Prezi
Article Summary
Imagine
being able to pronounce every word in a medical textbook correctly. You can pronounce every disease correctly
without mistake. However you have no
idea what you are reading about. The
words don’t make since and when asked what the textbook talked about, you can’t
communicate what you want to say. You
begin to feel frustrated and you don’t want to read anymore. This is exactly what happens to students who are
struggle with reading comprehension.
The entire purpose for reading is to comprehend or understand
what is in the text. In that case, teachers
must work on developing the skills necessary for students to understand all
types of written text. In order for
teachers to instill comprehension skills, they need to know what makes up a
good reader.
There
have been several studies done trying to pinpoint what makes a good reader who can
comprehend well. The focus of these
studies is how the mind works and how people think and learn. This new research is called cognitive
science. Through this cognitive science,
researchers have found that “good readers” do several things while reading that
struggling reader do not. These good
readers seem to set goals for their reading, make predictions, connect with the
meaning of words, make inferences, use their background knowledge, and then
reflect on what they read. Good readers
also engage in metacognition which means they are remembering, focusing
attention and processing information all at the same time while reading.
On
the other hand, readers who struggle with comprehension lack certain skills
according to this research. Poor readers
do not prepare before they begin a text.
They don’t know what kind of reading strategies to use when reading
certain types of text. They also have a
hard time decoding words which will lead to frustration. Often poor readers do not have background
knowledge and do not understand the vocabulary in the text they are
reading. After all the struggles a poor
reader has, they lose their confidence and simply become frustrated.
This
research has given teachers a great advantage.
They now know the differences between good and poor readers so, teachers
need to take the knowledge from this article and apply it in the
classroom. They need to work with the
struggling readers and model how to perform all reading comprehension
strategies. If the purpose of reading is
to understand what is being read, than teachers need to do everything they can
to be sure every student has the opportunity to read and understand what it
says.
Reflection
I found this article on reading comprehension very
informative and helpful to any teacher who wants to help struggling
readers. The article really spells out
the skills that good readers have and how poor readers seem to struggle with
these skills. This article actually
gives hope to the teachers who feel like they have done everything they can
because it shows what skill to focus on.
I
have a student who struggles with reading and doesn't seem interested in doing
the assignments in the reading textbook.
I realize now that I should make sure the student is making a plan
before she begins to read. We need to
work on strategies that she needs to use when reading informational text or
when she is reading a literary selection.
I also need to pinpoint her actual struggle. Is it decoding, lack of background
information or her vocabulary knowledge?
It could simply be that her confidence has been defeated and she isn’t
even trying anymore. When we can
discover the problem, we can work on developing that skill and improve her
reading!
After
reading this article and thinking about my struggling student, I think the best
way for me as a teacher to help my students is by modeling the correct way to
read and comprehend. I could use a read
aloud opportunity to display the skills of a good reader. I could begin with setting goals for my read
aloud for the class to hear. Then I
could make my own predictions about the story and share them with the
class. As I am reading out loud for the
class, I can talk about the meanings of certain words that might be
difficult. I could also reflect on the
story after I finished reading it. This
type of modeling would be a great way for students to see how a good reader
comprehends what is being read. Then I
could work individually to reinforce those skills with those who need the extra
help.
The
article shows that there is hope for those who struggle with reading
comprehension. If those students can
learn and practice the skills of a good reader, then reading will not be so
difficult for them. Understanding the
text will become easier. When reading becomes
enjoyable and easier then the confidence of the struggling student will be
boosted. Once there is confidence, the
student will have a desire to read!
Reference
Texas Education Agency. (2002). What Research Tells Us About
Reading, Comprehension, and
Comprehension
Instruction. Reading Rockets. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from
www.readingrockets.org/article/29199
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