Comprehension

While reading a portion of Catching Readers Before They Fall, I was very intrigued about the chapter on comprehension. The book points out that teachers are trying to increase their student’s comprehension while reading. Thinking back to learning to read myself I can remember feeling like the focus was on how well I was reading but not how much of the text I was understanding. I am currently observing a third grade classroom and I feel that although many of the students are “reading well” that they are not reading in a way that they are actually understanding or following the story. It seems as though especially when they are asked to read out loud that they are focused on reading fast and proficiently, but it seems to me that they are only reading the words and not thinking about what they are actually reading.

This chapter discusses the idea of implicitly teaching reading process strategies to students or now. While I always considered myself a “good reader” I still think that I would have benefited from someone clearly pointing out these comprehension strategies. The book mentions an example of a student who was considered a good reader and always made good grades in elementary school but struggled when entering high school and college because she wasn’t taught to examine the text and use strategies to deepen her understanding.

I think it is important for us as teachers to make sure that students ask questions of the text and make mental pictures of what is happening. I also think it is very important for us to teach our students to summarize and point out the main ideas of a reading and participate in discussions about the reading. Overall I think we need to make sure that our students know that a proficient readers doesn’t just read well aloud but used different strategies to help themselves understand and make meaning of the text.