Monitoring Comprehension
STW Group Assignment #2
By: Brinkley Fox, Karen Gurley, Alexa Jacobs, Amy Lambe, Rachel Patty, and Ashley Stanton
"When readers read and construct meaning, they carry on an inner conversation with the text" (p. 78). This inner conversation helps readers to monitor comprehension and keeps them engaged.
Monitoring comprehension is important because our students must be aware of when they are not understanding what they are reading. When they realize this, they can take steps to repair comprehension using fix-up strategies.
Monitoring comprehension is about engagement and active reading. It is also about paying attention to, and exploring, our own thinking.
We need to model the inner conversations for our students to show how we question, connect, and determine importance while reading. When teaching students to follow the inner conversation, we should encourage students to talk about their thinking.
"...it is natural for our minds to wander when we read" (p. 79). We should share with our students similar situations where our mind has wandered while reading. One example would be to bring a text from our personal experience that we know we have struggled to understand so we can model for our students what strategies we can use to help us read.
Some Strategies for Monitoring Comprehension
- Coded sticky notes
they experience confusion or where they resolve an issue can help students pay
attention to what they are reading and thinking.
- Read, Write, & Talk
record their thoughts, and talk about their reading. Students jot down notes in the
margins, share them after reading, and finish with writing something they learned,
how talking helped with understanding, and noting
any questions they still have.
- Anchor chart--What the Story Makes Me Think About
Resources:
Harvey, S & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension for understanding and engagement. (2nd ed.). Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
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Images licensed for use through GraphicStock.com.