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A Guide to Teaching and Understanding Comprehension Strategies
 

Why worry about comprehension?

       Reading is more than saying the words or getting from the beginning of the book to the end. To be
       successful readers, children need to be able to comprehend text.  Research has shown there are some
       strategies we can share with children as we read that will help them gain more understanding.  Each
      of these strategies is explained below.   These strategies are:

  Schema

   Questioning

   Sensory Imaging

   Inferring

  Synthesizing

       Determining  Importance  

Before we look at the strategies, let's look at another word that addresses
this whole thinking process...   
Metacognition

 Children love that word – even saying it makes them feel smarter! 
All it means is being aware of your thinking. 
Encourage metacognition by sharing your thinking while you read aloud.

Sh       Share your thinking processes while
     you are reading to your child. 

for     For example:

·          "That reminds me of that time we  …"

   "Isn’t this what we heard about on the
    news?"

   "I read about this in that other book."

   "I know how the character feels because
    that happened to me."

    

 

     Our brains should be active
   and  processing the whole time
   we are reading.  From the time
   you look at the cover, your
   brain should be at work
   determining what this might
   be about (predicting). 

   Model or share your thinking
   processes while you read out
   loud and when you read a book
   together to show your child just
   how it is done.
 

Schema

         When readers fit what they read into what they already know or have experienced, they are using
   schema.  As you read to or with your child, try:

     1. Making Connections

         Connect what you read to your own life.
 

       Connect the reading to other books.
 

       Connect the reading to events happening in our world.

   

        

  2. Author Schema
 What do you know about the author that might help you to anticipate what happens in the   story?  Does the author like surprise endings?  Does the author often use the same characters?  This kind of understanding really helps young readers when they are reading within a series.

    3. Prior Knowledge
 Help your child think about the title and pictures before he or she reads.  They should look through the book, read the back of the book, and read the chapter titles to activate their schema or background knowledge.   Ask them to use what they know to make predictions and then read to verify or change those predictions - just the way you do when you are reading a story.  We do it so naturally, that we aren't metacognitively (there's that word) aware of that process.

4. Identify Lack of Schema
 When you don’t make many connections, when you aren’t familiar with the author and don’t know much about the subject, reading is harder.  Good readers  need to have a plan for this kind of challenge.

       Encourage your child to ask questions about unfamiliar topics.
 

       Use the internet, dictionary and other reference materials to ‘research’ unfamiliar
 topics or authors.
 

       Determining Importance

    Readers need to prioritize as they read.  Determining importance is
   related to main ideas and identifying themes.  It is a
   critical skill for students as they encounter textbooks and nonfiction.
   What kind of message is the author sending?

       

        

            Prioritizing information

·        What are the critical ideas?
 

·       What is just interesting without being important?
 

        Can your student differentiate the main ideas from the supporting details?
 

Inferring

        More than simple prediction, inferring  happens when readers can take what they know and what is written in the book to ‘read between the lines’.  The ability to infer helps the reader get to the ‘why’ of the story. 

       We can help our readers to use inference to:
Think about why a character takes an action.
How a character feels in a situation.
Why an author made certain choices when writing the book.

Sensory Imaging or Visualizing

  

       When readers can use their senses to help them imagine what they might smell,
     hear, see, taste or feel as they read, they get deeper into the text.  They visualize
     or picture what it looks like.  The reader can picture it in their mind's eye. 
 
                            Synthesizing   

           When you set out to make cookies and begin to gather up the ingredients, you don’t have cookies
    until the measuring, mixing and baking is done.  You begin with all the needed ingredients and
    somehow you synthesize them into a tasty treat.  When a reader can use all the comprehension tools
    described on this page to take a book and truly make it their own through masterful retelling,
    they are synthesizing.

Questioning

           When readers question the text before, during and after they read, they attend more closely to the text.

 Before Reading 
       What do you think will happen?
       Why do you suppose?

       During Reading
      I wonder why...
      How come…

A    Ater Reading
         What would have happened if…
      I wonder why the author…
      I wonder where we could look to find out more about…

  

    I    It is important for readers to understand that some of the most important or interesting
   questions they have aren’t always answered in the story.

 

            Some of this information was adapted from Readinglady.com, a site focused on reading and comprehension. 
      Go to Reading Lady and click on comprehension to read more about any of the strategies mentioned above. 
     This site offers suggestions for teaching these strategies and suggests books that are suited for each one.
Much of this information is based on  Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmerman
and Strategies that Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis.
 

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Text Box: Synthesizing When you set out to make cookies and begin to gather up the ingredients, you don’t have cookies until the measuring, mixing and baking is done.  You begin with all the needed ingredients and somehow you synthesize them into a tasty treat.  When a reader can use all the comprehension tools described in this brochure to take a book and truly make it their own through masterful retelling, they are synthesizing.                   Questioning When readers question the text before, during and after they read, they attend more closely to the text.   Before Reading ·         What do you think will happen? ·         Why do you suppose? During Reading ·         I wonder why… ·         How come… After Reading ·         What would have happened if… ·         I wonder why the author… ·         I wonder where we could look       to find out more about…   It is important for readers to understand that some of the most important or interesting questions we have aren’t always answered in the story.        

            Schema

When readers fit what they read into what they already know or have experienced, they are using schema.  As you read to or with your child, try:

 

 1. Making Connections

Connect what you read to your own life.

Connect the reading to other books.

Connect the reading to events happening in our world.

 

2. Author Schema

What do you know about the author that might help you to anticipate what happens in the story?  Does the author like surprise endings?  Does the author often use the same characters?  This kind of understanding really helps young readers when they are reading within a series.

 

3. Prior Knowledge

Help your child think about the title and pictures before he or she reads.  They should look through the book, read the back of the book, and read the chapter titles to activate their schema.  Ask them to use what they know to make        predictions.

 

4. Identify Lack of Schema

When you don’t make many connections, when you aren’t familiar with the author and don’t know much about the subject, reading is harder.  Good readers need to have a plan for this kind of challenge.

Encourage your child to ask questions about unfamiliar topics.

 

·          Use the internet, dictionary and other reference materials to ‘research’ unfamiliar topics or authors.

Text Box:             Schema When readers fit what they read into what they already know or have experienced, they are using schema.  As you read to or with your child, try:    1. Making Connections Connect what you read to your own life. Connect the reading to other books. Connect the reading to events happening in our world.   2. Author Schema What do you know about the author that might help you to anticipate what happens in the story?  Does the author like surprise endings?  Does the author often use the same characters?  This kind of understanding really helps young readers when they are reading within a series.   3. Prior Knowledge Help your child think about the title and pictures before he or she reads.  They should look through the book, read the back of the book, and read the chapter titles to activate their schema.  Ask them to use what they know to make        predictions.   4. Identify Lack of Schema When you don’t make many connections, when you aren’t familiar with the author and don’t know much about the subject, reading is harder.  Good readers need to have a plan for this kind of challenge. Encourage your child to ask questions about unfamiliar topics.   ·          Use the internet, dictionary and other reference materials to ‘research’ unfamiliar topics or authors.

 
Text Box:  

 

Text Box: Synthesizing When you set out to make cookies and begin to gather up the ingredients, you don’t have cookies until the measuring, mixing and baking is done.  You begin with all the needed ingredients and somehow you synthesize them into a tasty treat.  When a reader can use all the comprehension tools described in this brochure to take a book and truly make it their own through masterful retelling, they are synthesizing.                   Questioning When readers question the text before, during and after they read, they attend more closely to the text.   Before Reading ·         What do you think will happen? ·         Why do you suppose? During Reading ·         I wonder why… ·         How come… After Reading ·         What would have happened if… ·         I wonder why the author… ·         I wonder where we could look       to find out more about…   It is important for readers to understand that some of the most important or interesting questions we have aren’t always answered in the story.        

            Schema

When readers fit what they read into what they already know or have experienced, they are using schema.  As you read to or with your child, try:

 

 1. Making Connections

Connect what you read to your own life.

Connect the reading to other books.

Connect the reading to events happening in our world.

 

2. Author Schema

What do you know about the author that might help you to anticipate what happens in the story?  Does the author like surprise endings?  Does the author often use the same characters?  This kind of understanding really helps young readers when they are reading within a series.

 

3. Prior Knowledge

Help your child think about the title and pictures before he or she reads.  They should look through the book, read the back of the book, and read the chapter titles to activate their schema.  Ask them to use what they know to make        predictions.

 

4. Identify Lack of Schema

When you don’t make many connections, when you aren’t familiar with the author and don’t know much about the subject, reading is harder.  Good readers need to have a plan for this kind of challenge.

Encourage your child to ask questions about unfamiliar topics.

 

·          Use the internet, dictionary and other reference materials to ‘research’ unfamiliar topics or authors.

Text Box:             Schema When readers fit what they read into what they already know or have experienced, they are using schema.  As you read to or with your child, try:    1. Making Connections Connect what you read to your own life. Connect the reading to other books. Connect the reading to events happening in our world.   2. Author Schema What do you know about the author that might help you to anticipate what happens in the story?  Does the author like surprise endings?  Does the author often use the same characters?  This kind of understanding really helps young readers when they are reading within a series.   3. Prior Knowledge Help your child think about the title and pictures before he or she reads.  They should look through the book, read the back of the book, and read the chapter titles to activate their schema.  Ask them to use what they know to make        predictions.   4. Identify Lack of Schema When you don’t make many connections, when you aren’t familiar with the author and don’t know much about the subject, reading is harder.  Good readers need to have a plan for this kind of challenge. Encourage your child to ask questions about unfamiliar topics.   ·          Use the internet, dictionary and other reference materials to ‘research’ unfamiliar topics or authors.

 
Text Box: