All You Need To Teach Comprehension 10+

S e lf-mon ito r
Strategy
description
Teacher prompts
Student thinks
@ Occurs when readers check their understanding of the text as they read.
@ Proficient readers use strategies to check that what they are reading makes sense.
They know how to adjust their thinking in order to better understand the text.
Does that make sense to you?
Re-read that part and remember that . . .
Read like you’re talking so that it makes more sense.
Read that part again and slow it down. Think about what it means.
Do you know what that phrase means? It might help to remember . . .
What are your options for thinking about that?
Does that word have small parts that carry meaning?
How could you think about that differently?
Does this make sense?
This doesn’t seem right.
I’ll re-read that.
I’ll check for the key words.
I’ll scan it to check.
I should slow my reading down to pay closer attention.
I’ll speed my reading up so that the text makes more sense.
I’ll try saying this word different ways until it sounds right and makes sense.
Do I know what this word means?
I can look for parts within this word to understand what it means.
How else could I think about this?
Literature Circles and Book Clubs
Teaching for comprehension relies on conversation and collaboration. Group discussions facilitated
during reading sessions enable teachers to support students as they try to comprehend more
difficult texts. Teachers should therefore provide students with opportunities to talk about their
learning and explain their thinking, as this is an essential part of promoting comprehension.
Students must be able to build on the responses of others in order to engage in discourse, share
ideas, develop understandings of differing points of view and learn about the solving strategies
used by others.
Small group discussions around texts are an important part of instructional approaches like guided
reading, literature circles and book clubs. Engaging students this way consolidates, enhances and
challenges their thinking. Literature circles, or focused book clubs, are a fun and engaging way to
promote comprehension.
A literature circle (or book club with clear instructional goals) is an instructional approach aimed
at increasing reader enjoyment, deepening comprehension and engaging students in purposeful
conversations around texts. The meeting is a time to discuss the text, revisit sections of the text as
required, and negotiate the reading for the next meeting.
When attending a book club meeting, group members must have completed reading the section
of the text agreed to, as well as a short role task to assist them with the discussion. The focus of a
book club is on the discussion generated by the task, rather than the actual task itself.
The tasks are intended to prompt and stimulate students to reflect on their reading, and to then use
this reflection to guide the book club discussion. It is the authentic conversation, ongoing reflection
during discussion and sharing of viewpoints that challenges thinking and creates a deeper level of
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