Best+Practices+Comprehension


 * Strategies for Teaching Comprehension: Best Practices **

Reading comprehension in research and in practice in the primary grades has taken a back seat to other aspects of reading, such as phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and phonics. As Common Core State Standards are being implemented, comprehension has become more of a concern to all involved. Therefore, it is important as a reading specialist, primary school teacher, and researcher to determine practices that are best suited to these early readers. Research has shown a variety of activities and strategies that can help young children comprehend what they read. Better yet, most of these activities have been tried in "real life" classrooms.

Schema One strategy that benefits students in their reading comprehension is schema. Schema refers to the experiences and knowledge students already have (Gregory and Cahill, 2010). Introducing students to this concept should be done using a graphic representation, such as a picture of a head. Practice in utilizing schema to comprehend should be complete with explicit modeling. Having students act out “turning on” their head to activate their schema is suggested. By making an abstract concept like schema have concrete aspects, younger children are given access to this comprehension strategy.

**Velcro Theory ** Once students have an understanding of schema, they can make connections between new information and previously acquired information. Gregory and Cahill (2010) call this Velcro theory. Velcro theory, so-called because it is an easy concept for students to visualize, reminds students that it is easier to remember information if it is stuck to something else they already know. Students use Velcro theory to make connections and categorize new information. As the teacher reads, students who want to make connections between something they have in their schema to something they hear in the story raise their hands in the shape of a letter “C.” The teacher writes the connections down. Then, using the think-aloud strategy to model for students, the teacher guides students to categorize their connections. Categories include connections that are text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world. Categorizing these connections allows students to see how their own connections interrelate.

**Visualization ** Another strategy that benefits young readers is visualization. Gregory and Cahill (2010) suggest referring to visualization for young children as “making mind movies.” The teacher models for the students what he or she sees in her mind as she is reading by describing what she sees and drawing a picture. For student practice, the teacher reads, and students who want to share their visualization raise their hands in the shape of a “V.” At times, the teacher has the students close their eyes to visualize while she reads, Students then draw their “mind movies.” After the students have drawn their visualization, they compare their drawings to the pictures in the book.

**Reciprocal Teaching **

Although reciprocal teaching has been a part of literacy education for some time, its use is relatively new to those working with emergent readers. Myers (2006) states that reciprocal teaching strategies are effective for emergent readers when combined with read-alouds. The strategies of prediction, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing are introduced and modeled through the use of puppets. Princess Storyteller is used to summarize the story or, as explained to kindergarteners, making a long story short. Quincy Questioner asks questions that are considered “easy;” the answers are generally found in the story. Clara Clarifier asks questions that may or may not be in the story. These questions require activating prior knowledge or utilizing other means to acquire the answer. Wizard predicts what will happen next in the story. Each strategy is introduced and modeled through the use of think-alouds while reading a story to the students (Myers, 2006). Further, stories that have been read previously and are familiar to the students are used in order to allow the students to focus on the strategies themselves instead of splitting the focus to understanding the story as well. Because reciprocal teaching strategies are new to students at this age, whole-class participation is utilized. As with most comprehension strategy instruction at the emergent reader level, reciprocal teaching strategy instruction requires the teacher to take a more active role. The teacher may need to guide students who struggle with wording their responses by getting help from other students. Thus, practice in skills such as summarizing may require the work of the group rather than just one student. To ensure that instruction is differentiated, the teacher may wish to employ running records to keep track of students’ struggles and successes with the strategies.

**Five-Finger Retelling ** To assist in summarization of stories, five-finger retelling is a popular approach among teachers and researchers alike (Stahl, 2004). Five-finger retelling provides students with an outline of the important information needed in creating a summary of a story. Although limited in its lack of research at the primary grades, this approach may prove effective for summarizing.

**Story Maps **   Another approach that helps students complete retellings of stories is the use of story maps (Stahl, 2004). Story maps, like five-finger retelling, have been utilized primarily in upper grades, but they may prove to be effective in the primary grades as well. Story maps also aid students in realizing the important information to include in a retelling. Both story maps and five-finger retelling are likely to improve students’ listening comprehension.

**Teacher-Generated Questions ** Teachers and researchers have continuously used and studied teacher-generated questions (Stahl, 2004). Asking students questions to guide understanding can be effective in primary grades as well as in upper grades. Preferably, questions asked by teachers during reading time should guide comprehension and include a combination of low-level and high-level questions to include all levels of reading development.

**<span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino;">Question-Answer Relationships ** <span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino;"> <span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino; font-size: 18px;">Question-answer relationships is another approach that benefits students’ reading comprehension. In teaching question-answer relationships, students learn that the answers to questions can be found in different ways (Stahl, 2004). Four types of relationships are Right There, Think and Search, Author and You, and On My Own. Right There questions can be answered directly from the text. Think and Search questions require students to extend their look for an answer throughout the text. Author and You questions require the student to use prior knowledge as well as the text to find the answer. Finally, On My Own questions require the student to utilize his own knowledge solely.

**<span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino;">Directed Reading-Thinking Activity ** <span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino;"> <span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino; font-size: 18px;"> Also known as Directed Listening-Thinking Activity for emergent readers, this activity is circular in its usage. The teacher begins by modeling the four stages of the activity—making a prediction about a text, justifying the reason for the prediction, reading some of the text, verifying the prediction or realizing the difference between the prediction and the actual occurrence, and making a new prediction. After modeling, the teacher guides students through these stages, releasing responsibility eventually.

**<span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino; font-size: 18px;">Video ** <span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino; font-size: 18px;">Although less-often utilized in classrooms, the use of video to aid reading comprehension has been well-researched (Stahl, 2004). Using videos of stories to aid in comprehension may help students with limited literacy backgrounds. Videos work especially well when students are reading complex stories. Students with limited literacy backgrounds may lack the reading stamina and focus required by complex stories. By providing students with a medium that is familiar, students may feel less taxed and able to concentrate more on comprehension.

**<span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino;">Picture Walk ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">Interestingly, Stahl (2004) states that picture walks are widely used yet are lacking in research. Teachers use picture walks to activate prior knowledge and generate predictions, two strategies associated with comprehension. Yet, picture walks have shown to promote fluency more than comprehension. Picture walks are found more prevalently in low-performing classrooms.

**<span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino;">Interactive Read Alouds ** <span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> <span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino; font-size: 18px;">Interactive read-alouds, where students are actively involved in constructing meaning from a story, provide another approach for reading comprehension. Wiseman (2011) describes a teacher’s success utilizing an interactive read-aloud. In this teacher’s classroom, student interests and contributions guide the discussion of picture books, yet the beginning of the read-aloud time starts in the same way each time, promoting consistency. The interactive read-aloud begins with a discussion about the cover, making predictions. Students are directed to the dedication page and copyright page, where the meaning of these pages are discussed. Students are guided through the book’s front and back cover, end page, title page. The teacher demonstrates how both visual and textual features contribute to the meaning of the story. As students comment on these features, the teacher scaffolds the comments together. As the teacher reads the story to the children, she models oral reading fluency and print awareness. At the end of the story students discuss their overall impressions of the book with their peers and then write a response to the story. Students are encouraged throughout the read-aloud to ask questions for clarification, predict, make connections, and interact together to build meaning.

**<span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino;">E-Books ** <span style="font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino; font-size: 18px;">As technology innovation expands exponentially, classrooms have adjusted to accommodate new media outlets. E-books are becoming more prevalent in classrooms as teachers and students alike utilize them for teaching and entertainment. Shamir (2009) states that e-books for emergent readers include multi-media, interactive effects such as written texts, oral reading, oral discourse, music, sound effects, and animation. Students who utilized the dictionary activations scored better in word meaning assessments than students who did not. Shamir (2009) found that students sharing e-books interacted with one another regarding the reading, listened to each other more, and performed better in sub-syllabic phonological awareness. The use of e-books may be beneficial for students in comprehension via vocabulary help through dictionary activations. However, picture activations may distract students from comprehension as they may be seen as entertainment rather than informative.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'book antiqua',palatino; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">Comprehension is an important part of reading even regarding emergent readers. Comprehension approaches that are utilized in later grades may be amended to fit primary grades as well. The difference in their use requires a more active role on the part of both teacher and student.