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Comprehension Strategies

Page history last edited by Tiffany Martinez 14 years, 4 months ago

established by Tiffany Martinez

 

Comprehension

 

Comprehension skills can be seen at an early age from a variety of media and text sources.  The earlier the student is able to establish and recognize comprehension strategies in non-reading and reading sources, the bettertheir use of comprehension strategies is in the future (Kendeou, Lynch, van den Broek,  Espin, White, Kremer, 2005).  Once the comprehension strategy is applied to text, a good reader is able to use and control their comprehension strategies independently and effectively (Dowhower, 1999).

 

A teacher should model the following comprehension strategies explicitly before allowing the students to achieve them on their own.  Early childhood teachers should give time and guidance before allowing their students to become independent comprehensive readers.  It is also important for the student to understand how the strategy can help them become better readers and when to use the strategy within their reading (Dowhower, 1999).  Once the student is able to practice the comprehension strategy independently, the teacher should revisit and re-teach when necessary. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before Reading

 

Text Selection

The text selection is important for any reader and their comprehension.  Teachers should provide books that have appropriate print, number of words, pictures, repetition, content, schema, motivation and variety for their students at the individual’s instructional reading level (Miller, 2002). It is also encouraging for the students to choose the particular text they would like to read at their instructional level.  Using prior knowledge about themselves as readers can help the students choose a book at their reading level. 

 

  • Below is a website by Scholastic called Bookwizard. You enter a title or author and it gives you the level that book is on.

           http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/homePage.do

 

Building Schema

Acknowledging and building the students’ schemas before reading text can also assist in their reading comprehension (Miller, 2002).  Prior knowledge of content can build connections between what the student is reading and what they already know.  Not only is prior knowledge about content important, but building the students’ schema based on familiar authors or types of text is important as well.  This helps students know what to expect out of the text, whether a picture book, songbook, poem, or narrative, and also helps in the predictability of the text (Miller, 2002).

 

Susan B.  Neuman notes three ways to build background knowledge for early childhood readers (2007)

  •  Use questions that have the students compare, notice, and make  conclusions
  • Provide new information to help make connections
  •  Encourage the students to recall prior information and “apply past experiences to a new situation”

  

During Reading

 

While reading occurs, the student should be aware of how they are learning as a reader.  One strategy for accomplishing this is by placing a sticky note every time they can identify what they have learned about themselves through their text (Miller, 2002).  A more verbal way can be established by allowing the students to participate in a think aloud.  Thinking aloud gives the students the opportunities to “become aware of what’s going on inside their heads as [the teacher] reads, learn how to articulate their thinking for themselves and others, and think aloud about their connections or mental images” (Miller, 2002, p. 56).  This can be accomplished by allowing the students to sit in a circle and having the teacher read a text aloud.  After the teacher reads each page, ample time should be made for the students and teacher to discuss what has been read.

 

                                        Connections to Make During Reading

 

 

 

Text-to-Self

Text-to-Text

Text-to-World

Help readers understand and relate what they already know to the book

By connecting books with one another, text-to-text connections “can help you understand the new story and make predictions about what may happen based on what you know from the other story” (Miller, 2002, p. 64).

 

The student compares what is occurring in their world to that in the text. 

This can be done by creating two columns, one column sharing the detail about the student, the other column sharing the detail within the text.

This can be done by creating a Venn diagram of the two books or by simply recalling a story previously read and contrasting it to the text being currently read.

 

 

This can be done by discussing within a group what the children have heard about world issues or current events, and then comparing those ideas to the text.

  • Teaching students how to not only make connections, but meaningful connections is important. 
  • Meaningful connections can be created by determining which connections can help the students respond to the text in a more proficient manner.

 

 

Mental Images

Creating mental images is another comprehension strategy that is used during the reading and helps the students focus on the details within the text (Miller, 2002).  As stated before, the teacher should first guide the student through this process before expecting the student to achieve it on their own.  The teacher can do this by asking the students to imagine what the text may look, smell, hear, taste or feel like.  They can also practice using mental images by closing their eyes and focusing on what they see in their mind as the teacher reads aloud.  The students can discuss their mental images and accept that all students’ images may be different.  Everyone’s schema is unique toward the text; therefore, the images and conclusions drawn will be unique as well.  Once the students are able to achieve this strategy on their own, they may draw their images on separate paper or create a dramatic experience based off of their images.  Mental images help the text become alive for the students (Miller, 2002).  Although mental images can be used as a comprehension strategy during reading, using these images before and after reading can be helpful as well.  Allowing the student to draw a picture of their perception of the topic before the reading, then asking them to alter or draw a new picture based off of the information in the text, can provide the student a better understanding of what they learned and the text itself (Paquette, Fello, & Jalongo, 2007).

 

Examples of Mental Images

 

Below is a link to the websiteInto the Book.It shows a teacher instructing her students how they can think about and visualize the story they are hearing or reading. 

http://reading.ecb.org/teacher/visualizing/visual_studentvideo.html#

 

 

             

                                                       http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/visualizing.htm      

                                        

 

Asking Questions  

     During the reading, students should also feel comfortable within their classroom community to ask questions.  Asking questions can help the students clarify the meaning, make inferences, understand the author and the text, focus on a specific detail or locate an answer within the text (Miller, 2002).  The students can practice this as a group or individually, in which they ask the questions during the reading and after the reading determine how many questions were answered in the story and how many had to be inferred.  Asking questions helps the reader understand that the text may not have all the information and some answers are left up to the reader to interpret them.

 

 

 

Guided Reading

     Using guided reading is also beneficial within the classroom when practicing the students' comprehension strategies.

Guided Reading Lessons:

 

A Journal for Corduroy:  Responding to Literature http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=30

Choosing One Word:  Summarizing Shel Silverstein's "Sick" http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=893

Integrating Language Arts Using If You Give a Mouse a Cookie http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=809

Florida Center for Reading Research Student Centered Activities that can be completed Before, During and/or After Reading. http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/studentCenterActivities.htm

 

 

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After Reading

     After the reading occurs, it is important for students within the classroom to share what they discovered in their texts, about themselves as a reader, or about their world (Miller, 2002).  Although any discussion of the text is valued, teachers should strive for their students to comprehend a deeper meaning within the text.  Students are encouraged to “listen actively and respond thoughtfully” (Miller, 2002, p. 94).  Students should understand how their dialogue may connect to the topic and other student’s comments, as well as, support their own comment and explain it in a way that will take the conversation deeper (Miller, 2002).  Students can practice finding deeper meaning within the text by using open ended questions about the text, book clubs and story webs.

 

 

Ways Readers Can Respond to Text (Dowhower, 1999):

  • Tape recording their thoughts
  • Using a reflective journal
  • Drawing their interpretation
  • Talking to a partner or peers
  • Book clubs
  • Conferences with teacher
  • Creating a dramatic experience

 

Pretend/Dramatic Play

The teacher can also use pretend play in creating a dramatic experience as well.  Pretend play has been known to contribute to the student’s development, developing their comprehension and verbal skills (Welsch, 2008).  The students use their schemes and knowledge of the story to act out the characters and episodes occurring within the text.  Through the student-directed pretend play the students were able to build new connections between the text and their performance, as well as, better understand the perspective of characters within the book (Welsch, 2008). 

Below is a video from Readwritethink.com showing how one can act out a story that was read.

http://www.readwritethink.org/beyondtheclassroom/summer/podcastsvideos/videos/MissMuffet_detail.asp 

 

 

Reading Comprehension for Struggling Readers

While there are a number of strategies for teaching reading comprehension, Massey (2003) offers a strengths-based approach to working one-on-one with struggling readers to identify problem areas and make adjustments where needed.  She recommends using a comprehension checklist to individualize a list of strategies currently being used by the struggling reader.  Once their strengths have been identified, teachers can begin to establish the focus of new learning.  The checklist should be written out so that students can see the strategies they are currently using and then add to the list as they effectively use new ones

Massey Comprehension Checklist 

When you read, ask yourself: Does it make sense?  If it doesn’t make sense, place a check beside which of the following comprehension strategies you used:

 

 

Prereading:                                                                                                                                                    See full size image

 

 

 

 

 

Before you started reading, did you:

      Set a purpose for reading – what do you need to find or figure out?  _____                  

      Think about what you already know about the topic – a lot or a little? _______

      Look at the pictures and predict what the story is going to be about? _______

      Read the captions? _______

      Read the bold words? _______

      Read the table of contents? ______

      Read any summaries? _______

      Read the questions at the end of the chapter?  _______                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

 

 

                                                                During Reading:                                                         See full size image                                                                                             

 

  

 

 

 While you were reading, did you:

      Skip the word – is it one word that doesn’t make sense? _________

      Did you try skipping that word and reading to the end of the sentence or paragraph?    

      Did you go back to see if you knew what the word was or if you knew what it meant?

      Reread the paragraph and look for new information? ________

      Keep a mental picture of what’s happening in your head? ________

      Summarize – stop every page or two and summarize the main points? _______

      Find that you could go on or do you need more information from another

       student or teacher? _______

 

 

 

 

After Reading:

See full size image 

  

 

 

 After you finished reading, did you:

        Do a text check – was this text too hard, too easy, or just right? _______

        Reread the section, looking for new details? _______

        Develop questions – what might the teacher ask? What might be on a test? _______

       Check you predictions – were you right? If you weren’t, did you decide why? _______

 

 

 

  

 

Below is the Readinglady.com page that will give you Reading comprehension posters, activities, Reader Theater activities, and much more.

 

http://www.readinglady.com/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=2&MMN_position=4:4 

  

 

 

 

 References

Dowhower, S.L. (1999).  Supporting a strategic stance in the classroom: A comprehension framework for helping teachers help students to be strategic.   The Reading Teacher, 52(7), 672-683.

Kendeou, P., Lynch, J. S., van den Broek, P, Espin, C.A., White, M.J., Kremer, K. E. (2005).  Developing successful readers: Building comprehension skills throughtelevision viewing and listening.  Early Childhood Education Journal, 33(2), 91-98.

Massey, D. D. (2003). A comprehension checklist: What if it doesn’t make sense? The Reading Teacher, 57(1), 81-85.

Miller, D. (2002). Reading with Meaning. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.

Neuman, S.B. (2007).  Reading Meaningful.  Scholastic Early Childhood Today, 21(6),14.

Paquette, K.R., Fello, S.E., & Jalongo, S.R. (2007).  The talking drawings strategy: Using primary children's illustrations and oral language to improve comprehension of expository text.  Early Childhood Education Journal, 35(1), 65-73.

Welsch, J.G. (2008).  Playing within and beyond the story: Encouraging book-related pretend play.  The Reading Teacher, 62(2), 138-149.

  

 

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