reading comprehension strategies for elementary students _ always a teacher

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Always a Teacher

A blog about technology, children, and meaningful learning.

Reading Comprehension Strategies for

Elementary StudentsOctober 11, 2011 in Literacy & Reading | Tags: comprehension , education , modeling , reading , reciprocal teaching , strategies , writing tolearn

Comprehension in reading is the understanding that one acquires from text. It is the process in which meaning isconstructed and is a main goal of reading instruction for elementary students. Without a literal understanding of text, higher-order thinking and analysis cannot be achieved. Comprehension is the reason for reading. If

readers can read the words but do not understand what they are reading, they are not really reading.(Armbruster, Lehr, and Osborn 2002). Lapp and Fischer (2009) define comprehension as a complex processthat happens in the readers minda metacognitive strategy that is controlled by the reader.

In the year 2000, the National Reading Panel identified key areas for educators to focus on in readinginstruction in the early primary years: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and textcomprehension (Armbruster, Lehr, and Osborn 2002). Their findings concluded that instruction within theseareas effectively support reading and the development of decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and backgroundknowledge directly and positively impact student understanding and comprehension. If students cannot decodethe letters in front of them, they will not understand what they are reading. If they do not understand themeanings of the words in the text, they will not understand the text. However, once those skills are in place,background knowledge has been found to be critical in helping students make metacognitive connections.Willingham (2007) goes on to state that, If were concerned about having students who are good readers we

have to recognize that reading is an interaction between the words on the page and the knowledge in thereaders head. Without background knowledge, you cant comprehend a text to a level we would call

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understanding.

Over the past 25 years, research in reading comprehension has found that good readers exhibit certain behaviorsor use various techniques when they read to make meaning out of what is in front of them. Good readers are in

control of their own comprehension processes. Their behaviors include (but are not limited to) the construction,revision, and questioning of the meaning of what they are reading; checking for understanding; reviewing of text, headings, and graphics before beginning to read; making predictions; thinking about what they are readingwhile they are reading; setting a purpose for reading; reading selectively; integrating what they know about thetopic; reflecting; summarizing; and paraphrasing (Duke and Pearson 2002) (Pressley and Afferblack 1995). Inaddition, self-monitoring, the ability to understand how sentences relate to one another, and the use of background knowledge are critical to the development of understanding. Good readers often take notes whilereading and write to learn, so that they can further gain meaning from the text.

When students become aware of what good readers do and then learn to use these strategies before, during, andafter reading, they can enhance their abilities to comprehend. The use of the strategies help students think aboutwhat they are reading, understand what is being read, and remember what has been read. They all have a

positive impact on developing student meaning and help learners become active and critical readers who havethe ability to approach various text types, styles, and ranges.


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What kind of picture does this form in my mind?

What can I do to understand this better?

What does this remind me of?

What was important?What were the most important points in this reading?

How does it fit in with what I already know?

What questions do I have?

Then, students are provided with opportunities to read, stop, and think in small groups or with partners.

Finally, students reflect on their think-aloud in either a whole class discussion or individual journaling. Bygetting students to reflect on the process of thinking aloud as they read, were encouraging them to recognizethe difference between reading the words and comprehending the text. (Farr and Conner 2004)

Teacher modeling can also be integrated into other strategies such as Questioning the Author (QtA), in whichquestions related to the meaning, craft, and character of the writer are discussed or reflected upon. Questionscan include: Does this make sense to you? Did the author tell us why? How does the author let you know that

something has changed?

Reciprocal Teaching : In this instructional activity, students work together in small groups discussing a textwhile developing the comprehension strategies of prediction, clarification, question generation, andsummarization. Students take turns being the facilitator of the group and presenting ideas or questions based onthe comprehension strategy they are assigned. The teacher should always begin this type of activity bymodeling the types of questions and ideas they would share for each of the strategies.

Students are placed in groups of four and provided cards containing an assigned role for each student:Questioner, Clarifier, Summarizer, and Predictor.

Students read a selected passage (or several paragraphs of the passage) and take notes in relation to their uniquerole. They can use note-taking strategies such as recording information on sticky notes or highlighting andtaking notes directly on photocopied pages.

At a given point, students take turns participating in a conversation about the text they have read:The Questioner poses questions such as those about parts that are unclear, information that is puzzling, or


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Conclusion

By using a variety of strategies that encourage students to become actively engaged in text, understanding themetacognitive processes that good readers possess, and integrating the various instructional routines that present

effective strategies to students, teachers can enhance students reading comprehension, develop thinking skills,and improve student learning of the curriculum contentbefore, during, and after reading.

Resources

Adler, C.R. 2004. Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension . Accessed October 6, 2011.http://www.readingrockets.org/article/3479/

Armbruster, Bonnie, Fran Lehr, and Jean Osborn. 2002. Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for

Teaching Children to Read , 3 rd ed. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy. Also available online athttp://www.nationalreadingpanel.org (accessed October 5, 2011)

Banister, Savilla. 2008. Web 2.0 Tools in the Reading Classroom: Teachers Exploring Literacy in the 21st

Century. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 4, no. 2, 109-116.http://www.sicet.org/journals/ijttl/issue0802/4_2_3_Banister.pdf

Bloom, Benjamin S., ed. 1956. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the classification of educational goals Handbook I: Cognitive Domain, New York: Longman.

Duke, Neil K., and David Pearson. 2002. Effective Practices for Developing Reading Comprehension. InWhat Research Has to Say About Reading , 3 rd ed., edited by A.E. Farstrup and S. Jay Samuels, InternationalReading Association, Inc. Also available online at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngextremeexplorer

/pdf/effectivepractices.pdf (accessed October 5, 2011)

Farr, Roger and Jenny Conner. 2004. Using Think-Alouds to Improve Reading Comprehension . AccessedOctober 6, 2011. http://www.readingrockets.org/article/102/

Griggs, M.C., Y.J. Daane, and J.R. Campbell. 2003. The Nations Report Card . Washington, DC: U.S.


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Department of Education.

Lapp, Diane and Douglas Fischer. 2009. Lapp and Fisher on Comprehension. IRA Insights on Teaching Reading . Accessed October 6, 2011. http://www.reading.org/downloads/podcasts/II-LappFisher.mp3

Peterson, Art. 2010. Book Review: The Write to Read: Response Journals that Increase Comprehension by Lesley Roessing. Accessed October 6, 2011. http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3234

Pilonieta, Paola and Adriana L. Medina. 2009. Reciprocal Teaching for the Primary Grades: We Can Do It,Too! Accessed October 6, 2011. http://www.readingrockets.org/article/40008/

Pressley, Michael and Afflerbach, Peter. 1995. Verbal Protocols of Reading: The Nature of Constructively Responsive Reading. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.

Reading Rockets. 2008. Classroom Strategies: Reciprocal Teaching. Accessed October 6, 2011.http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/reciprocal_teaching/

Reading Rockets. 2008. Classroom Strategies: Think-Alouds . Accessed October 6, 2011.

http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/think_alouds/

Salinger, Terry and Steve Fleischman. 2005. Teaching Students to Interact with Text. Educational Leadership ,63, no. 2 (October): 9092.

Willingham, Dan, interview by Michael F. Shaunessy. 2007. An Interview with Dan Willingham: ReadingComprehension . Accessed October 6, 2011. http://www.educationnews.org/articles/an-interview-with-dan-

willingham-reading-comprehension.html

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