Teach+Strategies+for+Comprehending

=Teach Strategies for Comprehending=

Caitlin Johnson

==//"Effective teachers of reading comprehension help their students develop into strategic, active readers, in part, by teaching them why, how, and when to apply certain strategies shown to be used by effective readers (Samuels & Farstrup 2011)."//==

Strategies that may help improve reading comprehension:

 * ====Setting purposes for reading====
 * ====Previewing and predicting====
 * ====Activating prior knowledge====
 * ====Monitoring, clarifying, and fixing====
 * ====Visualizing and creating visual representations====
 * ====Drawing inferences====
 * ====Self-questioning and thinking aloud====
 * ====Summarizing and retelling====

Samuel and Farstrup recommend a five stage process for teaching any comprehension strategy that gradually shifts the responsibility of using the strategy from teacher over to student.
====It is important to remember not to rush through steps 1-4 in order to allow students to work on step 5. Students need to have mastered the strategy before they can use it independently. If they are allowed to use a strategy without first mastering it, students may develop incorrect habits in regards to the strategy.====
 * 1) ====An explicit description of the strategy and when and how it should be used.====
 * 2) ====Teacher and/or student modeling of the strategy in action.====
 * 3) ====Collaborative use of the strategy in action.====
 * 4) ====Guided practice using the strategy with gradual release of responsibility.====
 * 5) ====Independent use of the strategy.====