Comprehension Tool Belt

In our past muse over Reading for Understanding, we have discovered that the beginning steps in helping students learn to comprehend difficult texts involves guiding them to read with their minds, not just their mouths, helping them think of reading as problem solving, and teaching them to monitor and control their own attention while reading.

The next step in helping these young adults with comprehension involves equipping them with appropriate problem-solving tools, i.e. teaching students strategies for problem solving. Teachers explained to their class that understanding difficult texts is a form of problem solving - like fixing a car, or playing a video game- it requires special tools. They explained that they would help their students assemble a mental tool belt which would include four tools: questioning, summarizing, predicting, and clarifying.

Keeping in mind that we cannot just teach a comprehension strategy and expect students to use it because full acquisition of strategies develops only with practice over time, teachers first introduced new cognitive strategies with less demanding texts that were thematically linked to units of study. Ultimately , students practiced with the kind of texts they would be expected to read in various subject-area classes.

(To me, this is the beauty of this program for a content area teacher. These tools can be taught, helping our students to comprehend the materials we are assigning, without taking very much away from our limited time.)

Questioning

Seen as one of the most powerful tools in comprehension, questioning causes students to engage more fully with the text, pushing them to read with a greater purpose and therefore with greater focus. Using this strategy involves asking students to write questions that the author might expect the reader to answer after reading the material. (Reminds me of Gee, asking the students to think like a historian, scientist, etc.)

Procedure

- have students write questions based on their reading. (may be done at home or in class)

- ask students to volunteer to read one of their questions to the group

- ask classmates to raise hands to answer the question

- have first student call on a classmate

- class discussed the correctness of response given

- proceed until all students have asked and answered questions.

Any question is acceptable in learning this strategy, but over time students are introduced to different types of questions, which align with Bloom's taxonomy , and are challenged to create these higher level thinking questions. In subsequent class discussions students are asked to answer each others questions and tell what type of question it is.

I'd like to try this in one of my history classes this year. In the past, I have assigned reading with hopes of having a class discussion the following day. However, many of my students were not able to really get much from reading the material, little discussion followed, and I ended up mostly giving a lecture. I am hoping that by teaching this method my students will get more out of their reading and the following day we can have our class discussion in the form of this, what I will call, game. (So much better than a lecture - as long as the material is still thoroughly covered.)

The next tool for the comprehension belt is summarizing , which I will cover in the next blog...same bat time, same bat channel.