Reading comprehension best practices strategies

There are several good strategies available to give students a chance to enjoy what they are doing while leaving permanent learning in the way.  It can be as simple as add an activity that feels fun, push their curiosity or let them watch a video during the lesson it absolutely depends on the needs your group have. Here come my top 5 favorite strategies that make reading comprehension easier and better.

1. Reading as Thinking

According to Harvey Daniels in the book teaching the best practice way reading as thinking is simple “If a student wasn’t thinking before he started reading, and he wasn’t thinking while he was reading, why  would he be able to think after reading?”  We think while we read, is part of the process of understanding so to make it easy for students why not provide texts and prompts that promote the ideas and keep our brain working before, during and after we read.

2. Questions (ask and make)

Asking questions about the text allows the children to spark their curiosity, wonder even more about what is going on and try to solve the mystery those questions have within them. There are also several activities that could involve the process of answering and making their own questions making it even more entertaining.

3. Inferring of predicting.

Trying to guess what comes next before and while reading the text is important, it helps children decipher and sense it like a movie, always trying to observe the most simple details to try and discover what comes next before even happens turning a simple reading time into a learning and entertaining game.

4. Make connections

Having the students connect what they already know with the things they are learning in the new material helps because as they understood the previous text some points might be the same and work in their future references. Also by being able to connect at least some point of the text to a situation in their lives will set a remarkable and permanent knowledge.

5. What is important?

Determining what is the most important point of the reading material and consequently the ideas that come along with it is terribly important. With children, keeping track of the main characters, the place and identifying the problem and solution of the story helps for further comprehension with fiction texts. As with non-fiction texts, noting what is the phrase that defines what the text is about and other important data.

There are a huge amount of strategies, ideas and activities that could be applied. As long as you help your students in the process of comprehending the text and not just reading anything goes!

References: Daniels(2004) Teaching the Best Practice Way. Methods that Matter K-12. Stenhouse Publishers. Portland,Maine.