Implementing engaging strategies for struggling readers: Interviewing students and teachers to understand their perspectives

First-grade readers are learners at the initial stages of literacy and of developing their attitudes toward reading, and those who struggle often experience frustration and a lack of engagement. School community members need to understand why these students are struggling so the problems of poor attitude and poor preparation can be avoided. Brain-based learning theory guided this study and informed the strategies used to enhance reading instruction. Research questions addressed the reactions of 15 struggling readers to different teaching techniques designed to enhance their engagement in reading and 5 teachers' perspectives of student performance before, during, and after a concentrated set of experiences. Students were interviewed to understand their perspectives toward literacy. Teachers then applied individualized strategies based on information gathered from the student interviews and based on best practice. Students were interviewed again to discover any changes in their perceptions toward literacy based on changes in instruction. Teachers were interviewed at the beginning, middle, and end of the 9-week period to understand their perspectives regarding the students and the changes in instruction. A combination of a priori and open coding was used. Teachers reported the student interviews helped them individualize instruction more effectively. Teachers also saw more engagement in reading in their students. Students indicated that the strategies helped them sound out words, learn new words, and read more words independently. Implications for social change include increased teacher development of activities that provide more success with literacy, which helps students with experiences in other academic areas and in the larger world and helps them become life-long learners as they apply their learned literacy skills.