Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Text Comprehension-When Middle Schoolers Need Help

Common problems with text comprehension and how to combat them:

First, not every student comes from the same background, so students from different cultures may not have the same background information to help them understand a story.  A teacher can remedy this and level the playing field so to speak, by spending some time talking about information relevant to the text or a history of the author (for example learning about slavery before reading a book by a former slave).  The teacher could also make a K-W-L chart to help students organize their thinking before reading a text.  It will also lay out all the information that the class knows about the subject, so every student will have access; it makes knowledge more tangible.

Second, students may have trouble comprehending a text due to complex or unfamiliar vocabulary.  Therefore, it is the teacher's job to examine a text before handing it out to the class and to pick out vocabulary words that he or she anticipates the students will have trouble with.  The teacher should then spend a portion of the class teaching the students these vocabulary words (perhaps using a word scroll or Frayer example)

Third, students may have trouble staying engaged while reading a text.  In this situation, a teacher may consider doing a read aloud/ think aloud.  As the teacher reads a text out loud, he or she can ask the class questions concerning the text (have them make predictions etc).  This will more actively engage students and teaching them strategies for reading.  It also enables the teacher to clarify parts of the text that may be difficult.  Here is an example of how a teacher might conduct a read aloud:

Another way to achieve a deeper comprehension of a text, is to create creative assignments for the students relating to the text.  In the next example, a part of Romeo and Juliet is performed as a rap.  This forces students to think about the text in a new way and ultimately to enhance understanding.

Bottom Line: Engage your students and help them to appreciate literature!

2 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed your creative ideas to help further reading comprehension! You brought up the issue of students of different backgrounds needing texts they can relate to. This could necessitate pulling diverse texts by multi-ethnic/cultural authors. Personally I think that comprehension relies on vocabulary. As creative you can or want to be we can't forget the importance of teaching the students ways to be accountable for their own reading process. By giving them the tools they will undoubtedly become more skilled readers.

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  2. Literature is pretty awesome and without it veritably everything we know of both philosophy and entertainment would cease to exist. Getting kids to appreciate it really should not be as hard as it is. I liked the romeo and juliet video, it showed how kids can be creative with this. Using any method to motivate students in this way should be one of our primary concerns.

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