Possible links to decoding and fluency, equally responsible is the students comprehending skills. Effective teachers assist students in becoming strategic readers. 

*groups should be small for instruction.  

Important aspects of Comprehension Instruction- 

Student Need-
Do the students know what good readers do?
Do they know any strategies? - what do they need to be taught?

- give them a reading.  Have them record what they do to help them understand the text (all the things they do in their heads to help them understand what is being said).

They may need help to become aware of 'what they do in their heads'.

Pg 132- Print off as good resource to go in students books.

Overtly state that the use of questioning is to connect to prior knowledge which helps readers understand the text - ask students how come they think this helps? - by making connections in the brain.

"tell me where you linked to things you already knew to better understand the text that we read this week"

Visualisation -
Getting a picture in their minds....

"how did the author help you get an image in your minds?"
Opportunities for strategy instruction most commonly occur in small group lessons such as guided reading and shared reading, whole class reading does provide opportunities as well.

Teachers are required to model, question and explain when a new strategy is introduced.  DAT.

Self Monitoring / fixing up-
Students learn to detect any problems, decide whether these problems are affecting their understanding, and apply strategies to fix the problem.   -word recognition and vocabulary + CS.

Class Chart - pg 140

Example Lesson Goal-
WALT- (Strategy- summarising information from the text).  We are learning to identify the most important ideas when we read

Success criteria - pick out a key sentence / highlight the key words and justify why we choose them.
Self reflection - students monitor their progress.

Critical thinking-
Drawing attention to the social and cultural perspectives conveyed through the text.

Through inferring,  self-questioning identifying the main idea etc.

10 Key Strategies (I learnt the top 5 - Sue Dimmoch)

Prior Knowledge-
find ideas we already know about (about the topic prior to reading),  compare to what we know after, make connections,  connect to other texts.

Activity- Quick think / brain storm diagram

Skimming- to gain a general sense of the text. KWL sheet.

Predicting- repredicting-
Clues from the cover, their skim, give evidence.

The main thing that is happening now is....
A question I am asking myself is...
The prediction I am making is...

Visualisation -
Identify author features (shown not told/ using the senses),  that help you get a picture in your mind/ phrases, key words, structures...

The picture I get is.... because
When I read this, I saw ... because....

Sketching....

Inferring-
Understanding that difference between something stated explicitly and something stated implicitly- directly and hinted at.

"Read between the lines"   / Clues... /   Predictions
Activity pg 159.

Rich Questions -

Literal and inferred meaning pg 161.

Self questioning-
To deepen the understanding of the text.

5W and H questions, Literal, Inferential, Investigative, Evaluative.

Seek Clarification - words, meaning, phrases, concepts.

Summarising- what information is important?
Making decisions about -key words, facts, main ideas, and main events.

We are learning to- identify structural features of the text. Determine the important ideas, combine and condense ideas, state in their own words, order them. (justify importance- evidence).   

Highlight / use flow text-boxes / step by step.

Analysing and Synthesising-
making the text their own- through the lens of their own viewpoint.
Stop during reading to check understanding/predictions etc - to become aware of the changes in understanding and conclusions they are drawing from the text.

As they learn to analyse and synthesise they-
identify ideas and information from within the text.
Link ideas and information to their prior knowledge
Create new knowledge
Form conclusions
Can explain the text

Why is it?
The Author States / Why could this be so /  Questions I have are

Identifying 'cause and effect' relationships - between events and or actions

Synthesis= what did you notice? 

Identify assumptions, points or view and bias.  / compare characters.

The author said that / I think that...

 Evaluating - 
Student judgements- based on understanding of the text and their knowledge and values.  

Using other CS’s students will respond in a personal and informed way, recognise inconsistencies, understand different points of view / challenge others views/ justify their own views on the text. 

Prompts and Questions - pg193

Well designed and implemented small-group teaching of activities that support students understanding of texts need to occur regularly.