Orlando is a 7 year old
boy in the first grade who struggles with comprehension skills when reading
independently. Due to his lack of progress his teacher has set goals for him to
achieve by the end of the school year.
Comprehension is when you are able to understand the material
you read.
Many children may be
able to read but it is the teacher’s job to access if his or her students are
able to comprehend the material that they read. Comprehension strategies are techniques
used to help children understand the material they read. “Though teachers
report teaching comprehension strategies, studies have shown that most teachers
just monitor comprehension by asking students’ questions after they have read a
passage, instead of teaching specific strategies that will increase
comprehension skills.” (Levy, Coleman, &Alsman 2002; Swanson &De La Paz
1998).
Comprehension strategies are important because they provide
students with a tool that is essential to their learning process. If you teach
your students comprehension strategies most likely your students’ comprehension
skills will increase because they will be able to retain meaning from the text.
The case study states that Orlando enjoys group activities but is unable to
answer simple comprehension questions. His teacher listed
comprehension strategies as one of his possible strategies. The comprehension
strategies listed in the article are predicting, summarizing, retelling,
rereading and questioning.
·
Predicting is a strategy that is use
before reading the story. Students are able to look at the title of the story
and predict what the story is about. Students can also make predictions by
looking at the pictures, characters and themes in the story. This strategy
would be helpful for Orlando because it would allow him to predict the outcome
of the story and be able to see if his predictions were accurate after his
teacher reads the story. Depending on how close his predictions are to the
actual story helps Orlando to judge how well he understood the story. “Predicting
sets a purpose for learning and guides comprehension-“Hmm. That is not what I
thought was going to happen. Did I read that correctly or do I need to read
more to find out how this works out?” (The IRIS Center-Orlando Case Study)
·
Summarizing “As we read a text, we keep a
summary in our heads, which helps us understand the rest of the story and
discuss the whole story at the end.” If Orlando summarizes the story it well
him to understand the main idea of the story. He will be able to tell what
happened in the story using his own words. (Pinnell &Fountas)
·
Retelling occurs after the story has been
read. This gives students a chance to retell the story. This strategy will show
if Orlando is able to remember the order the events took place in the story he
read or listened to. As Orlando retells the story his teacher will be able to
see if he know the main idea of the story. It will allow Orlando a chance to
show if he remembers the characters and setting of the story.
·
Rereading is good because it helps
children to become familiar with the story. Students may not read a passage
well the first time but after rereading it a few times it helps them with
fluency. “Rereading and revisiting favorite text is very beneficial.” (Pinnell
&Fountas) This strategy would be helpful for Orlando because it would give
him a chance to become familiar with the story. It would help him read with
fluency.
·
Questioning readers should be able to answer
the following questions of text who, what when, where and how (The IRIS
Center-Orlando Case Study). This strategy would help with Orlando’s
comprehension skills. If Orlando is able to answer the questions it shows that
he understood who the story was about, when the story took place, where the
story took place and how.
Graphic Organizer helps children recall events, characters,
problems, etc in the story. A graphic organizer is a diagram used to help
children identify different elements in the story. Graphic Organizers come in
many different shapes and styles. They can be used for different grade levels. They
can be used in independent or group activity. Graphic Organizers can help
students remember the material they read. (The IRIS Center-Orlando Case Study)
I chose "The Three Billy Goats Gruff"
by Paul Galdone. I tried to keep my organizer simple. The children should be
able to name the characters in the story, the problem and the solution. The
Characters in this story are the three billy goats and the troll. The problem
the goats are hungry and need to cross the bridge to get to the green grass.
The troll is on the bridge and gives the goats a hard time. The Biggest troll
eventually pushes the troll off the bridge and the goats are able to eat the
green grass.
