Comprehension Strategies That Work

Monitoring for meaning Using and creating schema Asking questions Determining importance Inferring Using sensory and emotional images Synthesizing

It is important to remember that one strategy is not inherently more difficult than another. Instead it is the difficulty of the text in which students apply the strategies that makes comprehension more difficult.

In the same classroom students will study the same strategy but apply it in different levels and genres.

Research supports teaching the strategies one at a time but in a cumulative fashion. In other words, teach monitoring for meaning first but once you teach asking questions, continually refer back to monitoring for meaning.

Maybe the best way to think of this is depending on the type of text your students are reading they may need to “turn up or down the volume” of the strategies they are using.

Schools or teachers who wish to focus on each strategy for a longer period of time (six to nine weeks) might think of assigning three or four strategies to each grade band – K-1, 2-3, 4-5. This way students have had an in-depth experience with each strategy.

Two other factors are vital:◦Time to Read◦Time to Talk

The umbrella under which the other comprehension strategies fall

Continually attend to your understanding as you read

Know what your purpose is as you read Know how to solve problems and change

your thinking when meaning breaks down

What is Reading?Huh?Noticing and ExploringRead, Write, Talk

One of the most effective ways to improve comprehension is to “activate mental files” before, during, and after reading

Schema allows students to monitor for meaning, pose questions, make predictions, draw conclusions, create images, and determine importance

Proficient readers capitalize on different types of schema ◦ Memories and emotions from an experience◦ Specific knowledge about a topic◦ Specific knowledge about an author/illustrator and the

tools he/she

It Reminds Me OfSmall Poems and Our Lives

Relating Characters to Ourselves

My Connection Important to Me Important to Understanding

Proficient readers ask questions before, during, and after reading.

Proficient readers understand that many of the most intriguing questions are not answered explicitly in the text but left to the readers interpretation.

Proficient readers ask questions to:◦ Clarify meaning◦ Speculate about the text yet to be read◦ Determine author’s intent, style, content, or format◦ Locate a specific answer

The More We Learn, The More We Wonder

Some Questions Are Answered, Others Are Not

Reading With A Question In Mind

Visualizing brings joy to reading When we visualize, we create pictures in our minds that belong to us and no one else

Images are created from readers’ schema and words in text

Readers’ images are influenced by shared images of others

Readers determine meanings of unknown words by using their schema, paying attention to textual and pictures clues, rereading, and engaging in conversation with others

Readers make predictions about text and confirm or contradict their predictions as they read on

Highlighting is easy. Determining what to highlight is hard

To expand understanding you need to focus on information and merge it with what we already know about a topic

Fonts, signal words, illustrations, graphics, text organizers, and text structures all signal importance in nonfiction and should be explicitly taught

Synthesis is the mind creating a beautiful mosaic of meaning

Synthesis takes place during and after reading.

It is the process of creating a blue print for what we’re reading and then continually revising the plan as we recall or encounter new information

Foster passion and curiosity An environment that values collaborative

learning and thinking Large blocks of time for reading and writing Explicit Instruction Language matters Authentic Response Text Matters Room Arrangement Accessible Resources

Teach with the end in mind Plan instruction that is responsive to the

individual needs of students Model their own use of comprehension

strategies over time Remind students that the purpose for using

a strategy is to construct meaning and engage in the text

Articulate how thinking helps readers better understand what they read

View strategies as a means to an end with the goal of building a repertoire of thinking strategies

Gradually release responsibility for using strategies to the student, always moving them toward independent reading and thinking

Provide opportunities for guided and independent practice

Make sure students have opportunities to talk to each other about their reading

Provide opportunities for students to respond by writing and drawing

Take time to observe and confer, directly with students keeping records of these observations and conferences

Use student work and talk to assess past instruction, guide future instruction, and evaluate student performance

How can we rest until all our children have immersed themselves in a literary world that encourages and teaches them to read, reread, invent, explore, question, and imagine.

Students need to know that reading is an action sport, and that the action takes place in their minds.

Kids who think well test well.

Good readers carry on an inner conversation with themselves when they read.

Nothing enhances comprehension more than talking about what we read.

Talking about books builds a community of learners.

Students can’t get away with being passive participants when they are the ones doing the thinking.