Teaching Reading in High School

Regarding the article assigned for Week 7, I thought the section entitled "Teaching Reading in High School: The Crucial Role of Technology" by Sally Humble was very informative. Student engagement in classroom activities is often lost after elementary school because instruction lacks motivating assignments. Humble argues that the use of technology in high school can greatly increase student achievement in reading class, while also engaging them in activities. SAS inSchool software is the resource that is used in this article to help explain the types of media available to secondary students.

Since many older students experience reading problems, SAS inSchool software was created to close the gap between struggling readers and those who are on-target in their achievements. According to Humble, many students have trouble comprehending a text because the vocabulary and figurative language included in the reading is too complex for them to grasp. Students’ weak background knowledge is also problematic because they cannot interpret the meaning behind the author’s writing when they have little understanding of the topic. To combat these difficult situations, SAS inSchool has designed a program that has already seen success in high schools. As students study reading passages on the computer, they can click on key terms that they may find challenging. The vocabulary is explained to the reader, which provides immediate feedback that allows them to progress quickly through the text. Furthermore, figurative language is also explored using SAS inSchool software by informing students of common interpretations of highlighted passages. Different viewpoints are also explained, which gives students an opportunity to see how various people analyze a text. When background knowledge is limited, videos and visual aids are available on the software to connect struggling students with appropriate assistance. All of these tools work together to help secondary students enjoy, interpret, and comprehend a text using technological advances.

I think this program would work very well with high school students. The assistance that students get with SAS inSchool software would provide them with vocabulary and comprehension strategies that appear to be very useful. I do have a couple hesitations about this program, however. I wonder if very many reading materials would be available through this software. I think teachers might be limited in their use of literature due to the need to use texts that are offered on the software. Additionally, I think many schools would find it difficult to use this program because it appears that teachers would need frequent access to a computer lab. Since all the reading is done on a computer screen, students would need almost daily exposure to the SAS inSchool software.