Reading Comprehension Strategies

The Importance of Reading Comprehension Without comprehension, reading is simply following words on a page from left to right while sounding them out. The words on the page have no meaning.  Without reading comprehension skills, the reader cannot gather any information and use it to efficiently function and enjoy the richness of life. If students don’t have the necessary comprehension skills they will not be able to make predictions about what will happen next, monitor their understanding of content, sequence or characters, clarify confusing parts of the text, or connect what they’re reading to their own experience or prior knowledge.

Ask Questions I am unsure of what the text means. Let me ask questions about the story and search for the answer in the text. Students should be encouraged to ask questions, no question is a bad question regarding reading.

Connection This text makes me think of an event in my own life, something I have read before, or something I saw in the world. An important part of comprehension is being able to relate what is being read to experiences and background information or schema.

Summarize I have read a lot of information. Let me sum up the main idea of the text. One of the main basics of reading comprehension is knowing what the text being read is about.

Predict I will think about the text and the pictures and make a prediction about what will happen next. Predicting means that the students attention has been grabbed and they are interested. It’s like being in any given situation and being able to think what may happen next, or planning a party. It’s a skill that we use daily.

When I am reading, I can see the “movie” in my head. Visualize When I am reading, I can see the “movie” in my head. For some students, reading is hard enough. If visualization is easy for them when they are being read to, at least they are interested in the story. Meaning they have the want to and are eager to become better readers.

Clarify I am unsure of the word. Let me sound it out, reread, or use context to figure it out. Applying best efforts is important. As stated before, questions should always be welcomed, however, student readers should do everything they can to figure out a word prior to asking in a situation like this.

Strategy Fan Activity You may ask yourself, what have I done to get the kids involved and thinking about the Reading Comprehension strategies? Creating a strategy fan can help them have each of these strategies at their fingertips. Each student gets one “card” for each of the 6 reading strategies we discussed above.

Strategy Fan Contd. When doing read alouds, they flip to the card on the fan that describes the strategy they would like to use, hold it up, and instructors can easily see who wants to visualize, clarify, ask a question, or make a connection. Just holding the fan gives the students enough of a reminder to actually use the strategies. These fans facilitate a deeper conversation about the text and generate a greater understanding of it.  

Resources http://www.k12reader.com/the-importance-of-reading-comprehension/ http://www.theorganizedclassroomblog.com/index.php/blog/diy-reading-strategy- fans#.Vvx4aTESTWk.mailto https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5-R28AdFXfoMGdLcDZuQkNTZW1TUmwyTS1tSnJVZw/edit