By the time students enter middle school, they should have the foundational literacy skills necessary to access grade level texts across various subjects. However, educators in science, social studies and math are encountering more students who read below grade level, which impacts their ability to ‘read to learn’ in these classes. While these teachers specialize in their respective content area knowledge, they do not always possess the skills and strategies to support literacy instruction.
Even middle and high school ELA and English teachers don’t always have the training required to support students in learning foundational reading skills.
Since most educators lack the time, resources and training to support struggling readers in their classrooms, they are looking for easy to implement solutions. The Juice can be a powerful tool for middle and high school educators across subject areas to support older developing readers, while still addressing subject area content.
How does The Juice support older developing readers?
Differentiated Texts
The Juice covers a variety of topics that can be used across subject areas. Science and social studies teachers can offer students texts at four differentiated reading levels to help students understand content at their individual reading level. Teachers don’t have to spend time finding texts on similar topics if their content is unavailable at lower reading levels.
Short-Form Texts
The Juice eliminates stigmas associated with students who read below grade level. Students may be assigned texts that are either entirely different or visibly shorter than their peers. Students who receive stories from The Juice are unaware of their specifically assigned reading levels; therefore, their assignment will appear the same as their peers.
Read Aloud Functionality
Students who struggle with decoding can use the built-in supports on The Juice, such as the read-aloud mode. The read-aloud functionality provides students with a fluent reading model that includes text highlighting, enabling students to focus on comprehending the text.
Embedded Vocabulary
Vocabulary is crucial for comprehension. The Juice includes embedded and clickable Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary words, allowing struggling readers to learn the words within the context of the sentence by seeing their definition and hearing the pronunciation of the word.
Teacher Resources- Graphic Organizers
The Juice offers a variety of graphic organizers that focus on informational text skills. Teachers can easily download and print these graphic organizers for any article that has appeared in The Juice. Graphic organizers provide scaffolding for struggling readers, enabling them to focus on categorizing and organizing details from the text to enhance their overall comprehension.
