Principal 6
Comprehension Instruction
Accomplishing this Principal in the Classroom
One of the most important ideas that I want to focus on in this principle is teaching comprehension rather then just testing comprehension. In my opinion comprehension is the most overlooked and ironically the most important aspect of reading. The main point of reading a text is to find meaning in the written words and learn from it, how will one do this without comprehending the meaning behind the symbols on the page? I vary between text based and reader/writer based beliefs when it comes to what I believe my students should know, therefore I take a mixed stance on the subject of teaching students comprehension skills. Someone can read a passage fluently but may not take away any meaning, as Don Leu modeled in his reading of “a Great Game” for the running record assignment. I want to be certain that my students are aware and knowledgeable of strategies of comprehension and understand that this skill is not necessarily inherent for readers.
Comprehension is a skill that requires that readers have strong decoding and phonics skills as well as a rich and well-rounded vocabulary. If students have not mastered or at least have a good understanding these skills, they will not be as successful at comprehension. In addition, students must know how to be a thoughtful reader in order to comprehend the text.
I want to teach and inspire my students to be active and engaged readers. In order to comprehend a text, readers have to be dedicated to the text they are reading. First, students have to read books that match their reading level/ability. Secondly, they have to read texts that are appealing and relatable to them so that they stay focused and make connections. Comprehension needs to be understood as a process that takes more time than simply reading a word off of a page.
Comprehension is a skill that requires that readers have strong decoding and phonics skills as well as a rich and well-rounded vocabulary. If students have not mastered or at least have a good understanding these skills, they will not be as successful at comprehension. In addition, students must know how to be a thoughtful reader in order to comprehend the text.
I want to teach and inspire my students to be active and engaged readers. In order to comprehend a text, readers have to be dedicated to the text they are reading. First, students have to read books that match their reading level/ability. Secondly, they have to read texts that are appealing and relatable to them so that they stay focused and make connections. Comprehension needs to be understood as a process that takes more time than simply reading a word off of a page.
Specific Anchor & Grade Level Standards from CCSS
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2: Generating theme is a skill that parallels to comprehension. In generating the theme of a text, readers most often need to make inferences. Comprehension and theme are not necessarily going to be spelled out directly in a text. By interacting with a text, readers have to use clues and details to construct what they think the most important ideas are about a text. In using supporting details and what the author has provided them, readers can understand that theme is developed. Readers can apply this idea in their writing as well. Interacting with any exceptional work of literature and understanding what texts are composed of supports writing skills.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.10: This standard is very obviously applicable. What is important about this standard is that readers need to apply comprehension skills over a multitude of texts. Good readers need to be able to understand and summarize literary texts as well as informational texts like nonfiction ones where a main idea is much harder to distinguish. Again, this skill will support students as writers as well. They will be able to write a variety of written pieces by reading and understanding more styles of complex literacy.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.1: This standard is something that I do on a daily basis with my sixth graders, using text evidence to support your thinking shows that you can analyze the text and answer questions in your own words that then can be supported by the same text. Drawing inferences show deep thinking about what is going on in the story and what the reader thinks will happen next, this requires strong comprehension of the text to do.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.10: This standard is very obviously applicable. What is important about this standard is that readers need to apply comprehension skills over a multitude of texts. Good readers need to be able to understand and summarize literary texts as well as informational texts like nonfiction ones where a main idea is much harder to distinguish. Again, this skill will support students as writers as well. They will be able to write a variety of written pieces by reading and understanding more styles of complex literacy.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.1: This standard is something that I do on a daily basis with my sixth graders, using text evidence to support your thinking shows that you can analyze the text and answer questions in your own words that then can be supported by the same text. Drawing inferences show deep thinking about what is going on in the story and what the reader thinks will happen next, this requires strong comprehension of the text to do.
Instructional Practices
MODELING CONTEXT CUES
Previously discussed for decoding, morphology refers to the study of forming words. Morphemes represent the smallest units of meaning in written language, therefore I believe combining this with contextual cues this is a good place to start in instructing comprehension. To teach this I will model my though process to students during the daily read aloud in ELA. I will do this by choosing a difficult to comprehend word such as “misnomer” that comes up in the reading. I will model how I break this word into the smallest units of meaning, saying “mis”, “nom”, “er”. I will explain that “mis” is a prefix that means incorrect. The rest of the word is a mystery to me until I look at the context. It is using the word to describe the Golden Age of the Titans, which we know is not golden at all. I use this information to realize that “nom” is a shortened version of the root word “name”, and “er” means that it is an adjective. I use all of this information understand that misnomer means that the Golden Age of the titans is a false name for that period of time. This allows comprehension of the story that would have been missed had you not figured out the word.
GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
One strategy that I will implement to support comprehension is graphic organizers. Organization while reading is very important so that students can keep track of what they are reading. It facilitates students to read with a purpose, and ensures they catch details they potentially may overlook. It is important to note that you must model how to use these graphic organizers to the class so that students can be self-sufficient and decide which design works best for them as a reader. I will do this in the beginning of the units that address the particular type of graphic organizer. When modeling these organizers, I would display it on the smart board and ask for student participation in filling it out as a class. Afterwards I would require students to submit at least one of their choice every two weeks to show they are spending time thinking about their reading. For the purposes of this portfolio, I will reference two designs that I find most helpful. The first graphic organizer I selected is a story map. In order to use a story map, it is imperative that students understand the elements that make up any story because story maps focus on highlighting these elements in a story. The problem and the solution require more inferential and critical thinking on the reader’s part, while setting and character are usually more directly included. Readers have the option of filling out the story map as they read or after completing a reading. In the second case, they may have to go back and reference the text and re-reading will increase comprehension. The second graphic organizer that I would highlight for my students focuses directly on main idea and supporting details. This is important when considering the CCSS, which puts emphasis on informational text. Students are required to locate the main idea of a certain portion of a text and include supporting details from the text. One issue with graphic organizers is that students tend to copy exactly what is written in the text. The sixth graders have learned the acronym RATTC, in which R and A stand for restate and answer in your own words. I would connect the organizers to this concept.
STICKY NOTES
Partaking in the process of actively taking notes about your thinking while reading is an important skill to learn before entering higher grades such as high school. This allows you to save important thoughts and ideas for later, record questions that you may have to refer back to after you’ve read more of the book and list vocabulary words that you are stuck on to look up. Sticky notes can support a variety of skills and techniques that lead to greater comprehension of the text. While reading in both ELA and Reading classes I will make sure that students each have their own supply of sticky notes at hand. It will be the daily goal to have at least one sticky note with a full thought or question recorded on one of the texts. For example, in ELA when reading the novel they can ask questions, make inferences and connections, note unknown vocabulary, and state opinions about theme, main ideas and other literary elements. In reading while working on their Lexia or iReady, students may note something interesting they read they would like to share with others, record new learning they would like to save for later, record questions and also unknown vocabulary words. An issue with requiring sticky notes during reading is that they are difficult to grade. Not only are they quickly recorded and may not be of the best quality, but they are personal and sometimes hard to understand. This is why I am not grading for the content of the notes but for the act of taking them.
Previously discussed for decoding, morphology refers to the study of forming words. Morphemes represent the smallest units of meaning in written language, therefore I believe combining this with contextual cues this is a good place to start in instructing comprehension. To teach this I will model my though process to students during the daily read aloud in ELA. I will do this by choosing a difficult to comprehend word such as “misnomer” that comes up in the reading. I will model how I break this word into the smallest units of meaning, saying “mis”, “nom”, “er”. I will explain that “mis” is a prefix that means incorrect. The rest of the word is a mystery to me until I look at the context. It is using the word to describe the Golden Age of the Titans, which we know is not golden at all. I use this information to realize that “nom” is a shortened version of the root word “name”, and “er” means that it is an adjective. I use all of this information understand that misnomer means that the Golden Age of the titans is a false name for that period of time. This allows comprehension of the story that would have been missed had you not figured out the word.
GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
One strategy that I will implement to support comprehension is graphic organizers. Organization while reading is very important so that students can keep track of what they are reading. It facilitates students to read with a purpose, and ensures they catch details they potentially may overlook. It is important to note that you must model how to use these graphic organizers to the class so that students can be self-sufficient and decide which design works best for them as a reader. I will do this in the beginning of the units that address the particular type of graphic organizer. When modeling these organizers, I would display it on the smart board and ask for student participation in filling it out as a class. Afterwards I would require students to submit at least one of their choice every two weeks to show they are spending time thinking about their reading. For the purposes of this portfolio, I will reference two designs that I find most helpful. The first graphic organizer I selected is a story map. In order to use a story map, it is imperative that students understand the elements that make up any story because story maps focus on highlighting these elements in a story. The problem and the solution require more inferential and critical thinking on the reader’s part, while setting and character are usually more directly included. Readers have the option of filling out the story map as they read or after completing a reading. In the second case, they may have to go back and reference the text and re-reading will increase comprehension. The second graphic organizer that I would highlight for my students focuses directly on main idea and supporting details. This is important when considering the CCSS, which puts emphasis on informational text. Students are required to locate the main idea of a certain portion of a text and include supporting details from the text. One issue with graphic organizers is that students tend to copy exactly what is written in the text. The sixth graders have learned the acronym RATTC, in which R and A stand for restate and answer in your own words. I would connect the organizers to this concept.
STICKY NOTES
Partaking in the process of actively taking notes about your thinking while reading is an important skill to learn before entering higher grades such as high school. This allows you to save important thoughts and ideas for later, record questions that you may have to refer back to after you’ve read more of the book and list vocabulary words that you are stuck on to look up. Sticky notes can support a variety of skills and techniques that lead to greater comprehension of the text. While reading in both ELA and Reading classes I will make sure that students each have their own supply of sticky notes at hand. It will be the daily goal to have at least one sticky note with a full thought or question recorded on one of the texts. For example, in ELA when reading the novel they can ask questions, make inferences and connections, note unknown vocabulary, and state opinions about theme, main ideas and other literary elements. In reading while working on their Lexia or iReady, students may note something interesting they read they would like to share with others, record new learning they would like to save for later, record questions and also unknown vocabulary words. An issue with requiring sticky notes during reading is that they are difficult to grade. Not only are they quickly recorded and may not be of the best quality, but they are personal and sometimes hard to understand. This is why I am not grading for the content of the notes but for the act of taking them.