Reading Comprehension Strategies

Working my way through chapters two and seven in the Tompkins book was helpful to me in thinking about my own reading comprehension and that of the students that I see during field time. Without even thinking about it, through this last year of working on my teaching certificate I have gone through the five stages of reading almost every time I did work for school. Beginning readers have to learn about these stages of prereading, reading, responding, exploring, and applying before they can read most efficiently. The kindergarten students that I work with every week in field are obviously not advanced readers and are just now learning what it takes to be a good reader. However, these stages come naturally to me because I am an advanced reader with much experience in and I know how to critically analyze a text. I, like most all college students, understand that "comprehension is a thinking process. It is a creative process in which students engage with the text." (Tompkins, p. 223)

I like how the term text is defined in the readings as "all reading materials - stories, maps, newspapers, cereal boxes, textbooks, and so on; it is not limited to basal reader textbooks." (Tompkins, p. 46) I have heard my CT on several occasions point out to the students that reading is important because they encounter written words so often in their everyday lives. She has talked with them about signs, menus, writing in stores, and many other examples. Also, I like the above definition of text because often when reading with the students, my CT encourages them to look at the accompanying pictures for clues that may help them figure out words in the written text. The point is that the experience of reading can encompass much more than just the words. Last week I worked with a small group of the lower level students in terms of their reading abilities. As a group we read a predictable animal picture book page by page. When a student would struggle with reading a word I encouraged them to both break it up into sounds and look at the picture. This helped because even though some of the students still struggle with their letter sounds, they were able to figure out the word by looking at the picture of the animal. The students were learning how to use the whole text in comprehending their reading.

I have seen my CT walk the students through the prereading stage of reading and ask the class for predictions before they even open the book. Sometimes she will show the class the cover of the book and ask everyone what they think about the book. This is good because it gets the class excited about the book and it teaches them to get in the right mindset before reading. After group readings I think it is great that my CT usually has the students write about the stories either in their journals or on regular paper. The students don't realize this but they are participating in stage three of the reading process, which is called responding. Even though the students are still beginning readers and writers, my CT still gives them the chance to respond to readings with writing. Being able to write about what was read shows whether or not the student could truly comprehend the reading. I like that my CT does this so often because not only can she see how much the students are comprehending, but it also highlights to the students the connection between reading and writing. This connection is laid out well by Tompkins in Figure 2-9 on page 72. Reading and writing are intricately connected, with success in one depending on success in the other. My CT understands this and that is why she tries to use the two together whenever possible in her classroom.