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Reading Comprehension: Strategies for Success

Presented by Katie BainEnglish Language Fellow

Session ObjectivesParticipants will build upon a knowledge of strategies that can help improve students’

reading proficiency.

WHY READ?

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Katie’s Top Ten Reasons for Why Reading is so

Great!

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Number 10

Reading is relaxing.

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Number 9

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Reading improves critical thinking

skills.

Number 8

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Reading helps you understand the rules of

languages.

Number 7

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Reading helps you to acquire knowledge.  

Number 6

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Reading opens your mind to new ideas.

Number 5

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Reading helps you to determine your own

ideas.

Number 4

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Reading is a way to engage in a conversation

with an author.  

Number 3

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Reading develops your vocabulary.

Number 2

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Reading brings opportunity!

Number 1

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Reading is FUN!!!

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Reading Motivation• Are your students motivated

to read?

• What are ways to motivate students to read?

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Reading Motivation is Important!

A report of the Program for International Student Assessment (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,

2010) found that

interest in reading predicted students’

reading comprehension. Across all 64 countries participating in the Program for

International Student Assessment, students who enjoyed reading the most performed significantly better than students

who enjoyed reading the least. (Gambrell, 2011, p. 172)

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Seven Rules of Engagement!

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Rule #1“Students Are More

Motivatedto Read When the

ReadingTasks and Activities AreRelevant to Their Lives”

19(Gambrell, 2011, p. 173)

Classroom TipStudents can keep a reading diary. They can draw, write, and

discuss how what they have read connects to

their lives. 20

Rule #2“Students Are More

Motivatedto Read When They HaveAccess to a Wide Range

ofReading Materials”

21(Gambrell, 2011, p. 173)

Classroom Tips• Download free books online! You can

find several websites for downloading books on my website: www.elfellowkbain.wordpress.com

• Read Aloud! Find books at the library and read them aloud to your classroom.

• Do Book Talks!

22(Gambrell, 2011)

Rule #3

“Students Are More Motivated

to Read When They HaveAmple Opportunities to

Engagein Sustained Reading”

23(Gambrell, 2011, p. 174)

Classroom TipAllocate time in your lessons for

students to READ independently,

in Spanish or in English. Start off with having students read for only

five minutes. Then gradually increase the amount of time you

give for students to read.

(Gambrell, 2011)24

Rule #4“Students Are More Motivated

to Read When They HaveOpportunities to Make Choices

About What They Read andHow They Engage in andComplete Literacy Tasks”

(Gambrell, 2011, p. 175)

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Classroom TipGive students as many “bounded

choices” as you can.

This means, pre-select 3-5 options for reading materials and assignments

and allow students to choose between your pre-selected options.

(Gambrell, 2011)

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Rule #5“Students Are More Motivated

to Read When They HaveOpportunities to Socially

Interact With Others About the

Text They Are Reading.”

(Gambrell, 2011, p. 175)27

Classroom Tip• After allowing students to read

silently, give students a chance to turn to a partner and do a “quick talk” about what they have just read. Give each person a one-minute turn to talk about what they have read.

(Gambrell, 2011)

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Rule #6“Students Are More

Motivatedto Read When They Have

Opportunities to Be Successful

With Challenging Texts”

29(Gambrell, 2011, p. 176)

Classroom Tip• Guide students through

“scaffolded” reading activities in which you help to make reading materials more accessible for students. (See more ideas for strategies later in the presentation!)

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Rule #7“Students Are More

MotivatedTo Read When Classroom

Incentives Reflect the Value

and Importance of Reading”

31(Gambrell, 2011, p. 177)

Classroom Tip• Give real, specific, honest and deserved praise to your students, and give it as frequently as possible!

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Reading Comprehension

Strategies

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Strategies Defined, Explained, and

Practiced• Making Connections• Questioning• Visualizing• Inferring• Determining

Importance/Main Ideas• Synthesizing/Summarizing

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Making Connections

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Making Connectionshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uql0IIIMJDY

• Text-to-Self (T-S) refers to connections made between the text and the reader's personal experience. 

• Text-to-Text (T-T) refers to connections made between a text being read to a text that was previously read.

• Text-to-World (T-W) refers to connections made between a text being read and something that occurs in the world.

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(Scharlach, 2008)

Asking Questions\Questioning

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Questioninghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKPf2sfW7ck

• Questioning Readers ask questions about the text and the author’s intentions and seek information to clarify and extend their thinking before, during and after reading.

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(Scharlach, 2008)

Visualizing

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Visualizinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-

E-X5XhbXiY

• Mental pictures are the cinema unfolding in your mind that make reading three-dimensional.

• Visualization helps readers engage with text in ways that make it personal and memorable. 

• Readers adapt their images as they continue to read.

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(Scharlach, 2008)

Making Inferences

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Making Inferenceshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg0Mzj-iSws

• Inferring• Usually referred to as "reading between the

lines".• This strategy usually involves:

o Forming a best guess using evidence -- context clues, picture clues, etc.

o Making predictionso Drawing conclusionso Finding meaning of unknown words

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(Scharlach, 2008)

Determining Importance

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Determining Importance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYtzoiI2XI

This refers to the skill of identifying which ideas in a text are the most important. It also

refers to being able to understand the main theme or

concept of a text. 44

(Scharlach, 2008)

Synthesizing/Summarizing

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Synthesizing

• Readers create original insights, perspectives and understandings by reflecting on text(s) and merging elements from text and existing schema.

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(Scharlach, 2008)

A summarization strategy WHO WANTED BUT

SOFor example, after reading chapter one from The Jacket by Andrew Clements

WHO: PhilWANTED: to get his brother’s jacket back from the nice kid named DanielBUT: Daniel claimed it was a birthday present from his GrandmotherSO: they ended up in the principal’s office

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What happens to students when they become

strategic?• Students know there’s more than one right way to

do things.• They acknowledge their mistakes and try to rectify

them.• They evaluate their products and behavior.• Learning increases.• Self-esteem increases.• Students develop and use a personal study process.

• They know how to “try.”

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(2006, Opp-Beckman, L., Klinghammer, S. Shaping the way we teach English: Successful practices around the world. Washington, D.C.: Office of English Language Programs United States Department of State)

Teach Reading Strategies

1.Describe the strategy. 2.Model its use. 3.Provide ample assisted

practice time. 4.Promote student self-

monitoring. 5.Encourage continued use of

the strategy. 49

(2006, Opp-Beckman, L., Klinghammer, S. Shaping the way we teach English: Successful practices around the world. Washington, D.C.: Office of English Language Programs United States Department of State)

Why should we train students to use

strategies?• Students begin to self-diagnose their strengths and

weaknesses.

• Students know what helps them to read efficiently.

• Students develop a broad range of problem-solving skills.

• Students make decisions about how to approach reading.

• Students monitor and self-evaluate.

• Students transfer successful strategies to new learning contexts. 50

(2006, Opp-Beckman, L., Klinghammer, S. Shaping the way we teach English: Successful practices around the world. Washington, D.C.: Office of English Language Programs ,United States Department of State)

Action Plan

• Design a portion of a lesson that includes some strategies we learned today.

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Quick Reflection: Sentence Machine!

1. What is one useful strategy to help English Learners read successfully?

Sources• Gambrell, L.B. (2011). Seven rules of engagement: What's

most important to know about motivation to read. The Reading Teacher, 65(3), 172–178. doi:10.1002/TRTR.01024.

• Opp-Beckman, L., Klinghammer, S. (2006) Shaping the way we teach English: Successful practices around the world. Washington, D.C.: Office of English Language Programs ,United States Department of State.

• Scharlach, T.D. (2008). START comprehending: Students and teachers actively reading text. The Reading Teacher, 62(1), 20–31. doi:10.1598/RT.62.1.3.

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