3 ways to develop reading skills and make the reading effective using story wheels

                       Reading skill refers to the ability to understand written text. It is advisable to develop this skill at an early age of schooling.  A child's reading skills are important to their success in school as they will allow them to access the breadth of the curriculum and improve their communication and language skills. In addition, reading can be a fun and imaginative time for children, which opens doors to all kinds of new worlds for them.    

                        Reading strategies is the broad term used to describe the planned and explicit actions that help readers translate print to meaning. Strategies that improve decoding and reading comprehension skills benefit every student but are essential for beginning readers, struggling readers, and English Language Learners. According to OCED’s report on reading for change, a program for International Student Assessment (PISA): “Reading for pleasure is more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socioeconomic status.” 

                   Research has repeatedly shown that motivation to read decreases with age, especially if pupils’ attitudes toward reading become less positive (McKenna, Ellsworth & Kear, 1995). Thus, if children do not enjoy reading when they are young, then they are unlikely to do so when they get older. 

                        We have different strategies to develop reading skills. Incorporating all strategies, I have been using 'story wheels' in three ways to motivate and develop the reading skills of my students. 

1. Reading through scenes:
               A story or narrative is a connected series of events told through words, images, or any other form of communication. Some stories are based on scenes. So I have prepared the story wheel based on the scenes connecting the main theme of the story. 

                                        That helps my students understand the story well and easy for them to read the story in blocks. Students often become discouraged by lengthy texts that require intense concentration. Giving smaller segments allows the students to digest chunks in pieces, acquire academic vocabulary, and build confidence. 

So I divide the scenes into small reading blocks so they can read the words and sentences by understanding the characters and events. And also reading the story using the reading blocks makes my students motivated to read the sentences well. This is one of my best ways to teach a story as well as develop the reading skills of my students. It also helps me to incorporate the senses providing extra reinforcement for students who are still growing their skills.

 

 2. Reading through characters:

                   In another way, I prepare the story wheel based on the characters of the story. I believe that teaching aids can facilitate the proper understanding of the students which discourages the act of cramming. The existence of materials is totally based on the creativity and innovative ways of teachers.

So in character-based stories, I prepare the story wheel incorporating the characters and their tasks around the main theme of the story in an innovative way to attract the students. The best way to improve reading is to read, and students are more likely to read when they have a choice in reading. So after transacting the story, I allot the characters to my students and ask them to retell or present the story. 

They show great interest in acting like the characters. The interest makes them read more, understand well, and develop reading skills. Then I exchange the characters to make every student complete the whole story.

 

 3. Reading through dynamic text:

             Theme-oriented story materials are great teaching tools for teaching a story and developing integrated language skills. We can easily narrate the story and make the students understandably read the story by practicing the dynamic text. Some stories are based on the dynamic text connected with the main character. 

The main character repeatedly says the dialogue (dynamic text) and also the story weaves around the dialogue. This creates great interest and makes the students involved in the reading process. So I prepare the story wheel based on the main character and characters or events connected with the dynamic text. And make the whole class practice the dialogue or read the conversation. So the characters and scenes help the learners to practice the text interestingly. 

As a teacher, we must motivate the students to read more and more by planning our lessons effectively, because better readers tend to read more because they are motivated to read, which leads to improved vocabulary and better skills. As a result, the gap between good and poor readers grows over time. The same circular relationship holds for other areas of literacy, including writing and speaking/listening skills. 

 

 Learning materials are important because they can significantly increase student achievement by supporting student learning. In my opinion story wheels are more helpful in developing reading skills by allowing the students to explore the knowledge independently as well as providing repetition.