Strategies for Comprehension and Assessment

Reading for Comprehension

We learn to read in order to make meaning of a text.  And while we are reading we are using a number of different thinking strategies to help us to uncover that meaning.  There is no one-size-fits-all approach to reading or learning to read.  That is why, when we help students with their comprehension strategies, it is important to show them a variety of strategies that they can use on their own. 

So what are these strategies we are teaching?  The comprehension strategies are ones that you and I use during our regular reading without paying much attention to them, but need to be developed in children.  The strategies include asking questions, visualizing, making connections, and drawing inferences, among others.  It is what our brains are doing while we are reading.  But, as Pat Johnson and Katie Keier explain in Catching Readers Before They Fall, the important part is not the strategies themselves, but rather the use of the strategies to create meaning.  We use multiple strategies working together at the same time to create meaning while we are reading.  This is one reason that we cannot teach the strategies as stand-alone lessons.  They should always be built into a lesson on comprehension.  So, whenever you are highlighting one strategy to model for students it is important to emphasize that what you are trying to do is uncover the meaning of the text and the strategy you are showing them may help you do so. 

When it comes time to show the students a certain method, be aware that they will need to be shown more than once.  Start by modeling how you use the strategy, then move on to a shared demonstration, and then guided practice.  The only way to determine when to move on to the next method, is to observe your students through class activities and during one on one sessions to see if they are grasping the lesson.  There is no pre-prescribed amount of time to spend on each part.  Once you see the student has grasped what you are showing, then move to the next.  Once they show the ability to apply the method, let them use it independently, but continue to monitor them in case they need additional support. 

 

Assessing Reading Ability

There are a number of different systems out there being used to assess students’ ability to read and understand a text.  Just as we wouldn’t teach just one strategy for comprehension, we shouldn’t assess just one portion of reading ability.  We need to look at comprehension, but we also need to consider the syntax, semantics and graphophonics.  Using a miscue analysis allows us to gain a fuller picture of a student’s ability by taking into consideration all of these.  A great way to present the findings of a miscue analysis is through the use of a spider chart.  In her article “A New Spin on Miscue Analysis: Using Spider charts to Web Reading Processes,” Karen Wohlwend shows how a spider chart can give a “snapshot of reading processes with a specific book in a specific moment in time.”  So while the analysis and chart are helpful, we must remember that a child’s reading system is always changing and what it really takes is a well tuned-in teacher to determine where the student’s strengths and opportunities for improvement are.