Tuesday, January 28, 2025 by Demitra Bryant | Uncategorized

How One Student Transformed His Reading Skills and Confidence in Just One Year

Struggling with reading can feel like an endless roadblock for many students.

For Joseph, an upper elementary student, reading was filled with challenges.

But through patience, tailored support, and a unique approach to building his background knowledge, Joseph made incredible progress.

This is the story of how he went from hesitation to confidence in both reading and writing.

Joseph’s Journey to Reading and Writing Confidence: From Hesitation to Growth

Joseph’s Early Struggles: Joseph’s reading level had improved from 2nd to 3rd grade over the past year, but he continued to struggle with word recognition, vocabulary, and comprehension. His writing needed work, especially in crafting stronger sentences with correct capitalization and punctuation.

But his biggest hurdle? Joseph had very limited background knowledge in many areas, making it hard for him to connect with the topics he was reading about. When we read about marine life, for example, he wasn’t familiar with the term or the animals in that category because he had never been to an aquarium or zoo.

Our Approach to Tutoring: The key to helping Joseph was not just focusing on reading and writing mechanics but also enriching his background knowledge. In each session, I used videos, images, and discussions to build context for the topics we read. Joseph initially felt discouraged when he didn’t know much about a topic, but over time, he realized that learning new things is part of the process.

We worked on creating a safe space for Joseph to ask questions and engage with the material, helping him to feel more comfortable with unfamiliar subjects.

Progress and Breakthroughs: Joseph’s growth didn’t happen overnight, but the changes were significant. He became more open to exploring unfamiliar topics and started to enjoy our pre-reading discussions. He also noticed that other students were learning alongside him, which boosted his confidence.

One of the biggest breakthroughs in his learning journey was his ability to slow down and think critically about vocabulary. For example, in the phrase “Michael practices his speech for hours so that he will not fumble when he is speaking to the big crowd,” Joseph initially thought of football (because of the word "fumble"). After reviewing the context, he realized that “fumble” meant making a mistake in this case.

Parent and Student Feedback: Joseph’s mother has seen major improvements. Not only is he scoring higher on school and district reading assessments, but he’s also more comfortable asking for help in the classroom. This is a huge shift from his previous reluctance to ask questions out of fear of being teased.

Joseph shared that he feels more confident, and if he doesn’t understand something, he’s no longer afraid to ask for further explanation or for the person to explain it in a different way.

The Road Ahead: As Joseph continues on his reading and writing journey, he will keep building his vocabulary, exploring new experiences, and remaining patient with himself as he learns. With his newfound skills and confidence, Joseph is well on his way to becoming a stronger, more independent reader and writer.

How do you think real-life experiences, like visiting a zoo or aquarium, impact a child’s ability to connect with reading material? Share your thoughts on Linkedin