Valen Egan’s Blog Post 3 Routman/Reading Essentials/Ch. 8 “Teach Comprehension”

            I am so glad I read this chapter!  I currently have several students who are great word callers but are greatly struggling with comprehension.  As Routman says, comprehension is often assessed, but not specifically taught.  I believe this is why I see so many 3^rd grade students come to me with a comprehension deficit.  So much time early on is spent on phonics, fluency, and decoding, that comprehension is often left to the way-side.  I was grateful to learn some strategies from this chapter that I can immediately implement to help my students’ increase their comprehension skills.

           

          First off, I was intrigued to read about Routman’s “20-percent-to-80-percent rule.”  He suggests that only one fifth of each period be spent on specifically teaching strategies, while the remaining four fifths of the period used for students to apply and extend their learning.  This goes back to the all-important belief that independent reading time is the most crucial time we can give our students each day.

            

          Some comprehension strategies that I plan to implement over the next several weeks are: re-reading, writing to help recall information, surveying text before reading, making connections while reading, self-monitoring, interacting with peers to increase comprehension and enjoyment, and asking questions while reading.  I enjoyed reading how Routman cautioned to not spend a great amount of time isolating these strategies.  One quote that stood out to me was, “There is a huge difference between strategy instruction and strategic instruction.  Just teaching strategies is not enough.  Strategies must be “invoked” by the learner if they are to be used to increase understanding.”  I believe this is invaluable advice, and I am anxious to see the increase in my students’ comprehension.