Reading should not just be something college students must do, it should be something they learn to enjoy. Choose classic stories, starting with children's tales, such as "The Three Little Pigs" and the original Winnie the Pooh books. Read the Chronicles of Narnia series. Have students share how each Narnia book builds on the others. Start with easy reading and work up to college level text as your students learn to read classic literature and stories with comprehension. Ask students to share their favorite childhood stories and explain why those stories were memorable. Assign students to write a short children's story of their own.
Reading aloud uses a different set of skills than reading silently. Read to your students, showing how adding tone and emotion brings a story to life. Ask them to choose an appropriate, short book or story to read to preschool children. Have them take turns reading the story aloud to one another, using emotion and changing voices for different characters. Ask them to evaluate how reading aloud with emotion aids their understanding of the story and the motivation of characters. Bring preschool children into the college classroom. Pair up a preschooler with each of your students for a read aloud session.
Proficiency in reading means college students don't just read, they comprehend what they have read. As a reading class instructor, foster comprehension by asking your students to read a passage, story or book and then pick out the key elements of the plot as well as the major conflicts that keep the reader engaged. Have them list main characters and the aspects of their personalities that cause conflict within the story. Taking the key elements and conflict, ask students to write a completely different story using those plot and conflict points.
For most college classes, students need to take notes in order to later recall what was taught or discussed. To help your students learn this skill, read to the class, asking them to note critical points of the material covered. Go from fiction to nonfiction passages. Ask them to summarize the material, then have them read material themselves and follow the same guidelines. Assign contemporary reading material and help them not just read but also consider the validity of arguments raised or information presented. Tell students to always answer these questions about what they read: who, what, when, where, why and how.