Reading Comprehension

When working with young readers, it is important for teachers to remember that comprehension is the ultimate goal. The aim is not to drill into students a series of isolated comprehension strategies. We want young students to understand what they read, but we must remember that comprehension strategies are simply means to that end. As Johnson and Keier point out in Catching Readers Before They Fall, most readers develop effective reading comprehension skills without really being aware of any specific strategy that they are using. In fact, for proficient readers who have developed good comprehension skills on their own, a prolonged focus on naming and developing prescribed strategies can have the negative effect of slowing down their reading and draining their enjoyment from it. For all other young students who continue to struggle with comprehension, it is important to remember that a reader does not simply use one specific comprehension strategy at a time. A reader will not make much use of strategies such as questioning, visualizing, making connections, or searching for information if she is focusing on one strategy at a time. All of these strategies must work together in order for good comprehension to occur.

While it may be impossible or at least impractical to try to teach specific strategies one at a time, there are ways to integrate comprehension strategies into lessons. It is important to begin by modeling how an authentic comprehension strategy is used, then move through shared demonstrations and guided practice. The end goal is to have young readers be able to self-initiate these strategies. Throughout this process, it is necessary to monitor students' progress with tools such as miscue analysis.

Just as it is important to see comprehension strategies as part of an integrated whole, it is important to assess readers in a way that is not preoccupied with specific numbers. In order to keep our attention on the whole student, Dr. Wohlwend suggests the use of spider charts which give a more unified visual representation of a students strengths and opportunities for improvement. Using this type of chart, teachers are reminded that, like reading comprehension itself, students cannot be viewed as being made up of isolated parts.