Reading Comprehension - The Ticket to the Future

The short answer to why reading in all courses is the grim consequences for students who struggle with reading across content areas. In addition, average and above average students accelerate their learning when they read with comprehension. We have all heard the encouraging research on students who successfully move from learning to read to reading to learn by third grade. They are likely to achieve in school and lead productive lives. We are also aware of the compelling and disturbing statistics on children who do not. Reading by 9, a national literacy project, states that children who cannot read at grade level by age 9 are usually poor readers and low achievers. They are more likely to drop out of school and at risk for drug use and other criminal activities. Indeed, according to the Correctional Education Data Network, “Inmates have among the lowest academic skills and literacy rates of any segment of society.” Given these high stakes, we believe reading with comprehension is the ticket to the future.

Reading to learn in grades 3 through 12 and reading for pleasure requires comprehension, an understanding and capacity to connect with and use the text. Students must have the comprehension skills to read and understand textbooks written beyond their grade level. They also need to find the joy and companionship available in good books. Educators who teach reading comprehension strategies along with content area instruction will maximize student learning, understanding and enjoyment.

As with any new skill, students need direct instruction of the reading strategy and guided practice using the strategy within the content area. Kids who can use a reading strategy independently and consistently over time will make it a part of their internal, automatic reading process. We suggest taking ten minutes to teach one strategy each week then spending a few minutes each day guiding students’ practice and supporting their independent practice of the strategy. Over a five week period, teaching/modeling reading strategies might take 75-90 minutes of class time, and the dividends can be enormous. Teaching reading strategies works best if the teacher models the strategy by reading aloud and thinking aloud as he or she reads and uses the strategy. Many reading experts use sticky notes to “code the text”, a way of recording the strategy used near the passage.

Here are the top three reading strategies with a brief description and application:

• Making Connections between the Known and the New – ask students to relate unfamiliar text to their prior world knowledge and/or personal experience: text-to-self (something they have experienced in their own life), text-to-text (something they have read before), text-to-world (something they know about the world). Here are some ways apply this strategy:
  • Create a two column chart and ask students to record the topic within the text in the left column and of what it reminds them in the right column
  • Give students sticky notes and ask them to note TS (text-to-self), TT (text-to-text) and TW (text-to-world) connections and record a few words about the connections they make as they read
  • Introduce an important topic/concept from text and record prior knowledge about topic on chart paper
• Questioning – show students that good readers continually ask questions and search for answers as they read. Questions can be about things the reader doesn’t know, things he wants to think about, and things that she want more information on. Asking questions means the reader is monitoring comprehension and interacting with the text to construct meaning. Here are some ways to apply this strategy:
  • Use sticky notes to record questions about a passage and code them with a ? If the answer appears later in the passage, move the sticky note to the place where the answer is given, write the answer and code the note with an A.
  • If a passage is utterly confusing and there is no apparent answer, write “Huh?” on a sticky note and reread the passage or read one or two more sentences to try to make sense of the text before going on. This technique helps the reader know when he/she knows and does not know
  • List questions on a chart during reading or ask students to make a list of questions on their own paper
  • Use a two-column chart to list question beginning with “I wonder . . .” and record the answers in the adjacent column
• Visualizing and Inferring – explain these skills work together. When we as readers see the events in the text through our minds’ eye we can then draw a conclusion or form an opinion based on our visualization. Having these skills fosters gives students the foundation for true comprehension. Here are some ways to apply this strategy:
  • Show photos, illustrations or graphics to students and ask them to record what they see and their inferences based on the visual elements
  • Clarify the similarities and differences between predictions and inferences. Both advance opinions based on evidence. However, predictions are ideas about outcomes, events and actions that can be verified or contradicted by the end of the reading. Inferences are open-ended assumptions that are implied by the text but are not resolved. Ask students to record their assumptions as they read. They can then note whether the assumption is resolved = prediction or unresolved = inference.
  • Ask students to create a two column chart and record the facts presented in the text and their inferences/interpretation
    
    

The next PD eNewsletter will highlight two more essential reading comprehension strategies – Determining Importance in Non-Fiction Text and Synthesizing. Please join us in early 2010 for this feature.