There is a great need for comprehension teaching in our classrooms. Yes, we still have to teach kids to decode and read fluently and to know vocabulary, and those all help enable comprehension. But we really need to teach kids to think effectively when they read in addition to all of those enablers.
One aspect of comprehension that is not getting much attention these days is the teaching of story. There is a big push to include more expository text throughout the school years (and I agree with this), but the introduction of expository texts to reading isn't increasing reading instruction, it is just giving kids experience with another text they don't know how to understand. The attached files on story reading might help you find your way to do more than that. Good luck.
http://sites.google.com/site/shanahanstuff/comprehension
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Teaching Children to Comprehend Stories
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2 comments:
I remember sitting in class, and not understanding the text;it may as well have been in code. This is a great resource for teachers, and homeschool parents. Thanks, for addressing and bringing this issue into the forefront of literacy.
http://strategicbookpublishing.com/NoTearsForTheTeary.html
Teachers struggle with how to teach reading comprehension. The implicit-instruction teachers hope that reading a lot really will teach comprehension through some form of reading osmosis. The explicit-instruction teachers teach the skills that can be quantified, but ignore meaning-making as the true purpose of reading. Check out seven research-based reading comprehension strategies with multiple links at http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/reading/how-to-teach-reading-comprehension/
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