“Comprehension is the goal of reading” (Tompkins, 2010) whether it’s when choosing an option from a menu, finding out what is happing in your local news, or reading a story for pleasure. We read to learn something, to be entertained, or to perform a task of some sort. We must put all of our background knowledge, phonemic awareness, vocabulary understanding, semantic knowledge, etc together in order to read and understand a text. The fact that comprehension is typically the most challenging aspect of reading to master is dependent on the fact that it is the most involved process. Tompkins describes that it is most definitely a process of behaviors that happen over some time in order for readers to have a deep understanding.
As teachers we are made aware of the many strategies related to comprehension and the many ways we can try to teach these strategies to our students. I recognize that I perform many of these strategies as I read without even really thinking about them. The argument between strategy instruction and content instruction lead me to think back on my own reading instruction. I wish that I could remember more of how I learned to read and to be successful at comprehending what I was reading. I do not remember being explicitly taught to use different strategies, but I am sure that I was in some way.
As I do think back on my own reading development I remember just loving to read. I remember talking about the books I was reading with my parents or even my grandparents. I remember sharing books with friends, acting out stories with friends, collecting whole series of books, and even pretending to write small stories based on some of my favorite books. I think a lot of comprehension development does not necessarily happen in the classroom but through developing a love of reading and learning and sharing that with others. My parents read to me all the time when I was little, but they also continued to stay involved in my reading as I grew up. They talked to me not only about what I was reading but what I was doing, or other people were doing, or the news, or just about anything. They let me ask questions and told me when they didn’t know the answer. My parents took me places where I could have fun, but also where I could learn something. This background knowledge and promotion to think about things beyond what is seen on the surface became embedded in me and beyond having a series of fabulous teachers, I don’t think I could have gotten the same experience strictly from school. Perhaps we should look more towards outreach programs, after school programs, mentoring programs, or parent education programs to help create initiatives for better educating our students and making it fun instead of simply choking more strategies and facts and information into students during the school day. Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson Education, Inc.
Hey Justine,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post about creating comprehenders. I too, can’t really remember how I learned how to comprehend a text. I honestly think, sometimes for some people, a part of it comes naturally. Not all children learn the same and although I do agree on the benefits of content instruction, I also feel there are some students who need specific strategy instruction. I think teachers need to assess their students to see what works best of them.
I liked the part that you wrote about how your parents built upon your background knowledge. I think this is extremely important. Good readers bring their prior knowledge not only to relate to a text but to discover new meaning. I see lots of my kids get excited about books that they can relate to whether the story is about taking a trip riding an airplane or even learning about dinosaur bones that they’ve seen at a museum. It definitely enriches a child’s literacy development.