Reading Comprehension Strategies
Answering Comprehension Questions: I have found through my own classroom practices and experiences that asking students comprehension questions in a variety of ways is a great reading comprehension strategy. I often like to give my students different ways to answer the comprehension questions such as working with a partner to first discuss the questions and then to "jot their thoughts" to answer the questions. By adding the element of collaborative discussion, it seems to promote better memory and overall comprehension of the text that was read.
Story Maps: I have taught in middle school classrooms for four years and now, in an upper elementary classroom. I have found that story maps are a great reading comprehension strategy for students of all ages! For the older kids, I incorporate story maps that look at the basic elements of the plot of the story but, I also include higher level thinking such as the problem within the text, important events, inferences, and theme. This strategy has worked great in my classrooms to promote overall reading comprehension of fictional text.
Using Prior Knowledge/Previewing: A reading comprehension strategy/skill that I have been working on this year in my fifth grade classroom is using prior knowledge to create inferences about a text. I always start my reading workshop lessons with a connection ("hook") to capture their attention and then we discuss what we already know about the text prior to reading it. This works well for my students and allows them to create connections that promote better memory and comprehension of the text we are reading.
Rereading for Important Information: Throughout the school year so far, I have been working with my students to develop the skill of rereading to gather important information. This skill works well when I move my students onto their independent work and they must answer reading comprehension questions about a text. I always offer them their literature textbook to reread excerpts from the text to help them answer the questions and build their comprehension of the story.
Chunking the Text: Last week in my fifth grade classroom, I introduced the reading comprehension strategy of "chunking the text" to better comprehend what we are reading and to focus on the key details. As we read an expository text aloud together I paused periodically to stop and jot the key details in that particular chunk of the text. My students then continued this process when I moved them into their independent work where they read an article aloud together about Westward Expansion. Read, pause, jot key details, repeat. When they were done, we talked about the key details they pulled from the text and explained the importance of those details in relation to Westward Expansion.
Answering Comprehension Questions: I have found through my own classroom practices and experiences that asking students comprehension questions in a variety of ways is a great reading comprehension strategy. I often like to give my students different ways to answer the comprehension questions such as working with a partner to first discuss the questions and then to "jot their thoughts" to answer the questions. By adding the element of collaborative discussion, it seems to promote better memory and overall comprehension of the text that was read.
Story Maps: I have taught in middle school classrooms for four years and now, in an upper elementary classroom. I have found that story maps are a great reading comprehension strategy for students of all ages! For the older kids, I incorporate story maps that look at the basic elements of the plot of the story but, I also include higher level thinking such as the problem within the text, important events, inferences, and theme. This strategy has worked great in my classrooms to promote overall reading comprehension of fictional text.
Using Prior Knowledge/Previewing: A reading comprehension strategy/skill that I have been working on this year in my fifth grade classroom is using prior knowledge to create inferences about a text. I always start my reading workshop lessons with a connection ("hook") to capture their attention and then we discuss what we already know about the text prior to reading it. This works well for my students and allows them to create connections that promote better memory and comprehension of the text we are reading.
Rereading for Important Information: Throughout the school year so far, I have been working with my students to develop the skill of rereading to gather important information. This skill works well when I move my students onto their independent work and they must answer reading comprehension questions about a text. I always offer them their literature textbook to reread excerpts from the text to help them answer the questions and build their comprehension of the story.
Chunking the Text: Last week in my fifth grade classroom, I introduced the reading comprehension strategy of "chunking the text" to better comprehend what we are reading and to focus on the key details. As we read an expository text aloud together I paused periodically to stop and jot the key details in that particular chunk of the text. My students then continued this process when I moved them into their independent work where they read an article aloud together about Westward Expansion. Read, pause, jot key details, repeat. When they were done, we talked about the key details they pulled from the text and explained the importance of those details in relation to Westward Expansion.