Comprehension

Reading comprehension is the act of making meaning from text. This is a complex task that requires the weaving together of multiple processes from both language comprehension and word recognition. The end goal of reading comprehension is for the reader to develop an enduring understanding of the material that has been read.

Comprehension is an active process that requires:

Decoding
Instant word recognition
Vocabulary knowledge
Background knowledge
Synthesis of ideas across sentences and an understanding of how sentences work
Connecting ideas
The ability to make inferences (verbal reasoning) and to integrate information (organize information) as it is being read

Smartt and Glaser (2024), Next Steps in Literacy Instruction, p. 172

Developing Student Comprehension

Reading aloud to students is an important part of developing students' comprehension, helping students to learn new things, think critically and see a variety of perspectives.

Consider offering multiple texts on the same topic. "Start with one excellent text on a topic you're exploring and then add texts on the same topic to deepen students' knowledge and vocabulary acquisition."(Kemeny, L. (2023). 7 Mighty Moves, p. 136)

Include texts by creators with diverse identities, perspectives and experiences. Visit the LKDSB EDIJ website for suggestions of books from diverse identities, perspectives and experiences.

https://sites.google.com/lkdsb.com/lkdsb-edij-resources/edij-resources

Think Alouds

To develop students' comprehension, one of the best things that we can do as teachers is to engage students in discourse about what they are reading.

Think-alouds are a powerful tool used by teachers to model the comprehension thinking of proficient readers. Think-alouds explicitly model for students what good readers do implicitly.

"During read-alouds, teachers may stop and model thinking about what they are reading, (i.e., think-alouds). A teacher might say, I wonder why polar bears have black skin. This is really hard to understand, so I better slow down and read that again. Teachers should engage young students in thinking aloud during read-alouds by asking thinking questions. The teacher may say, Tell me what you think about his decision to go home. What makes these children's lives different from ours? Remind students to use think-alouds routinely to consider, Did what I just read make sense?"

Smartt and Glaser (2024), Next Steps in Literacy Instruction, pp. 178-179

Comprehension Practice Activities

"Comprehension instruction is most successful when students apply the strategies they are learning directly to the reading material that they are given to read. Teachers should not teach comprehension strategies in isolation of reading, but rather model and explicitly instruct students how to interact with the text, connecting ideas, questioning, rereading for clarification, and synthesizing the main take-aways. Please keep in mind that in the real world of reading, readers 'bundle' strategies. This means cognitive strategies are used together while reading. For example, we might generate questions as we monitor comprehension. Or we might seek clarification and generalize as we summarize."

Smartt and Glaser (2024), Next Steps in Literacy Instruction, p. 189

When developing comprehension, consider the text you have selected and what strategies might be needed to understand the text. Use think-alouds and engage students in conversation. Model and allow for the practice of these skills.

Connect-Correct-Collect

Connect-Correct-Collect (CCC) is a before, during and after comprehension process. In this process, the teacher pre-reads the text and prepares questions to elicit information that relates directly to what students will be reading. For example, if reading a text about plants, before reading, the teacher might say, "Plants need a number of things to survive. Do you know what some of those things are? What are some ways that we use plants?" and record responses in the "Connect" column. During reading, students check their connect responses for accuracy against the information provided in the text. Corrections to what students thought are added to the "Correct" column. New information that was learned in the text can be added to the "Collect" column.

Smartt and Glaser (2024), Next Steps in Literacy Instruction, p. 194

Summarizing

Summarizing "is a complex skill that requires the abilities to categorize and find the main idea." (Smartt and Glaser (2024) p. 201). Below are some ideas to help students develop this skill:

Idea 1

Help students to generate answers to:

Who were the main characters in the story?
Where did the story take place?
When did the story take place?
What was the main problem the characters faced?
How was the problem solved?

Model summarizing the text using the answers to the above questions. Have students orally summarize the text with a partner. Students may then be asked to write their summary. To support students to narrow in on the most important concepts, challenge students to shrink their summaries to just 10 words. (Kemeny, L. (2023). 7 Mighty Moves, p. 149)

Idea 2

Somebody Wanted But So - Somebody Wanted But So offers students a framework to create their summaries for narrative structures. "As students choose names for the Somebody column, they are really looking at characters and trying to decide which are the main characters. In the Wanted column, they look at events of the plot and immediately talk about main ideas and details. With the But column, they are examining conflict. With the So column, they are looking at resolutions."

See (Beers, K. (2003). When Kids Can't Read What Teachers Can Do, pp. 144-152) for additional information.

Page updated

Report abuse