Comprehension

What is Comprehension?

Comprehension is the purpose of reading. We read in order to understand what someone has written, to gain knowledge in a particular area, and for entertainment.

Characteristics of students with low comprehension:

• Students cannot answer basic questions about text they just read

• Students cannot retell the sequence of events in a story

• Student cannot connect individual sentences or paragraphs of text together to make sense of what they have read.

• Struggles with many individual words or phrases

• Cannot infer or read between the lines to understand the context or greater message

• Loses interest in reading or give up quickly

Importance of Comprehension:

When students do not comprehend what they read, they are not able to be successful in content area courses. When students do comprehend what they read they are able to explain concepts, practice skills, and participate in academic discussions. Comprehension is the destination for fluency, vocabulary, motivation, and word study.

Comprehension Activities:

• Identify the root of the comprehension problem (fluency, vocabulary, motivation, a combination of several)

• Teach vocabulary and practice word study in class

• Scaffold reading by offering pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading strategies

• Close Reading and Text Annotation

• Read Around the Text

• SQ3RW

• Reading Graphic Organizers