Comprehension
- 1. COMPREHENSION Grades K-3 Strategies for Reading Comprehension By: Gina Femino and Charlotte Letendre
- 2. What is Comprehension? Comprehension is the complex cognitive process involving the intentional interaction between reader and text to extract meaning.
- 3. What the Research Says: Some students require explicit comprehension strategy instruction. Teachers play a critical role in helping students develop comprehension strategies. Initially comprehension strategies can be taught one at a time. Research indicates that comprehension strategies should be explicitly taught and modeled long term at all grade levels. Students should practice the strategy with guidance, using many texts, until they have a good understanding.
- 4. Why is Comprehension Important? Comprehension, just as reading, is integral to everyday life in our society. Students need to realize that we need to understand everything we read in order to learn from the text we interact with. Because of the demands of high stakes testing, students need to learn to extract important information and transfer their knowledge to read and respond to different types of questions. Students need to use comprehension skills across different mediums such as text books, the internet, and even video games.
- 5. What Good Readers Do Good readers use a number of strategies: Activating prior knowledge Monitoring comprehension Generating questions Answering questions Drawing inferences Creating mental imagery Identifying the text structure the writer has used Creating summaries
- 6. How Comprehension Fits into the Reading Process The early stages of reading development include learning the individual sounds of letters all the way to word and sentence meanings. As students progress through K-3, they need to begin to use strategies that allow them to monitor their own comprehension and summarize what they read. Therefore when they get to intermediate grades they can focus on higher level comprehension strategies like inferencing and critiquing.
- 7. Reading is Making Meaning!! Starting at the kindergarten level, teachers should emphasize that readers read for meaning, not just to be “word identifiers.” We as teachers need to model to students that reading is thinking, and how much we value that process. Making connections to ones’ self, to another text, or to the world are very important strategies. “ The direct and explicit teaching of comprehension strategies helps K-3 students become active readers who are engaged in understanding written text. Teachers provide direct and explicit teaching of comprehension strategies through explanation, demonstration or modeling, guided practice, and opportunities for children to practice using comprehension strategies when reading grade-appropriate children’s text.”
- 8. What are the Strategies? National Reading Panel Report PUT READING FIRST Teachers in primary grades should incorporate direct instruction in comprehension strategies such as: Graphic/Semantic organizers (maps, webs, graphs, or charts) Used to categorize and classify concepts. Answer a variety of questions (literal or inferential) during pre reading/reading/post reading. It can also set a purpose for reading. Ask questions about text meaning during all stages of reading. This produces active engagement. Teach students to recognize story structure. This helps them understand characters, events, and setting and how they contribute to the plot. Summarize main ideas. Key details are critical to understanding the authors message. It is also beneficial for students work cooperatively to construct meaning of a text.
- 10. Strategies for Differentiation EARLY INTERVENTION WITH ASSESSMENT Small group instruction One-on-one instruction Discuss smaller portions of a text Focus on the needs of the individual student based on assessment. Short responses to reading
- 11. Comprehension Across Different Genres Students need to learn strategies that allow them to comprehend different kinds of texts such as fiction and nonfiction. These strategies should be taught early on because as students progress through elementary school, the demands for text comprehension changes from narrative to expository texts. Even in primary grades, students should be introduced to expository text features and how to begin to interact with them. Also, they should be made aware of narrative text structures or story grammars and how they effect the meaning of the text.
- 12. Is Comprehension Taking Place? Informal Assessments Asking children if they understand a story or an informational piece. Having conversations with the children about the material read. Observing children as they respond to the text both verbally and nonverbally. Observing children’s behavior for evidence of using cues while reading. Observing children’s responses to the text in art and writing.
- 13. Some of Our Findings… “ Comprehension is important because students need to learn that reading is understanding. Students need to use strategies early on so they can be more comfortable using these strategies when they move up through the intermediate grades.” “ Some of the things I use in my classroom are: modeling comprehension strategies, discussing them during mini lessons.” The most useful strategies for kids in grades K-3 are monitoring comprehension and summarizing.” “ Something I have trouble with is making sure my students are using these strategies effectively.” “ Something I would like to learn how to do is to take notes effectively to inform my instruction.”
- 14. Bibliography Dymock, Susan (2007).Comprehension Strategy Instruction: Teaching Narrative Text Structure Awareness. The Reading Teacher . 61 , 161-166. Teaching Reaching Comprehension Skills in Grades K-3 http://www.theapple.com/benefits/1882--teaching-reaching-comprehension-skills-in-grades-k-3 Fountas, Irene (1996). Guided Reading . Portsmouth,NH: Heinemann. Fountas, Irene (2001). Guiding Readers and Writers, Grades 3-6 . Portsmouth,NH: Heinemann. Thornhill, Ann (2007).Instruction of Metacognitive Strategies Enhances Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Achievement of Third Grade Students. The Reading Teacher . 61 , 70-77. Vacca, Jo Anne (2003). Reading and Learning to Read, Fifth Edition . Boston, Ma: Pearson Education Inc.