COMPREHENSION FOR EMERGENT READERS YOUNGER CHILDREN NEED “ACTIVE AND VISIBLE” INSTRUCTION AUTHOR WANDA L. CARTER

THEME -Comprehension should be taught to emergent readers -Emergent stage -Primary goals for many schools during the emergent stage have been phonics instruction and print knowledge -The instruction looks a little different for the younger children than it does for the older children because it is “more active and much more visible” (Gregory & Cahill, 2010, p.519)

GREGORY & CAHILL (2010) Kindergartners can learn comprehension strategies. Found that most of the research had been done with older students and little research with the younger students on comprehension strategies. Teaching comprehension strategies starts “by defining the strategy, providing a visual representation of its meaning, and asking students to use the strategy within the context of the story”

ADOMAT (2009) It is crucial to provide literacy experiences that engage young readers with text from the beginning of their school years. Adomat’s (2009) study found that younger and older struggling readers had problems with comprehending from texts because most of the instruction was on decoding. Teachers should “actively engage students with stories through drama”

STAHL (2004) Most research on primary grades has been for phonological awareness and phonics. Stahl found that students who were more likely to recall and understand what they had read were actively engaged in using strategies. Example: “Five Finger Retelling” Characters, setting, problem, plot, solution

VISIBLE COMPREHENSION INSTRUCTION -Should have a visual representation of the strategies. Teachers can draw their own nonlinguistic representations or use computer generated representations. -Five finger retelling -Story boards -Anchor Charts

BE CREATIVE WITH VISUALS -Classroom environment can be set up to relate to the story being read. -Vocabulary from the story with nonlinguistic representations -Dress up as the main character in the story -Have students make character puppets

ACTIVE COMPREHENSION INSTRUCTION Teachers need to actively engage students in using the comprehension strategies through various activities. -Thinking caps during think -alouds -Hand signals (keeps students attentive to the story being read) -Movement/drama -Music -Art -Use of real and authentic objects associated with the story - Give students more repetition and practice with comprehension strategies

WHY COMPREHENSION FOR EMERGENT READERS? -Younger and older struggling readers “tend to think of reading as a decoding process rather than an active meaning-making process” -When a student struggles with comprehension while reading, this affects all other subject areas. -Examples: -One student who was a struggling 3 rd grade reader not on an IEP -One student who would be entering 3 rd grade that was on an IEP

CONCLUSION -”Teachers must also understand that comprehension is not something that either does or does not happen after one reads. The process of comprehension begins before we start to “read” and continues even after the “reading” is finished” (Gill, 2008, p.109). -Teachers must be committed to teaching comprehension strategies along with phonics and print knowledge to emergent readers and promote these strategies to proficient readers -The more students are exposed to these strategies, the better they will be at comprehension and in the future, they will use the familiar strategies as they are reading books for themselves.

REFERENCES Adomat, D. (2009). Actively engaging with stories through drama: Portraits of two young readers. The Reading Teacher, 62(8), Gill, S. (2008). The comprehension matrix: A tool for designing comprehension instruction. The Reading Teacher, 62(2), Gregory, A.E. &, Cahill, M.A. (2010). Kindergartners can do it, too! Comprehension strategies for early readers. The Reading Teacher, 63(6), Miller, D. (2002). Reading with Meaning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Stahl, K. (2004). Proof, practice, and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades. The Reading Teacher, 57(7), Tompkins, G. (2007). Literacy for the 21st Century: Teaching Reading and Writing Prekindergarten Through Grade 4. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.