7 Keys to Comprehension:
Good readers use the following seven keys to unlock meaning:
1. Create mental images. Good readers create a wide range of visual,
auditory and other sensory images as they read, and they become emotionally
involved with what they read.
2. Use background knowledge. Good readers use their relevant prior
knowledge before, during and after reading to enhance their understanding of
what they're reading.
3. Ask questions. Good readers generate questions before, during and after
reading to clarify meaning, make predictions, and focus their attention on
what's important.
4. Make inferences. Good readers use prior knowledge and information from
what they read to make predictions, seek answers to questions, draw
conclusions, and create interpretations that deepen their understanding of
the text.
5. Determine the most important ideas or themes. Good readers identify key
ideas or themes as they read, and they can distinguish between important and
unimportant information.
6. Think about the information. Good readers track their thinking as it
evolves during reading, to get the overall meaning.
7. Use fix-up strategies. Good readers are aware of when they understand
and when they don't. If they have trouble understanding specific words,
phrases or longer passages, they use a wide range of problem-solving
strategies including skipping ahead, rereading, asking questions, using a
dictionary, and reading the passage aloud.
Excerpted from: 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your kids Read It and
Get It!
Authors: Susan Zimmerman and Chryse Hutchins
Three Rivers Press: New York
2003
ISBN: 0-7615-1549-6
