Julie Niedrach - Blog Post #4 Teach Comprehension (Routman)

     I couldn't wait to read what this author/reading teacher said about teaching comprehension.  This is what I have been working toward with my students each year.  I'm always looking for better ways to increase the students' comprehension in reading. Comprehension is the basis of deep level learning. If we want kids to end up with comprehension, we have to begin with comprehension. (Routman, p. 117)  I agree with this author, because I have seen how much my students struggle with comprehending text when we try to break it down into learning the meaning of new vocabulary.  That needs to be studied too, but sometimes they can comprehend word meaning while reading for clues in the sentences.

     It is interesting to note that Routman states facts about impoverished readers. (Routman, p.118)  She states that they learn to read the words, but by the time the focus shifts to comprehension, they have lost years of knowing what real reading is about. (Routman, p. 118)  This statement would apply to some percentage of most of our schools today, so this information was very helpful.  She also stated that many students are held back by too much explicit instruction and too little guided practice in reading.  She suggests using the 20 percent to 80 percent rule, where the teacher gives 20 percent of time on instruction, and 80 percent on guided reading.  Some of the strategies that are discussed in this chapter will be helpful while teaching reading.  She suggests using re-reading as a good strategy for students to use to attain comprehension.  Also to make connections to other texts, to yourself, and to the world.  Some others are monitoring your reading for meaning, visualize your story as you read, ask questions while you are reading, make inferences, and apply new knowledge to what is known.

     Surveying the text is another strategy that would get the students interested and peak their curiosity in a story or book.  When I am going to begin a new story with my students, I always tell them to look at the title and author.  Then they look at the beginning of the story to see if they can tell me the name of a character or two.  We try to find the setting, so we can find the place on a map.
In a way, we are surveying the text.  I will keep using my strategies that I know are working, and I will add to them some of the strategies that I have read about in this chapter.  I would like to work on using a self-monitoring checklist, so the students will learn to self-monitor as they read.  Since most of my students are Ell's, I will use texts that are meaningful enough to support comprehension.  When I give them a formative assessment, maybe there will be improvement in their comprehension. I look forward to seeing them trying to reach new goals this year.