strategies, such as rereading or summarizing (Kosanovich, Reed, and Miller 2010). Teachers help all
students learn ways to monitor their comprehension, be aware of their reading process, and identify
and apply strategies when they are having difficulty comprehending. Repeated exposure to reading
comprehension strategies interwoven with subject-area content also benefits students (Torgesen, and
others 2007).
Guiding students to use multiple strategies with a
single text passage can help students develop the flexibility
they need to move back and forth between strategies. For
example, a teacher might illustrate the skills of accessing
prior knowledge and making connections using the same
text. Selecting and using appropriate texts when modeling
a new comprehension strategy is also important. For
example, finding the main idea and supporting details can be
demonstrated with an informational text. With literary text,
students learn to identify central ideas and themes, as well
as how they develop over the course of a text. Introducing
a strategy with less complex text may help students learn
the strategy more quickly as well. Once students successfully employ the strategy with less complex
or familiar texts, working with more complex or unfamiliar texts helps them apply their newly learned
skills. Teachers use formative assessment as part of the instructional process to guide their decision
making about the level of scaffolding students need and how quickly responsibility can be released to
the students for independent strategy use (Fisher and Frey 2014).
Writing can also improve reading. Writing helps students consolidate their thinking and arrive
at new understandings of text. Graham and Hebert (2010) in Writing to Read: Evidence for How
Writing Can Improve Reading, identified several research-based writing practices that support
reading improvement (see figure 6.4).
Figure 6.4. Recommendations from Writing to ReadI. Have students write about the texts they read.- Respond to a text in writing (writing personal reactions, analyzing and interpreting
the text) - Write summaries of a text
- Write notes about a text
- Answer questions about a text in writing, or create and answer written questions
about a text
II. Teach students the writing skills and processes that go into creating text. - Teach the process of writing, text structures for writing, paragraph or sentence
construction skills (improves reading comprehension) - Teach spelling and sentence construction skills (improves reading fluency)
- Teach spelling skills (improves word reading skills)
III.Increase how much students write.
Collaborative conversations about texts also enhance comprehension. By engaging in extended
conversations about complex texts, students have an opportunity to clarify their thinking and extend
it. For example, when students explain their analyses of texts, using evidence from the texts to do
so, they are forced to package and present their ideas in a clear, coherent, and persuasive manner,
Successful readers monitor
their own comprehension
as they read and make
connections between new
information and prior learning,
including other texts they have
read, knowledge, and personal
experiencesGrades 6 to 8 Chapter 6 | 517