Teaching Comprehension Strategies
Reading comprehension lesson plans can help students develop the right strategies.
By Lesley Roberts
As students read, they should use strategies to break down the text into manageable, understandable chunks. They should be completing tasks before, during, and after reading. This process allows students to build their understanding, and knowledge. Before students begin reading a text, they should take time to preview it. They should skim the words, and check their understanding before moving on. Skimming the text involves reading the first two sentences at the beginning, middle, and end of each paragraph on each page of text. This strategy can also be modified to the beginning, and ending sentences of each page if the passage is short. They should jot down their predictions of the story plot, as well. Students can also clarify their purpose for reading. This simple strategy consists of students asking themselves why the author wrote the story: to entertain them as a reader, to inform them of something, or to persuade the reader to do something.
While students are reading, they should be constantly checking their understanding of the passage. This will involve asking themselves questions, such as “who?” and “did what?” These two questions will lead students to build an understanding of the main characters (who) and the important action (did what) of the story. Students should also jot down this information, in order to review their understanding of the story when they are done. While reading, students should also monitor their reading fluency. They should be reading with enough speed, but should still be able to focus on the plot of the passage.
After they read a text, students should review it for unfamiliar words, and include them in any notes they may have made while reading. Helping students to master these strategies will give them control over what they read, as well as encourage them to process other content in the same manner.