The first strategy, Think-Pair-Share, is a collaborative activity that helps increase reading comprehension. Students may read independently, the teacher may do a read aloud, or the class may do a shared reading. The teacher may pause during the reading or at the end of the reading to ask a question based on the material read. Students may be given a moment to think about their answer to the question. Then, they will turn to a partner and discuss their answer to the question. Once students have discussed with their partners, the teacher will bring the students back to a whole group. The students will discuss with the whole class the answers they came up with their partner. This strategy allows students to collaborate and learn from each other. My best practices book A New Teacher's Guide to Best Practices by Yvonne S. Gentzler states an instructional strategy for use during a unit is to, " Ask students to work sometimes individually, but other times in cooperative groups" (Gentzler, 2015, pg. 136). This is exactly what Think-Pair-Share does for students.
Another extremely beneficial tool for developing reading comprehension that students can do individually or collaborate with a partner is to make mind maps. Mind maps are a graphical way to represent ideas and concepts. Students may read individually, the teacher may do a read aloud, or the class may do a shared reading. Once the students are done reading, the teacher must give a detailed explanation on how to format their mind maps. I would recommend doing an example on the document camera or Promethean Board as a whole class before the students complete their own mind maps individually or with a partner. Students will use their mind maps to help structure information, analyze the material, comprehend, synthesize, recall and generate new ideas. Gentzler describes this learning strategy, " Use a graphic organizer to create mind maps for students, thereby strengthening learning and subsequent recall of material" (Gentzler, 2015, pg. 147) This strategy may also be differentiated based on the ability of the student. Gentzer recommended differentiating this activity, "A slightly different twist is to use pictures or drawings instead of words to create a mind map" (Gentzler, 2015, pg. 147). This is a learning activity that can benefit different student learning styles in the classroom.
Another favorite strategy of mine to develop reading comprehension is through a shared reading. The teacher reads aloud while the students follow along. The other day when I was substitute teaching in a third grade classroom, we did a shared reading for Charlotte's Web. The teacher had the book on a CD. The students read along to Chapter 3 while it was played from the CD out loud. I would occasionally pause the CD when we came to words the students may not know or to ask questions on what was happening in the story. We discussed the Chapter as a whole class, which allowed me to check for understanding. Gentzler further explains the importance of shared reading as, "…you can teach thinking skills at the same time you are teaching the content of your subject" (Gentzler, 2015, pg. 129). It is important we show our students how to think or what they should think about while they are reading. Pausing during the shared reading to ask questions helps teach thinking skills to students and will develop their reading comprehension skills.
Students may also develop their reading comprehension skills by reading a passage or level guided reading independently. After their reading, students will answer questions on a worksheet and label which paragraph the answer was found in. When I was substitute teaching in a 6th grade classroom, I saw this strategy done during science. The students appeared to comprehend the material much better than if they had just read the material. I believe that by having the students state where in the reading they located the answer to the question helped them to develop their reading comprehension skills. They needed to really understand what the question was asking, have a strong comprehension what they read, and to be able to state where in the reading they located the answer.
The last strategy I believe helps with developing reading comprehension is to have students make predictions. Predictions encourage active reading and keep students interested to see if their predictions were correct. I have seen predictions made prior to reading or after the students read the first paragraph. The teacher had their students write down their predictions on a piece of paper. She also wrote the students' predictions on the whiteboard, document camera, or promethean board. During the reading, the teacher would check in with the students to see whose predictions were correct or whose were incorrect and why they were incorrect. Gentzler also discussed an instructional strategy for use during a unit as, "Provide students with ways of thinking about a topic in advance" (Gentzler, 2015, pg. 136). Here, Gentzler is also describing the importance of getting students thinking about the topic prior to reading. Gentzler also recommends, "Ask students to revise linguistic and nonlinguistic representations of knowledge in their notebooks as they refine their understanding of the knowledge" (Gentzler, 2015, pg. 136). This is when the teacher will pause throughout the reading to check in and see whose predictions were correct or whose predictions were incorrect and why. This strategy will increase students' reading comprehension and keep them more engaged and interested throughout the reading.
I have seen these five strategies be a success in developing reading comprehension for students. I look forward to using these strategies while I substitute teach and in my own future classroom.
References
Gentzler, Y. (2015). A New Teacher's Guide to Best Practices. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing.
References
Gentzler, Y. (2015). A New Teacher's Guide to Best Practices. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing.
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