In our first grade class, we work on developing word recognition,
vocabulary, and language structure in reading instruction, but a major focus
is reading
comprehension. Three books, MOSAIC OF THOUGHT
by Ellen
OliverKeene and Susan Zimmermann, STRATEGIES THAT WORK
by Stephanie
Harvey and Anne Goudvis, and READING WITH MEANING
by Debbie
Miller all deal with teaching comprehension
and target
several strategies that enhance understanding of text.
The strategies
were compiled by looking at what good readers do when they read.
They include:
making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring,
determining
importance in text, summarizing/synthesizing, and fix-up strategies.
A key component in successful comprehension is getting readers to think
about
their thinking.
This is called METACOGNITION.
READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES
and Questions to Foster Strategy
Use
1. MAKING CONNECTIONS-using background knowledge
Text-to-Self
Text-to-Text
Text-to-World
When you read the text does it remind you of anything you know about,
experiences
you had, other books, or world events?
2. QUESTIONING-ask yourself questions
What did you wonder about while you were reading?
What questions
did you have? Were you ableto find the answers?
3. VISUALIZING-make pictures in your mind
When you are reading, what pictures or movies are in your mind?
4. INFERRING-read between the lines
Can you predict what is about to happen?
Can you identify
something in the book that helped you
make that prediction? What were the clues?
5. DETERMINING IMPORTANCE IN TEXT-what's important and what's not
Are there some parts of the story that are more important than others?
Which ones?
Why do you think they are important?
6. SUMMARIZING/SYNTHESIZING-retell the story
Think of all the parts and put them together. If you were to tell
another person
about the story and
you could only use a few sentences, what would you say?
7. FIX-UP AS YOU READ
When reading, if you are not understanding or it is not making sense then:
- Reread the sentence or passage
- Read ahead for clarification
- Adjust your reading rate, slow down
- Read out loud
- Check the illustrations
HOW YOU AS A PARENT CAN REINFORCE COMPREHENSION
AND THE USE OF STRATEGIES
As a parent you want your child to become a lifelong reader, one who reads
for pleasure and for information. If children do not understand what they
read and
gain enjoyment from reading, they will read only when forced.
Reading aloud
to your child can help foster a love of literature and help
develop comprehension.
MODELING
When reading aloud to your child, stop and verbalize the thinking that is
happening
in your mind. Verbalize your connections. For example you may be
reading and
something in the story reminds you of an experience you had as a
child or
even something you saw on TV. Share your thinking, your connection,
with your
child. Or maybe as you are reading, a question pops into your mind
about why something is happening in the story. Stop, verbalize your question,
and read
on to see if your question is answered. In doing so, you are
modeling
the comprehension strategies and theiruse. You can show your
child that
"thinking about their thinking" will help them remember and
construct meaning from text.
GUIDED PRACTICE
After you have verbalized your thinking and use of strategies, encourage
your
child to
share their thoughts. Do the strategy sharing together. Gradually
let your
child do more of the sharing whileyou provide the prompts.
Encourage
your child to think about their thinking when they are reading
by themselves. The idea is to move them into independent use of the strategies.
Comprehension starts even before children learn to read. It starts with
the development of language. When you pointed to yourself and said, "Mommy"
or "Daddy"
you modeled a connnection. When you told your child their first
story as
a toddler and talked about it or asked them a question about the
story, you
started them off down the reading comprehension road.
THE THREE READING CUEING SYSTEMS
Good readers use three cueing systems while reading: syntactic (structure),
graphophonic (visual), and semantic (meaning). Struggling readers tend to
rely mostly
on the visual cueing system. To develop the systems your
child is
not using, you can provide the following prompts:
Meaning
Did that make sense?
Look at the pictures.
What do you think it might be?
Can you re-read this?
Structure
Did that sound right?
Can you re-read that?
Can you say it another way?
What is another word that might fit here?
Visual
Does it look right?
What sound does it start with?
Can you point to ________ ?
Point to the words.
Take a closer look at __________ .
It could be __________, but look at _________ .
