As a Reading Specialist, I don't believe there is a single best way to teach comprehension, rather several strategies to employ. Every student learns differently and has their own strengths and weaknesses. Focusing on what they do know has tremendous benefits.
Within my training and teaching, I've created a handful of resources to help teachers, in all content areas, help readers become confident readers and therefore better at comprehension.
Below are several ideas/approaches you may want to employ in
the up coming school year.
Cueing and Prompting Strategies are an Prompts and Sentence Frames offer
excellent way to focus on and enhance a 'frame' of the sentence to be completed.
what the reader knows. More effectively They are helpful when students are 'stuck'
reaches individual needs. and to use key vocabulary at a level in
which they may be at a higher level.
Utilizing sentence frames helps students Summarizing teaches students to recognize
of all proficiency levels incorporate higher what is most important in a text. It helps
levels of language into their reading and writing. teach how to integrate the most important
Activate Strategies are a variety of engaging Context clues are words, sentences, and even
strategies that set students up within a pictures or illustrations are in close proximity
familiar context of what they currently know. better understand what they read and to
FIND IT HERE a word and helps to explain its meaning.
Inferring is the ability to understand Rereading
is a skill that helps develop and
when text all the information is not maintain fluency, accuracy and comprehension. specifically written. FIND IT HERE FIND IT HERE
Think Aloud is a teaching strategy that
allows students to hear the thought
process of a good reader.
Strategies can be tailored to ANY
topic, story, or area of study at any level.
Excellent for Cross-Curricular!
