in the classroom rather than from an authoritative figure (the teacher).
All children have the potential to succeed, but it’s in providing the most effective individual support to push them towards their academic goals. Multisensory instruction and observational learning are key to allowing a child to gain an education through expressing themselves. This is because everyone’s brains are different, which we often fail to realize when a teacher has the responsibility of teaching a class that may have 30+ students. Through teaching a shy child to be them self, while using their peer(s) as an example to emulate, is the most effective way to form lasting learning habits and ensures their progress in reading comprehension. Independent schools are an effective way to help shy students learn reading comprehension through providing effective individual support to push them towards their goals.
