Chapter 5: Effective Comprehension Instruction: 

 

M*It’s important to teach the reader NOT the reading 

having an end in mind 

model for the students 

teach to the needs of the students 

 

C*Gradual Release of Responsibility 

Show how we think when we read 

Connect and engage students (Background knowledge 

Teacher Modeling 

Guided Practice (We do) 

Collaborative Practice (peer work) 

Independent (student alone) 

Sharing 

Use in a variety of ways in authentic reading situations 

 

M*Strategies are meant to help any student read any text and learn from it 

Model the strategies, and give them time to work with it 

No order or sequence of teaching 

Introduce one at a time…building their tool box 

use all strategies with all texts 

C*Building a Literate Community 

Build a passion for reading and wonder 

Collaborate Learning…risk taking thinking, sharing various groups 

Blocks of time for reading extensions and writing 

Authentic responses: have students show their thinking in a variety of ways 

Differentiation:  meets the needs of every student 

Make sure you are picking the correct text: have a wide variety 

room arrangement:  discussion groups 

Accessible resources 

 

M*Assessing 

Much more than state tests for students and teachers 

track student learning 

id past and future instruction 

best assessment is what students are thinking 

 

C*Grades 

Don’t really matter…what matters is the progress and ongoing learning by the student 

not just one snapshot of one assessment 

 

The reading highlights the number of strategies that teachers can utilize in their classroom including, but not limited to: one to one devices, watching book trailers, and listening to books on tape.

 

Technology can be used to enrich comprehension instruction by: enabling all students to participate and engage more deeply, provide access to resources, specialists, and texts that would not otherwise be available, open up a real-world audience or thinking and learning, monitor and assess digital products and projects, meet the needs of diverse learners, and build a foundation for 21^st century digital citizenship. 

 

Technology makes it easy to differentiate- graphics allow kids who might not be able to read a text effectively comprehend information they might not otherwise have access to. This provides powerful implications for reluctant readers, as they are typically more comfortable accessing their own level of technology than reading a lower level book in front of their peers.

 

These technology strategies ultimately require students to use the same comprehension techniques and skills used when reading a book. 

 

Studies have shown that kids are more motivated when given an opportunity to access technology in the classroom. However, studies have also shown, that the more devices kids have access to, the less they read on their own. 

 

Teaching students to read text strategically sharpens and enhances their understanding of the content.

 

It’s important for teachers to share their favorite types of literature with their students, as students will quickly pick up on a teacher’s enthusiasm for a particular piece or genre. 

 

Picture books can be vital, especially for ELLs, and for students of any age. 

 

It’s important for teachers to take part in the “choosing book” process with a focus on interest, readability, and purpose.  

 

How we choose text to use for instruction also impacts students. We chose text based off of its purpose, the audience and relevance, the genre, the topic, writing quality, and text and visual features. We also chose text to launch comprehension instruction, and focus on a certain strategy. These strategies are activating and connecting to background knowledge, questioning, inferring, visualizing, and determining importance. 

 

“Offline” and “online” reading also plays a huge part in ELA. A lot of articles and text are online, and more students are “skim and scan” instead of actually reading to comprehend. Teachers have to explicitly students ways to evaluate and use internet resources. .