What is Comprehension?
Shanahan defines Reading Comprehension as "the act of understanding and interpreting the information within a text." (pg. 27)
- "Reading comprehension is a complex cognitive process that cannot be understood without a clear description of the role that vocabulary development and vocabulary instruction play in the understanding of what has been read."
- "Comprehension is an active process that requires an intentional and thoughtful interaction between the reader and the text."
- "The preparation of teachers to better equip students to develop and apply reading comprehension strategies to enhance understanding is intimately linked to students' achievement in this area."
Comprehension is best built with these foundations...
1. Phonemic Awareness
2. Phonics
3. Oral Reading
4. Fluency
5. Vocabulary
Shanahan (pg. 28)
Additionally, Scarborough’s Rope shows this idea as well. Many aspects such as background knowledge, vocabulary, phonological awareness, decoding, and more all intertwine. With a strong foundation of these skills, students are more likely to be fluent in their reading and able to comprehend text. Munger states, "the two necessary braids that contribute to reading comprehension are themselves comprised of underlying skills and strands" (pg. 30)
Strategies for Building Comprehension
▪ Building Background Knowledge
▪ Questioning
▪ Monitoring
▪ Summarizing
Shanahan states "There are many approaches to teaching multiple strategies, but the one that has garnered the greatest research attention is reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching shows students how to use four strategies in combination during reading. The four strategies included in reciprocal teaching are prediction, questioning, clarification, and summarization."
and summarization
▪ Story Mapping (Analyzing Text
Structure)
▪ Creating Mental Imagery
▪ Metacognitive Reading Strategy.
The national reading panel states that, "...good readers stop along the way to ask themselves questions about what the text is saying" (pg. 31). Questioning allows students to produce higher-order thinking answers.
▪ Questioning
▪ Monitoring
▪ Summarizing
Shanahan states "There are many approaches to teaching multiple strategies, but the one that has garnered the greatest research attention is reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching shows students how to use four strategies in combination during reading. The four strategies included in reciprocal teaching are prediction, questioning, clarification, and summarization."
and summarization
▪ Story Mapping (Analyzing Text
Structure)
▪ Creating Mental Imagery
▪ Metacognitive Reading Strategy.
The national reading panel states that, "...good readers stop along the way to ask themselves questions about what the text is saying" (pg. 31). Questioning allows students to produce higher-order thinking answers.
Summarizing
Summarizing is when a student is able to take key ideas and main events within a reading. Summarizing is a great way to check for understanding because when students are able to differentiate supporting details from main events as well as tell what the main concepts were in the reading, it shows levels of comprehension. The video below shows a summarizing strategy called Sum It Up For $2.00. This strategy allows students to use 20 words to create a summary from one of their readings. These 20 words are important words or "buzz words" that identify what the reading was really about. An example of this could be the main characters names, a setting or place, the time of day etc. From these 20 words, with the addition of others, students write a summary that capsulizes what the reading was about. This strategy can be super helpful for students who have a hard time narrowing down on one main concept or event and/or students who focus heavily on supporting details.
Questioning
Asking questions is an essential part of checking for comprehension. Teachers CAN and SHOULD be consistently asking questions if students are reading as a whole group. Below is a common worksheet that might be seen being used during instruction or independently. Although this is a good way to check students' comprehension, it can be overwhelming and confusing to students who are just starting to learn how to pick out main events or supporting details.
One very effective way to make sure students are engaged and comprehending the story that is being read is by ensuring the read-aloud is interactive. The video below explains how to properly plan questions for a read-aloud, the kind of questions to ask, how to relate the questions to prior knowledge or new concepts, how to keep the conversation on the story, and much more.
Story Mapping
The National Reading Panel states ""comprehension strategies that have been successfully taught include summarization, questioning, story maps, comprehension monitoring, and graphic organizers" (pg.36)
Story Mapping is a graphic organizer that helps students learn the elements of a narrative such as a story’s characters, plot, setting, problem, and solution. The video below breaks down each part of a story map and the specific elements needed to create a story map. In this video, viewers are given 5 elements to focus on and well as examples for each. These include...
1. Characters
2. Setting (time & place)
3. The problem
4. Theme
5. Solution
What is most interesting about this video is that it connects each one of these 5 elements to a finger. This would be super helpful for young learners to remember each of the elements they need to create a story map.
Story Mapping is a graphic organizer that helps students learn the elements of a narrative such as a story’s characters, plot, setting, problem, and solution. The video below breaks down each part of a story map and the specific elements needed to create a story map. In this video, viewers are given 5 elements to focus on and well as examples for each. These include...
1. Characters
2. Setting (time & place)
3. The problem
4. Theme
5. Solution
What is most interesting about this video is that it connects each one of these 5 elements to a finger. This would be super helpful for young learners to remember each of the elements they need to create a story map.
Below are some different examples of how story mapping can be used within a classroom.
Photo 1: This story map was created as a whole class activity in which the teacher created the map with input from the students. This would be a great activity if students are first learning about the concepts of characters, setting, plot, etc. as well as first being introduced to story mapping.
Photo 2: This story map was created by students as an illustration activity. This is a great activity for practicing both story mapping as well as creating mental images. It is important that students understand the elements of a story. The reading or story should most likely be done as a whole group activity, followed by a discussion, and then the story map.
Photo 3: The last image is a story map that students can complete independently WHEN they understand both elements of a story and story mapping. Students can complete the story or reading independently, and then move on to identifying elements of the story such as characters, setting, etc.
*Important Reminder*
Every story map will look different based on what the teacher feels is most important to add! Some teachers might include problem and solution while others might include beginning, middle, and end elements. It depends on the grade level, understanding of the students, and concepts being learned.
Photo 1: This story map was created as a whole class activity in which the teacher created the map with input from the students. This would be a great activity if students are first learning about the concepts of characters, setting, plot, etc. as well as first being introduced to story mapping.
Photo 2: This story map was created by students as an illustration activity. This is a great activity for practicing both story mapping as well as creating mental images. It is important that students understand the elements of a story. The reading or story should most likely be done as a whole group activity, followed by a discussion, and then the story map.
Photo 3: The last image is a story map that students can complete independently WHEN they understand both elements of a story and story mapping. Students can complete the story or reading independently, and then move on to identifying elements of the story such as characters, setting, etc.
*Important Reminder*
Every story map will look different based on what the teacher feels is most important to add! Some teachers might include problem and solution while others might include beginning, middle, and end elements. It depends on the grade level, understanding of the students, and concepts being learned.
Creating Mental Images
Creating mental images can be incredibly helpful to students. It allows students to use their imagination to create an image that HELPS relate back to the reading and remember what they might have read or learned. The video below explains how students can use their senses such as taste, smell, sound in order to create mental pictures. The video also covers setting and the importance of envisioning the setting explained in a reading. Listen as she reads "The Three Little Bears."
1. How many different settings were there?
2. What did Goldilocks look like?
3. What time did this take place.
When students create mental images, they are able to connect it to their readings, get a better idea of the main concepts, and remember what they read or learned!
1. How many different settings were there?
2. What did Goldilocks look like?
3. What time did this take place.
When students create mental images, they are able to connect it to their readings, get a better idea of the main concepts, and remember what they read or learned!
Building Background Knowledge
This video is an informational video on why Prior Knowledge or Background Knowledge is more effective and useful for learning that skills and strategies. This video gives evidence as well as data from a specific study done that shows just how effective background knowledge. The biggest take away from the video is that Prior Knowledge is like Velcro. When students have background knowledge about a subject, the more they learn and are able to connect new information to old, the more the concepts stick like Velcro. This aspect is super important because as students get older, they are more likely to struggle if they do not have the appropriate knowledge to connect new ideas to old.
Why is Vocabulary Important To Comprehension?
When students are not knowledgeable enough about the vocabulary before students are assigned an article or reading, they are unable to comprehend. Comprehension and vocabulary are heavily connected and without the proper instruction, students are not given the knowledge to comprehend most given texts. In fact...
▪ "Vocabulary accounts for 80% of the differences in reading comprehension test scores."
▪ "About 70% of reading comprehension problems in fourth grade are due to lack of vocabulary knowledge."
Himmele Erch 422 Vocabulary and Comprehension PowerPoint
*If you want to learn more about Vocabulary, strategies, and how it connects to comprehension follow this link: Vocabulary - MY SITE (weebly.com)*
▪ "Vocabulary accounts for 80% of the differences in reading comprehension test scores."
▪ "About 70% of reading comprehension problems in fourth grade are due to lack of vocabulary knowledge."
Himmele Erch 422 Vocabulary and Comprehension PowerPoint
*If you want to learn more about Vocabulary, strategies, and how it connects to comprehension follow this link: Vocabulary - MY SITE (weebly.com)*
Sources:
Pictures:
https://www.k5learning.com/sites/all/files/story%20map.png
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5PuCYCBawcQ/Vzj-JajXcUI/AAAAAAAADLU/DAlOdC8Em0A_8V_l0mPMwtybKmil4Jg6wCLcB/s400/story%2Bmap%2BQuinn.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d1/ac/8b/d1ac8bbe2f1a7e59b1d43fbb5fac3262.jpg
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.RfmtFxdXLOJCBy2K_UX3egAAAA?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain
Sources:
Himmele Erch 422 Vocabulary and Comprehension PowerPoint
Shanahan, T. (2006). THE NATIONAL READING PANEL REPORT: Practical Advice for Teachers. https://uwosh.edu/coehs/wp-content/uploads/sites/114/2018/12/Shanahan-national-reading-panel-report-Advice-for-Teachers.pdf
Munger, K., Crandall, B., Cullen, K., Duffy, M., Dussling, T., Lewis, E., Mcquitty, V., Murray, M., O'toole, J., Robertson, J., & Stevens, E. (2016). Steps to Success: Crossing the Bridge Between Literacy Research and Practice. https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=oer-ost