thinking and invigorating conversation. In this way, our students will develop both the conceptual and literary knowledge they need to open wide fiction and informational texts and to read with high-level, quality comprehension. As literacy expert Janet Angelillo reminds us, “Learning to think powerfully about books is one of the great truths students will learn in school.” Closing Thoughts It’s not always easy to understand the complex challenge of reading comprehension, but we can observe what readers do, chart their “miscues” (Goodman, et al., 2014), and draw conclusions about what constitutes effective comprehension (Duke and Pearson, 2002): • Readers are active . • Readers have clear goals in mind for their reading. They constantly evaluate whether the text, and their reading of it, is meeting their goals. • Readers typically look over the text before they read, noting such things as the structure of the text and text sections that might be most relevant to their reading goals. • Readers frequently make predictions , as they read, about what is to come. • Readers read selectively , continually making decisions about their reading—what to read carefully, what to read quickly, what not to read, what to reread, and so forth. • Readers construct, revise, and question the meanings they make as they read. • Readers think within the text ; they try to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words and concepts in the text and deal with inconsistencies or gaps as needed. • Readers think beyond the text ; they draw from, compare, and integrate their prior knowledge with material in the text. • Readers think about the text ; they think about the authors of the text, their style, beliefs, intentions, historical milieu, and so forth. • Readers monitor their understanding of the text, making adjustments in their reading as necessary. • Readers evaluate the text’s quality and value and react to the text in a range of ways, both intellectually and emotionally. • Readers read different kinds of texts differently. • Readers, when reading narrative, attend closely to the setting and characters. • Readers, when reading informational texts, construct and revise summaries of what they have read. • Readers understand that text processing occurs not only during reading, but also during short breaks during reading and afterward. • Readers understand that comprehension is a continuous and complex activity, but it is always satisfying and productive .
55
COMPREHENSION
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs