Teaching
Comprehension
in the early grades
Leecy Wise
http://www.reconnectioncompany.com
Technology Check
 Mike muted? (Turn on for comments and
presentations)
 One person in charge?
 Access my computer screen?
Other Checks
 Be ready to go 5 min after
 Report problems in sight and sound
 Have a spokesman
Day 1 Agenda
 Review Phonics Workshops
 Presentation of activities
Whose Responsibility?
 Reading Teachers?
 Administration?
 Assistants?
 Parents?
 Volunteers?
NRP Report
Comprehension is critically important to
the of children’s reading skills and
therefore to the ability to obtain an
education. NRP noted three
predominant themes in the research on
the development of reading
comprehension skills.
NRP Report
First, reading comprehension is a
complex cognitive process that
cannot be understood without a clear
description of the role that vocabulary
development and vocabulary
instruction play in the understanding
of what has been read.
NRP Report
Second, comprehension is an active
process that requires an intentional
and thoughtful interaction between
the reader and the text.
NRP Report
Third, the preparation of teachers to
better equip students to develop and
apply reading comprehension
strategies to enhance understanding
is intimately linked to students’
achievement in this area.
A Few Findings
 Using a combination of comprehension
instructional methods is more effective
than using a single method.
 Comprehension is enhanced when
readers actively relate the ideas in print
to their own knowledge and experiences.
A Few Findings
 Comprehension strategies must be
taught.
 Teachers should demonstrate
comprehension strategies until students
can perform them on their own.
Seven Effective Strategies
Comprehension Monitoring
 Students learn to be aware of their
understanding of the text and to use
specific strategies when needed.
Comprehension monitoring is
“thinking about thinking.”
Comprehension monitoring
instruction has positive effects on
standardized reading
comprehension test performance.
Comprehension Monitoring
 Track their thinking.
 Notice when they lose focus.
 Stop and go back.
 Reread to enhance understanding.
 Identify what's confusing.
 Consciously select the best strategy.
Monitoring Suggestions
 Skip the word and read to end of
sentence or segment, trying to figure it
out from the context.
 Guess the meaning or substitute a word
that seems to fit and see if it makes
sense.
Monitoring Suggestions
 Ask someone the meaning of the word,
look for definition in text, look up in
dictionary.
 Reread the segment.
 Read aloud—it can really help to hear
the text. Or ask someone else to read it
aloud to you.
 Slow down and reread, or read aloud.
Cooperative Learning
 Students work together to learn
comprehension strategies. This leads to
an increase in the learning of the
strategies, promotes intellectual
discussion, and increases reading
comprehension including on
standardized test performance.
Graphic Organizers
 Students write or draw meanings
and relationships of underlying
ideas. Main effect appears to be in
the improvement of the readers’
memory for the content that has
been read. Improvement is also
found in social studies and science
content areas.
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=2983
http://www.k111.k12.il.us/LAFAYETTE/FOURBLOCKS/graphic_organizers.htm
This class
Reading in the Early Grades
Reading Comprehension
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
___
___
___
___
___
___
___
This class
Reading in the Early Grades
Phonemic Awareness
Phonological Development
Reading Comprehension
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Comprehension Monitoring
Cooperative Learning
Graphic Organizers
___
___
___
___
Phonics/Decoding Skills
Analyze Story Structure
 Students are taught to use the
structure of the story as a means of
helping them recall story content in
order to answer questions about
what they have read; and
Story Structure
 I’m going to read you a story. What
would you want to know about this
story?" Students would likely comment
that they would like to know who the
story is about, what happens in the
story, where the story takes place, and
how the story ends.
Story Structure
 "Who" refers to characters, "where"
and "when" involve setting and
mood, "what happens" details
events of the plot, "how did it end"
involves the resolution of the story's
conflict. "Why" questions get at the
author's theme of the story.
 Use a map for older learners.
 Visualize where possible.
Question/Answer with
Immediate Feedback
 Readers answer questions posed by
the teacher and receive immediate
feedback
Question Generation
 Readers ask themselves questions
about various aspects of the story;
Summarization
 Readers are taught to integrate ideas
and generalize from the text
information.
Comprehension
is the purpose of reading
IN ALL CONTENT AREAS!
Who’s Responsibility?
Everyone’s!!!
 If you teach math, teach reading.
 If you teach science, teach reading.
 If you teach language, history,
geography, P.E., economics, basket
weaving, technology, writing, art,
music, ANYTHING …
TEACH READING
COMPREHENSION!
 "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I
remember. Involve me and I learn."
Benjamin Franklin
Next time:
Lesson activities
Vocabulary