Competency 007

Reading Comprehension and Applications

The teacher understands the importance of reading for understanding, knows the components and processes of reading comprehension and teaches students strategies for improving their comprehension, including using a variety of texts and contexts.

The Beginning Teacher:

A. Understands reading comprehension as an active process of constructing meaning, in accordance with the STR.
- What does this mean?
  - When we read, there is always meaning and purpose in what we are reading; that is why we are to build a student’s reading comprehension skills.
- How do you apply this?
  - Teach students about the meanings in text and about the connection between understanding and meaning.
B. Understands factors affecting students’ reading comprehension (e.g., oral language development, word analysis skills, prior knowledge, language background/experience, previous reading experiences, fluency, vocabulary development, ability to monitor understanding, characteristics of specific texts), in accordance with the STR.
- What does this mean?
  - There are factors that build up to reading comprehension and should a student need help in understanding then we as teachers are to be available.
- How do you apply this?
  - Be aware of the student’s skills in the listed factors and adjust lessons to benefit their learning. Review if need be.
C. Understands levels of reading comprehension and knows how to model and teach skills for literal comprehension (e.g., identifying stated main idea, recalling details, identifying point-of-view), inferential comprehension (e.g., inferring cause-and-effect relationships, moral lessons and themes, making predictions), and evaluative comprehension (e.g., analyzing character development and use of language, detecting faulty reasoning, explaining point of view).
- What does this mean?
  - Each grade has skills that a student should be taught and able to demonstrate. We are to teach our students these skills in relation to their grade level.
- How do you apply this?
  - For example, some reading comprehension skills for first grade consist of making inferences about text and use textual evidence to support understanding, retell/act out important events in the story in a logical order, and to make connections
D. Provides instruction in comprehension skills that support students’ transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” (e.g., recognizing different types of texts, understanding text structure, using textual features such as headings and glossaries, appreciating the different purposes for reading) to become self directed, critical readers.
- What does this mean?
  - The early stages of reading build an understanding of the process of reading. As we grow our skills increase and they will continue. The more we read, the more we learn.
- How do you apply this?
  - Having students talk about what they read and reflect on the literature shows that they have moved up to reading for meaning.
E. Uses various instructional strategies to enhance students’ reading comprehension (e.g., linking text content to students’ lives and prior knowledge, connecting related ideas across different texts, comparing different versions of the same story, explaining the meaning of common idioms, adages and foreign words and phrases in written English, engaging students in guided and independent reading, guiding students to generate questions and apply knowledge of text topics).
- What does this mean?
  - The use of background knowledge can aid in student understanding of the text should it be available and self-connections to the text help teach comparisons of text to real-life to other texts. Expose students to common and uncommon phrases of speech and teach them to inquire for meanings, both literal and figurative.
- How do you apply this?
  - Occasionally students will come across the same text but its told from a different person in a slightly different way. Encourage students to draw comparisons between the text and reflect on what makes them different even though they’re the same story.
F. Knows and teaches strategies that facilitate comprehension of different types of text (e.g., literary, expository, multistep directions, procedural) before, during and after reading (e.g., previewing, making predictions, questioning, self-monitoring, rereading, mapping, using reading journals, discussing texts).
- What does this mean?
  - Comprehension rests on understanding what happens in the text and why and occurs before, during, and after reading. Different texts also have different context clues for students to look for and comprehend.
- How do you apply this?
  - Before reading, have students log what they think the text would be about/what may happen in the text; preview with them before reading. As they read, have them write down if their predictions were correct/ why or why not. After reading, have the students discuss in either whole class or small group about the text and share their predictions. Encourage students to ask questions about the text and likewise ask them questions about the text.
G. Knows and teaches strategies that facilitate making connections between and across multiple texts (e.g., summarizing and paraphrasing, locating and distinguishing between facts and opinions, and determining whether the text supports or opposes an issue).
- What does this mean?
  - We are to teach our students to find the meaning of multiple texts and determine the authors’ purpose for the text; what it is meant to say.
- How do you apply this?
  - Encourage students to restate the story and practice analyzing the text based on context clues and background knowledge.
H. Understands metacognitive skills, including self-evaluation and self-monitoring skills, and teaches students to use those skills to enhance their reading comprehension, in accordance with the STR.
- What does this mean?
  - When students think about their thinking, they gain a better understanding of themselves and how they learn and how they can teach themselves. This combined with the teacher will aid in comprehension.
- How do you apply this?
  - When teaching students, use a variety of methods to teach aside from the standard lecture. When students figure out what resonates well with them, they realize what makes learning easy for them; that they can take what’s given and put it into terms that they can understand and make their own connections to the text.
I. Knows how to provide students with direct, explicit instruction and reinforcing activities to promote the use of strategies to improve their reading comprehension (e.g., previewing, self-monitoring, visualizing, recognizing sensory details, re-telling), in accordance with the STR.
- What does this mean?
  - Allowing students to preview or skim the text will help them gain an idea of what the text will be about. Sensory rich texts will help students visualize and imagine the settings and remember details for retelling.
- How do you apply this?
  - To help support sensory details, have books that utilize the five senses; texts that have phrases like, “The grass tickled their feet.” or “The smell of fresh bread seemed to fill her nose.” or “The stars shone bright like the ends of a jewel.”, phrases that require the student to imagine with their senses. Visualizing helps the student to see the story, to view the setting of which the story takes place. Ask questions that help the student recall information from the story.
J. Selects and uses instructional strategies, materials and activities to guide students’ understanding of their own culture and the cultures of others through reading, in accordance with the STR.
- What does this mean?
  - Utilizing texts that have culture as the focal point will boost the personal and background knowledge of students as well as intrigue students. This opens the door to further a student’s learning about self and others.
- How do you apply this?
  - When planning lessons, have texts that are written by authors of different cultures and texts that focus on different cultures. Engage the students to express what they understand and what they may not understand through inquiry and allow them to compare their cultural experiences with the text.
K. Teaches elements of literary analysis, such as story elements and figurative language, and features of various literary genres, including fables, myths, folktales, legends, drama and poetry.
- What does this mean?
  - Each of these genres has unique features to set them apart from each other; explain the elements that build each genre by building analysis skills.
- How do you apply this?
  - Spend time focusing on or studying these genres; have plenty of examples of each for students to explore.
L. Understands the continuum of reading comprehension skills in the state standards and grade-level expectations for those skills.
- What does this mean?
  - All grade-levels have state standards, TEKS, for reading comprehension. These skills build upwards continuously.
- How do you apply this?
  - Utilize the TEKS as a way to guide your lesson plan; the learning goal.
M. Knows the difference between guided and independent practice in reading and provides students with frequent opportunities for both.
- What does this mean?
  - Guided reading while its mainly the student reading, the teacher is still involved to help the student along the way while independent reading is all on the student.
- How do you apply this?
  - Encourage students to read independently after finishing classwork and have a time set aside in the day for whole class independent reading. Plan one on one and group guided reading with students to help build their reading comprehension skills
N. Understands how to foster collaboration with families and with other professionals to promote all students’ reading comprehension.
- What does this mean?
  - Co-teachers and other professionals may have ideas and methods that differ from one’s own and those methods may resonate with some students and that’s OK. Teachers should be open to input. Parents can get involved at home as well with students.
- How do you apply this?
  - With take-home reading, encourage parents to have children practice retelling a story to them.

Questions:

Is Dyslexia a factor that affects reading comprehension?
What resources are available for parents to help a struggling reader?
Would it be appropriate to focus on teaching one genre in one lesson or two?
When should one intervene when a student struggles with comprehension? What are some intervention methods?
How would one teach how to find key ideas while skimming?
How would one assess ELLs for comprehension?
Does popcorn reading aid in comprehension?
What is one way to activate a student’s background knowledge besides the use of culture in literature?
How often should guided reading be implemented?
How does one get their students to recognize their metacognitive skills?

Reading Comprehension and Applications

The Beginning Teacher:

Questions:

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