Caleb Thrower: March/April

I decided to finish out by reading Chapter 8 in Reading Essentials which covers the importance of modeling and teaching comprehension. This chapter was especially intriguing to me because this is my biggest area of concern with my current class. Time after time we have read stories and done detailed breakdowns only for students to not have any idea as to what the story was about or trying to convey.  This chapter offered some great strategies to not only help model how I comprehend things when I read but to also help students fully understand texts they are given.

I often take for granted that a student will be able to read a story and then be able to tell me exactly what said story was about. After all, I do this quite frequently. But I often fail to realize that I do things in my mind, almost subconsciously, that help me understand what I read and these are not skills that students have been taught or learned yet.

I realized reading this chapter that I do things in my head while reading without thinking. I ask questions, analyze points, connect with characters, etc. and these things collectively help me to "get" what a particular text is trying to convey. I never recall learning these skills specifically but they have enhanced me as a reader greatly. Teaching students these questions to ask while reading will enable them to fully understand and comprehend what they are reading. Those questions include: "Who are the characters?", "Why did they do that?", "How does that affect others?", "Do I need to re-read that section?". All of these questions promote a self conversation while reading furthering understanding of the text.

If students can learn this skill then comprehension will not become an after thought. Instead of just simply call familiar words in a row students will learn to understand a deeper meaning of the words and how they help them to understand the text.