During Reading Strategies
Research supports explicitly teaches students reading comprehension strategies by modeling and practicing together. Teachers identify tricky parts of texts and determine the components of skilled reading that are needed to make meaning. Teachers then teach students these targetted strategies to use during reading. Over time, the responsibility for applying strategies is released to the learner. This approach give students a toolbox of strategies that they can apply strategically. Research has shown that this approach, called transactional strategy instruction, improves students' reading comprehension (Brown, 2008; Brown & Pressley, 2023).
COMPONENTS OF SKILLED READING
Make predictions about what will happen or what a text will be about
Activate prior knowledge related to the text and draw inferences
Ask questions while reading
Monitor understanding and seek clarification when the meaning is unclear
Visualize by “painting a picture in your mind” or "playing a movie in your mind" of what is being read
Summarize along the way
A TOOLBOX OF STRATEGIES
View this slideshow for ideas of comprehension strategies that relate to each of the components.
LITERACY OBJECTIVES
I can . . .
set a purpose for reading.
predict what a text will be about.
check their predictions while reading.
monitor understanding while reading.
reread when they don’t understand.
determine the author's purpose.
question the author’s meaning.
analyze the author’s argument.
visualize the ideas in the text while reading.
make connections to self, to other texts, and/or to the world.
paraphrase the main ideas accurately.
retell the story in sequence.
summarize the main ideas.
draw inferences by integrating what is known with what is unknown.
apply inferencing strategies to “read between the lines” in order to identify clues in the text.
References
Brown, R. (2008). The road not yet taken: A transactional strategies approach to comprehension instruction. The Reading Teacher, 61(7), 538-547.
Brown, R., & Pressley, M. (2023). Self-regulated reading and getting meaning from text: The transactional strategies instruction model and its ongoing validation. In Self-regulation of learning and performance (pp. 155-179). Routledge.
