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Get Ready for Middle and High School Reading

Page 2 of 2
By GreatSchools Staff
 

What Reading Skills Do Middle and High School Students Need to Learn?

As students move through middle and high school, they put aside basic readers and stories and move on to more difficult, content-rich materials including novels, plays, textbooks, laboratory manuals and technical texts. In science classes, students must learn how to read and write laboratory reports, while in history classes they must interpret historical documents and understand biographical information.

"They move from understanding plot when they start out in sixth grade to character development and on to 'motifs' in high school," says Lance Balla, a high school English teacher for 15 years in Bellevue, WA, and consultant for the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the College Board. "They move from understanding the story in middle school to understanding the author's vision in high school. For example, a ninth-grader might read Romeo and Juliet and learn about it as a love story, and concentrate on the characters. In later years in high school they might look at what was Shakespeare's vision of love and how do you agree or disagree with his vision, how is Shakespeare's vision of love different from another author's? They might look at a concept and how different texts address it, for example, the idea of justice in Crime and Punishment vs. Hamlet."

In the upper grades, reading skills and content knowledge become intertwined. Students must develop sophisticated reading and writing skills along the way in order to fully understand the content of their courses. They must learn to use cues from the text such as tables, diagrams and questions at the end of the chapter. They must learn to predict what they might learn from a given text and connect what they've read to what they've already learned.

Teachers and parents can help by guiding students as they review vocabulary related to a given text, encouraging them to have a dictionary or encyclopedia close by to look up unfamiliar terms, and helping them engage with the text, take good notes and summarize the main points of the reading.

 
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Comments from GreatSchools.org readers

08/24/2009:
"you are ready for high school!!!!!!"
08/3/2009:
"Thank you for the information because I have one entering High School for the first time,and he is in special education and I have two and that is also in special education one is is the 7th grade and the other is in the 6th grade. "
07/13/2009:
"I have a son entering 7th grade this Sept. He has struggled with Reading/Reading Comprehension this past school year. I went in for teacher conferences twice and the teacher did not have any advice on how to help him bring his grade up. He says he reads a short story, closes the book to answer the questions based on what he read and most of the time comes home with a 70 on his test. Other times its an open book test but still gets the same grade. He says its when they ask questions like, 'what do you think the .... means in this paragragh' that cause him trouble. It's not the facts, it's the interpretation of the story that causes him a low grade. If the teacher can't be more specific then what do you do? I recently purchased a Summer Language Arts Review workbook with the hopes that it and I can help him before 7th grade starts in Sept. He loves to read just about anything. He asks what a word means and/or looks it up on the net or in the dictionary so.....I just ! don't get it. Hopefully this workbook will help him."
06/9/2009:
"The point size is too small. Parents won't read this tiny type. I shouldn't have to cut and paste all these articles to Word to increase the size to a readable one. "
06/2/2009:
"Is it possible to email me a list of books that will hold my sons interest this summer? He is interested in the military,Marines, and he likes WW2. He is now in the 7th grade. He likes diary types of books. He has read all of Henry Winklers books and of course many other types, but it is a struggle to get something with stability that will hold his interest. Thank you"
01/5/2009:
"I am currently writing my thesis which concerns a group of middle school first formers who read below the grade four level. I found this article very informative. I am developing a literacy kit that can be used by all content area teachers to assist those students. I am reading on the various research based reading methodologies and programs to get ideas for this kit. I would appreciate any article that proves to be useful for my thesis. I thank you "
07/29/2008:
"i would seriously recommend some historical fiction, something that makes them want to look up on the internet something that is true, but is involved with their favorite fictional character. i suggest 'Bloody Jack' to the older readers, as it is fictional, yet has a lot of 18th century characters that were real. I really enjoyed it (don't get thrown off by the name.)"
07/24/2008:
"My child id new to the Florida school system. In Rhode Island, there is a list of recommened books for each grade level to read over the summer. Does Florida have that system? They are also required to write a summary report about the book. That counted as the first grades of their English Grade. "
06/11/2008:
"As curriculum coordinator for a public charter school in florida, I often meet with resistance from parents about our summer reading program. Newsletters like yours help support the concept of practice as critical to maintaining and improving skills. we constantly emphasize the needs for direction instruction and modeling of reading stategies for middle school learners for this is truly the age that they move from learning to read to reading to learn."
03/20/2008:
"This reading was right on point! I agree, as a late reader, I understand the importance of sharpening your reading skills as early as possible. Waiting on makes it harder but not impossible. Thank you:) "
02/19/2008:
"Thanks a ton. Now I am learning more better than i did before in the last few quarters. A B+ to an A!!! Thanks so much for this information!!!! >(:)< :) :0!!"
01/24/2008:
"I have a friend whose child does not apply himself to any of his classes except Gym & Choir. He has been tested and has no learning disabilities, he has talked to counselors. When his parents asked (2yrs ago) if he could be held back because he did not learn anything, they were told because of the NCLB as long as he received a 1.0 grade average he would be passed and his parents could not choose to hold him back. Is this true?"
06/7/2007:
"Thank you! This information will be helpful for my son and I for the future years. This summer, June 28th, he will attend SCORE Summer Program, for Organizational skills, Time Management, and Preparing for & Taking Test. I can utilize this information to build his reading skills."
05/15/2007:
"I am an ESL teacher in Berwyn, IL. It is a proven fact that parents should engage their children in many genres in books of interest. This should be done at school and public libraries, bookstores and home libraries and even news stands. It will certainly make for a better reader, writer and researcher at all levels. "
12/11/2006:
"Overall, NCLB has helped provide better services to children at-risk of school failure and many of those children would not have gotten any services if it was'nt for NCLB. Districts need to find other sources of funding to meet their goals. SES is for a different set of educators and professionals. Teachers, schools, and districts need to change with the times. NCSP challenges districts to think and get busy. Why fight against something that is helping to improve learning?"
12/11/2006:
"Overall, NCLB has helped provide better services to children at-risk of school failure and many of those children would not have gotten any services if it was'nt for NCLB. Districts need to find other sources of funding to meet their goals. SES is for a different set of educators and professionals. Teachers, schools, and districts need to change with the times. NCSP challenges districts to think and get busy. Why fight against something that is helping to improve learning?"
11/3/2006:
"I am a teacher in training for 7th grade English. Essays are important for recall and specific trends and indepth research. I cannot see my students without a subject to write about--maybe just a lack of organizational skills or priorities. If they do indeed lack subject matter the internet is a good resource tool and/or listing activities and hobbies with intent on further research. I believe the hardest part to do is to start writing. If again my students show hesitancy I may ask them to journal for the first few weeks of school to explore where their general interests lie. A story with an enriched vocabulary would benefit also or an article report on a current subject of choice is also appropriate. A video clip of several movies voted on in class a day prior may also trigger topics to write about for an essay topic. I think originality of subject matter is up to my students preference in presentation. Later in the year I would award them with participation in a group presentation thereby exercising their natural instincts toward multimedia shows and presentation to the other class members."
10/17/2006:
"I think that this is a great experience for myself and my friends it is really going to help me suceed in school,and also in life this is a great way to start focusing on how i am going to prepare myself for high school ...........thank you.......~lakisha~......"
10/10/2006:
"As a new teacher at a charter school, I couldn't agree more how vital continuing to teach good reading skills at home are. Many of our students are from underprivileged homes, but a parent/guardian's involvement in making sure they hone their reading skills is not only free, but invaluable!"
09/28/2006:
"Wow. This is really helpful. I will start now working with my daughter. Thanks."
09/27/2006:
"I am very happy to receive this information, I have to teach my daughter her reading skills, she is in 6th grade and 'floated' through grade school not being able to read proficiently. Phonics were not taught in our school district while she was in K-3. Whole language failed my daughter. She cannot spell, sound out words, nor comprehend. I am happy to receive any extra help so that I may help her."
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