Week 9 - Comprehension Instruction and Read Alloud

Thinking back on my own elementary school years - I am not sure any of my teachers gave comprehension instruction. I was definitely one of those students that just read the words on the page and did not get anything from it, but I thought I was reading! So, when reading the Gill article I was not surprised that research showed that teachers did not know how to instruct students on how to comprehend what they were reading. "We test comprehension, but we don't teach it." This quote speaks volumes to me. If we, as teachers, want our students to do their very best on standardized tests we make them take, we must prepare them for what will be on them. This article also helped me to realize that comprehension is a form of top-down processing. We use our prior knowledge to understand and comprehend passages and stories. I really like the 3 tier matrix for comprehension. Pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading makes comprehension much easier. Pinterest has a ton of pre-reading activities that teachers can gain access to called 'Book Bits' these activities get students interested in what they are going to read by activating their prior knowledge. I think these kind of activities are great for comprehension because as they are reading they will continue to connect their own experiences to what is happening in the book and that always help you to remember things.