What is Comprehension ?
Comprehension is the ability to make meaning from print using background knowledge, making predictions, making connections (text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to-world), and making inferences; simply put comprehension is understanding what you are reading. Good readers are extremely active as they read, you can see evidence of this when adult readers are asked to think aloud as they go through text (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995). By teaching reading comprehension strategies we are teaching students to be strategic thinkers as they are reading. Harvey and Goudvis (2007) state that comprehension goes beyond the literal understanding of text, they believe that comprehension is how a person interacts with the text. They state that, “for students’ to become thoughtful, insightful readers, they must extend their thinking beyond a superficial understanding of the text” ( Harvey & Goudvis, 2007). Comprehension is the cornerstone to literacy success. Teachers should be striving to create explicit comprehension strategy lessons and providing many opportunities for guided and independent practice.
How should you teach comprehension strategies?
The goal for all instruction is that students will be able to internalize the process and apply the strategy independently. Harvey and Goudvis (2007) state that comprehension strategies should be explicitly taught and modeled for the students, and believe in following Fielding and Pearson’s ( 1994) gradual release of responsibility approach; teacher modeling, guided practice, independent practice leading to application of the strategy by the student in the real reading situation.
Common teaching strategies for teaching comprehension
1. Making connections
It is important to activate a child’s schema (background knowledge) while reading. There are three main types of connections
A. Text to Self- connecting to personal experiences
B. Text To Text- connecting to other texts you have read
C. Text to World – connecting to ideas or events similar to those happening
2. Questioning
Asking and answering questions is an important tool good reader’s do while reading. It helps students to deepen their understanding and clarify their thinking while reading.
3. Visualizing
A good reader visualizes or creates a mental picture that forms in your head as you read. It is always changing as the text reveal more information. Visualizing helps the reader make the text personal and memorable.
4. Inferring
Asking the reader to read between the lines and understand what the author is not saying! This is a multi-dimensional strategy and can involve using context clues, picture clues, making predictions, and drawing conclusions.
5. Determining Importance
Knowing what is important while reading helps a reader focus on the main idea and events of the text. Readers absorb lots of information while reading, by learning to focus on what facts are critical for the understanding of the text and how to departmentalize the information you are processing helps to deepen understanding.
6. Synthesizing
One of the most complex strategies- synthesizing can be described as how readers thinking evolves while reading. As the reader continues to read text and gain new information they add the new data to their schema to create a new schema.
How do we know they are understanding?
The only way to know that children are comprehending is by asking them to share their thinking. Asking children questions about their reading before they have finished a text will help give you a window into their evolving thinking. By asking questions while the student is still reading the text you can discover if there are any misconceptions, confusion or difficulties applying any of the strategies. It is crucial to ask students to explain and justify their thinking and provide evidence when appropriate.
Harvey and Goudvis ( 2007) suggest some generic questions for each strategy ( adapted from Keene and Zimmermann, 1997) ( p. 191)
All learners benefit from explicit strategy instruction but ELL students particularly thrive with explicit, modeled instruction. Limited vocabulary can often be an obstacle for English Language learners, because of this it is even more critical to activate your ELL student’s background knowledge before reading the text. Preview and discuss new vocabulary words in context. Make use of instructional scaffolds when teaching the comprehension strategies. Having an anchor chart to support their learning and structure their comprehension responses could be helpful.
Jan Richardson (2012) suggests that when working with ELL students it is important to select one focus and stick with that focus until you see progress. She recommends selecting text with strong supporting illustrations (such as Rigby Pm readers or Pioneer Valley Press texts) saying, “During the introduction to the book, have students take turns talking about each picture. This builds schema, supports oral language, and helps them attend to the meaning of the passage” (par 4). Duke and Pearson (2001) suggest that the concrete nature of nonfiction text may be easier for second language learners to comprehend.
Suggestions for great mentor texts for each strategy
* this list is by no means a complete list just a few texts for each strategy that have been helpful in our own classrooms*
Making Connections
Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Questioning
Charlie Anderson by Barbra Abercromie
How Come? By Kathy Wollard
Why is the Sky Blue by Sally Gindley
Visualizing
The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow
Big Al by Andrew Clements
Inferring-
The Sidewalk Circus by Paul Fleischman
Dandelion by Eve Bunting
Tight Times by Barbra Shook Hazen
Resources Duke, N.K., Pearson, P.D. ( 2001). Comprehension instruction in the primary grades. Guilford Press, New York, NY.
Fielding, L., Pearson, P.D. (1994). Reading comprehension: What works? Educational Leadership. 51, 5: 62-67.
Harvery, S., Goudvis, A. (2007) Strategies that work: teaching comprehension for understanding and engagement. Stenhouse Publishers, Portland, ME.
Pressley, M., & Afflerbach, P. (1995). Verbal protocols of reading: The nature of constructively responsive reading. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.
Richardson, J. (2012, March 3). Working with students who are learning English. Retrieved from http://www.janrichardsonguidedreading.com/ask-jan/workingwithstudentswhoarelearningenglish
Additional Helpful Web Resources
Teaching Comprehension during Guided Reading
Jan Richardson’s Guided Reading- Resource Page- Lots of anchor charts and scaffolds http://www.janrichardsonguidedreading.com/resources-1
Comprehension is the ability to make meaning from print using background knowledge, making predictions, making connections (text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to-world), and making inferences; simply put comprehension is understanding what you are reading. Good readers are extremely active as they read, you can see evidence of this when adult readers are asked to think aloud as they go through text (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995). By teaching reading comprehension strategies we are teaching students to be strategic thinkers as they are reading. Harvey and Goudvis (2007) state that comprehension goes beyond the literal understanding of text, they believe that comprehension is how a person interacts with the text. They state that, “for students’ to become thoughtful, insightful readers, they must extend their thinking beyond a superficial understanding of the text” ( Harvey & Goudvis, 2007). Comprehension is the cornerstone to literacy success. Teachers should be striving to create explicit comprehension strategy lessons and providing many opportunities for guided and independent practice.
How should you teach comprehension strategies?
The goal for all instruction is that students will be able to internalize the process and apply the strategy independently. Harvey and Goudvis (2007) state that comprehension strategies should be explicitly taught and modeled for the students, and believe in following Fielding and Pearson’s ( 1994) gradual release of responsibility approach; teacher modeling, guided practice, independent practice leading to application of the strategy by the student in the real reading situation.
Common teaching strategies for teaching comprehension
1. Making connections
It is important to activate a child’s schema (background knowledge) while reading. There are three main types of connections
A. Text to Self- connecting to personal experiences
B. Text To Text- connecting to other texts you have read
C. Text to World – connecting to ideas or events similar to those happening
2. Questioning
Asking and answering questions is an important tool good reader’s do while reading. It helps students to deepen their understanding and clarify their thinking while reading.
3. Visualizing
A good reader visualizes or creates a mental picture that forms in your head as you read. It is always changing as the text reveal more information. Visualizing helps the reader make the text personal and memorable.
4. Inferring
Asking the reader to read between the lines and understand what the author is not saying! This is a multi-dimensional strategy and can involve using context clues, picture clues, making predictions, and drawing conclusions.
5. Determining Importance
Knowing what is important while reading helps a reader focus on the main idea and events of the text. Readers absorb lots of information while reading, by learning to focus on what facts are critical for the understanding of the text and how to departmentalize the information you are processing helps to deepen understanding.
6. Synthesizing
One of the most complex strategies- synthesizing can be described as how readers thinking evolves while reading. As the reader continues to read text and gain new information they add the new data to their schema to create a new schema.
How do we know they are understanding?
The only way to know that children are comprehending is by asking them to share their thinking. Asking children questions about their reading before they have finished a text will help give you a window into their evolving thinking. By asking questions while the student is still reading the text you can discover if there are any misconceptions, confusion or difficulties applying any of the strategies. It is crucial to ask students to explain and justify their thinking and provide evidence when appropriate.
Harvey and Goudvis ( 2007) suggest some generic questions for each strategy ( adapted from Keene and Zimmermann, 1997) ( p. 191)
- Connections- Is there a part of this story
or piece that reminds you of something in your own life? Of something that’s
happened to you?
- Questions- Can you show me part of the text
where you have a question? What were you wondering about as you read this part?
Can you show me a part where you were confused?
- Visualizing- Where the paces in the text
where you made a picture in your mind? What images or pictures did you see?
What specific words helped you create that picture?
- Inferring- What do you predict will happen
in this piece? Can you show me a place in the text where you found yourself
making an inference?
- Determining Importance- What is this story
mostly about? Can you tell me some of the important ideas that struck you? Any
important themes you noticed?
- Synthesizing- Can you tell me what the
piece is about in just a few sentences? Can you show me a place in the piece
where your thinking changed?
All learners benefit from explicit strategy instruction but ELL students particularly thrive with explicit, modeled instruction. Limited vocabulary can often be an obstacle for English Language learners, because of this it is even more critical to activate your ELL student’s background knowledge before reading the text. Preview and discuss new vocabulary words in context. Make use of instructional scaffolds when teaching the comprehension strategies. Having an anchor chart to support their learning and structure their comprehension responses could be helpful.
Jan Richardson (2012) suggests that when working with ELL students it is important to select one focus and stick with that focus until you see progress. She recommends selecting text with strong supporting illustrations (such as Rigby Pm readers or Pioneer Valley Press texts) saying, “During the introduction to the book, have students take turns talking about each picture. This builds schema, supports oral language, and helps them attend to the meaning of the passage” (par 4). Duke and Pearson (2001) suggest that the concrete nature of nonfiction text may be easier for second language learners to comprehend.
Suggestions for great mentor texts for each strategy
* this list is by no means a complete list just a few texts for each strategy that have been helpful in our own classrooms*
Making Connections
Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Questioning
Charlie Anderson by Barbra Abercromie
How Come? By Kathy Wollard
Why is the Sky Blue by Sally Gindley
Visualizing
The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow
Big Al by Andrew Clements
Inferring-
The Sidewalk Circus by Paul Fleischman
Dandelion by Eve Bunting
Tight Times by Barbra Shook Hazen
Resources Duke, N.K., Pearson, P.D. ( 2001). Comprehension instruction in the primary grades. Guilford Press, New York, NY.
Fielding, L., Pearson, P.D. (1994). Reading comprehension: What works? Educational Leadership. 51, 5: 62-67.
Harvery, S., Goudvis, A. (2007) Strategies that work: teaching comprehension for understanding and engagement. Stenhouse Publishers, Portland, ME.
Pressley, M., & Afflerbach, P. (1995). Verbal protocols of reading: The nature of constructively responsive reading. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.
Richardson, J. (2012, March 3). Working with students who are learning English. Retrieved from http://www.janrichardsonguidedreading.com/ask-jan/workingwithstudentswhoarelearningenglish
Additional Helpful Web Resources
Teaching Comprehension during Guided Reading
Jan Richardson’s Guided Reading- Resource Page- Lots of anchor charts and scaffolds http://www.janrichardsonguidedreading.com/resources-1