According to Keene (2007), the more effective comprehension teachers: are themselves readers and writers, constantly scrutinizing their own reading and learning processes in order to provide the most responsive instruction; don’t follow recipes, scripts, programs, and prescriptions; they understand basic reading theory enough to generate enough instructional options to respond to students’ needs; use a wide variety of texts in terms of genre and level; set aside daily time to confer with kids; this is the key instructional venue; create a classroom environment conducive to scholarly oral interactions and long-term study of comprehension strategies and concepts; and, provide lengthy periods of time for students to read every day.
- How do you rate yourself as a reader and writer?
- How do your abilities and understandings help you relate to your students’ needs, engage your students with text, and assist those struggling with reading and literacy skills?
- Do you feel you reflect enough on your own learning and reading skills/strategies?
E. Keene (2007), in her book To Understand she asks and argues:
- Is the text we’re using more appropriate for fluency instruction or comprehension instruction?
- Do students need comprehension strategy instruction if all they’re expected to do is retell and answer questions?
- We may need to rethink our ideas about the nature of comprehension.
“Are we teaching kids to do all the things that comprehension strategy instruction asks us to do if we are only expecting kids to live up to an out-of-date, low-level definition of comprehension? Kids have intellectual capacity to do so much more. I asked far, far, far too little of students when I was in the classroom and I wonder how far-spread this habit is in our country today, both in the richest and poorest districts.”
What are your thoughts about what we do or not do in the area of comprehension instruction?
Good readers are extremely active as they read. They are aware of why they are reading a text, make predictions about the upcoming text, and associate ideas they are reading about to their own background knowledge (Pressley, 2000). These are just a few characteristics of an active reader.
See a landmark article by Michael Pressley titled, “Comprehension Instruction: What Makes Sense Now, What Might Make Sense Soon” http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/pressley/index.html
What active comprehension strategies do you teach in your classroom? How do you choose which strategies to use?
The future of reading is already here. The way text is presented to students has changed along with a variety of changes to the way we work, talk, and socialize in society. Long gone are the days when just a textbook should be used to teach a topic or subject. We are in a digital age of learning.
What are your thoughts on the http://www.readingrockets.org/article/20832 website about 21st Century Literacies? How do the myths influence your thoughts about reading and comprehension development/instruction?
What do students need in order to be best prepared for future comprehension needs?
With regard to reading in the digital era, what strategies do you use for building your students’ critical literacy?
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