How Teachers Supported Their Students' Reading Breakthroughs

Reading proficiency fuels future academic success for students. Because of its importance, along with the exciting worlds reading opens up, teaching kids to become readers is one of the most rewarding jobs of an educator. 

For this piece, we asked a few of Edmentum’s virtual teachers—each of whom has years of experience teaching both in traditional and online settings—to share what they enjoy about teaching reading, along with some of their favorite stories and strategies. 

What our teachers enjoy most about helping students learn to read

Beth Bley has 42 years of teaching experience, including 27 years in traditional classrooms and 15 years of virtual teaching. She has taught all grades from PreK-12 and holds a reading specialist certification. Beth piloted the virtual teaching program in her former school district 25 years ago. 

What Beth enjoys most about teaching kids to read:

"Reading books opens up new worlds to students. Students can learn about new information and interests. This all begins when a student begins to make sense of the words on the page.

I especially enjoy the moment a struggling reader starts to believe they can read. I love the excitement students have when they make real progress in their ability to read and understand a book. I have been blessed to be a part of the educational journey of many students through the skill of reading."

Jolanda Sandy has been teaching for 17 years, most of which specialized in 12th grade literature and AP Literature and Composition. She’s also an AVID teacher and has worked as an instructional coach in middle schools and as a district content coordinator for secondary ELA. Jolanda has a BA in English Secondary Education and a Master’s in Library Science. 

What Jolanda enjoys most about teaching kids to read:

"The lightbulb moment! It's a process that you have to trust, but all of a sudden, BAM. Then the excitement of success."

Denise Lewis is a certified elementary teacher with 15 years of experience in K-12 education. Her expertise includes training as a Dyslexia Specialist as well as Instructional Design and Implementation. Denise has a Master’s in Literacy Education and Certification in English as a Second Language. 

What Denise enjoys most about teaching kids to read:

"I find the greatest joy in helping students learn to read because it unlocks endless opportunities across all subjects. Literacy is a fundamental right, and every person deserves it. Watching students transform from non-readers to fluent readers is truly inspiring, as a whole new world unfolds for them."

Favorite strategies to help students develop reading skills

Beth Bley: Teaching phonemic awareness and activating prior knowledge

Teaching Phonemic Awareness:

For early elementary school students, an effective strategy is teaching phonemic awareness. This gives the students a starting point to turn unknown words into known words, an important step to limit the frustration students feel when words are unknown. The English language is not made up of one set of rules, so phonemic awareness is coupled with a read-aloud strategy. Students try to sound out a word and when they read the sentence aloud, they can determine if the word makes sense in the sentence.

Activating Prior Knowledge:

A strategy for all grades is activating prior knowledge. If the student has some knowledge of a topic they are about to read, the students can be more successful in reading the text. If the student has no prior knowledge of the topic, I build prior knowledge by providing information about the topic in a way that does not require reading. Building prior knowledge can be accomplished through graphics, discussions, short video clips, and life experiences.

Jolanda Sandy: Modeling

A great strategy and one often underutilized is modeling. Model reading a page fluently, then have students imitate you. Start with a sentence or two- they should model speed, intonation, inflection, etc. Also, reading two-voice poems is a great way to help students understand poetry and the effects of how it is read (you can play with voice, here).

Denise Lewis: Phonemic awareness and phonics

In my work, I embrace the Science of Reading, especially with young learners in kindergarten through second grade. Phonemic awareness and phonics are the building blocks that help students master the sounds of language, giving them the tools to decode and recognize words with confidence.

My best memory of a student's reading breakthrough

Beth Bley:

"There’s one early childhood student who comes to mind. By the end of the year, he had only learned a few reading skills. For years, I felt like I had successfully taught every student to read except for him, but I later found out he learned more than I realized. 

Several years later, when he was in middle school, the student brought his parents and came back to visit during an open house night. He introduced me to his parents as the teacher who taught him to read. He explained that he thought he’d never learn to read, but after being in my class and learning a few skills he began to believe in himself. This belief in himself resulted in the student learning more reading skills and eventually reading on grade level. 

This encounter years later taught me to never underestimate the value of being kind to a student and providing encouragement no matter how small the progress appears. It was a blessing to have this experience, and one that taught me a lot." 

Jolanda Sandy:

"It's always a breakthrough when my students are able to interpret poetry successfully. They learn about diction, syntax, mood, and tone, but when it all fits together and they are able to use these elements to interpret a poem, it's a breakthrough!"

Denise Lewis:

"During my time at Edmentum, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing remarkable growth. One of the most impactful experiences was teaching a second grader who advanced from a kindergarten reading level to on-grade level in just seven months. This year, he returned to my classroom in fourth grade, allowing me to see firsthand the lasting impact of that growth. It’s a rare and powerful reminder of why I do this work."

Visit our Science of Reading Toolkit for videos, articles, and other resources to support evidence-based literacy practices in your school. You can also visit our virtual learning page to learn about scalable, human-centered, pedagogically sound virtual instruction to help you address teacher shortages, increase capacity, and expand options in your district.