Trippe. Blog Post 7. Mar/Apr. Routman Ch 8 Teach Comprehension

Trippe. Blog Post 7. Mar/Apr. Routman Ch 8 Teach Comprehension

Reading these chapters in Routman’s book make me about parent workshops. This chapter would really help those parents who think that just reading the words is the most important.  I was happy to read the list of strategies identified as being key for achieving full understanding and realize that I do those things. In Read Well groups the teacher’s guide uses these strategies and I tend to apply even more. Having the small groups for Read Well does provide a good opportunity to apply these strategies and not be following a check list but to have informal discussions.

I also find myself applying these strategies when helping students find “just right books” in the library. I frequently notice students selecting books significantly above their reading range and being able to read the words but being unable to comprehend the text. I really like the “Teach Self-monitoring as Crucial to Understanding” and will incorporate the questions to teach students to be aware if they understand what they are reading or not by asking themselves, as they read:

o   Does this make sense?

o   Does this sound like language?

o   Do I know what is happening in the text?

 as well as the checklist, “I Know I Understand What I Am Reading When I Can”.

I also noted the section on “Keep Fluency in Perspective”.  Routman states that “The best way to improve fluency is through repeated reading of familiar texts”. I have seen this happen with a class when doing a Readers Theater script. As we’ve read the script over and over I’ll hear students whisper, “Oh I get it!”, or laugh at the punch line the first time they “get it”.  This week with my first grade Read Well group, we ended a unit with a Readers Theater script. During the second reading, I noticed several students have those “light bulb moments” when they fully comprehended the text. It really makes sense- how many times do we read a recipe, manual, or new text book (especially graduate level) to ensure our comprehension? It only makes sense that students will need to do the same.