Comprehension

Comprehension is the action or capability of understanding the meaning of something. It is a complex process that can be explained in many ways. A common definition among teachers is that comprehension is a process in which readers construct meaning by interacting with the text through the combination of prior knowledge and previous experience. This is something that we have talked about before, using previous knowledge to figure out what something means. 

Since every child has a different background and a different way of understanding things teachers must find a way to teach comprehension to all students. In order to do this they teach decoding skills, help build fluency, build and activate background knowledge, teach vocabulary words, motivate students, and engage them in personal responses to text.

I saw this happening in a classroom I was in recently and I think it is a good way to help with comprehension. The students all read the same story in their textbook and then the teacher gave one vocabulary word to each group. After they got their word they were responsible for coming up with their own definition and drawing it out. Once everyone finished they had to present their word and definition to the whole class. This activity gave everyone a chance to try and comprehend what the word they were given meant.

Thoughts to ponder:

1. How will you make sure that ALL of your students are comprehending the readings in your class?

2. What other activities can you think of to help with comprehension?



Word Study

Word knowledge is highly related to comprehension according to the Yopp and Yopp article. If a student doesn't understand the words in a text it makes it harder to comprehend what is actually going on in the text. If you think about it, even now we might not know the meaning to every word we read, and it's the same way for children.

I found this on pinterest and I really liked the idea of a word study station. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/119978777542432131/

 I like that children have options of how they can spell out letters using different objects that are in the classroom. Using different activities is a good way to keep children engaged in learning new words, the meaning of the words, and how to spell them. I believe that any kind of activity that keeps childrens attention is a good one. I also really liked what I found on pinterest because it was a whole station for word study and it wasn't just an activity. It is something that is set up in the classroom every day.

Thought to ponder:

1. What kind of activities will you use in your classroom when teaching word study?

2. Do you agree that if a student doesn't know the full meaning of the word it is harder to understand what the text is saying?

Fluency

According to Rasinski there are three dimensions of reading fluency. These three dimensions are:

1. Accuracy in word decoding

2. Automatic processing

3. Prosodic reading

If a child can do all of these things then they are fluent readers. In order to be a fluent reader you have to be able to sound out the words with minimal errors, know the meaning of what you are reading, and know what punctuation is and how it is used. When you are reading you have expression in your voice, you don't read every word exactly the same, especially if there is punctuation. This checklist would be a good thing to have up in your classroom so that students could look and see if they were doing everything they were supposed to while reading.

I like the idea in the article of assessing the students by letting them read for one minute and then calculating the number of words they read correctly. I think that's an easy way to make sure you can test all of the kids in your classroom for reading fluency. I also liked the idea of having students read together. I like that a more fluent student is able to help another student is that is having trouble.

Thoughts to Ponder:

1. What kinds of activities would you use to help with fluency?