In Strategies That Work, by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis [Stenhouse Publishers, 2000], the authors focus on the importance of “active reading,” allowing students to investigate the text and make their own personal connections to it. The technique improves comprehension among readers.
The strategies below are effective in creating this environment of active reading. They include graphic organizers, social interaction, and making use of different media such as the Internet. Teachers use several of these strategies when teaching or tutoring. Ancedotal evidence shows them to be effective in helping students learn to read and understand what they read.
Graphic Organizers and Visual Techniques
Graphic organizers are very effective in helping a student compose his thoughts and make connections. By converting thoughts into a visual source, it allows visual thinkers to organize their information for future synthesis.
Some examples of graphic organizers for reading comprehension include:
Venn Diagram – a simple graphic organizer that resembles the Mastercard Logo – two circles that cross each other. Excellent for finding similarities between two subjects.
KWL Chart – Sometimes expanded to a KWHL chart, this especially helps during the “prereading” part of reading a passage. The KWHL stands for
- What We Know
- What We Want to Know
- How We Will Find Out
- What We Learned
A variation is to expand the “Learned” part into a separate section with “who, what, when, where, why and how” sections. This creates a guide for what to look for during the reading process.
Think Sheets –The simplest and most versatile of charts, a Think Sheet is simply a piece of paper folded in half. Harvey and Goudvis use several different examples of Think Sheets. One example has notes on the left side, on the right is a corresponding connection or thought this note makes you have. Since, as Harvey and Goudvis say, “making connections . . . facilitates understanding,” this directly leads to reading comprehension.
Creation of In-Class Book Clubs and Other Social Techniques
Social interaction is an important part of reading comprehension. By making students take ownership of their learning, they are more likely to make connections to the text than by simply reading or listening. They interact with the text, taking an active rather than a passive role in their learning.
A variation on common techniques like group discussions, the author recommends group book clubs. To avoid an imbalance between the work students do inside the club, each student should take a different role. For example, Student 1 can read aloud the text, Student 2 can report on what he learned, Student 3 can be the time keeper, and Student 4 can be the one who presents the findings to the class. The roles change every time, to give each student an opportunity to shine.
Using the Internet to Help Young Readers
For young readers or special needs students such as the developmentally challenged, there are several websites that can help. These interactive sites teach everything from phonics and letters to history and science.
Three good examples of websites for young readers are:
Tumblebooks.com –Tumblebooks is a collection of books for young children online. They are read aloud and allow the children to follow along with the text, reinforcing letter and phonic recognition.
Starfall.com – Starfall is for beginner readers and teaches letters and phonics through animation and song.
Brainpop.com and Brainpopjr.com – Both Brainpop sites are excellent for teaching subjects that may normally be difficult to comprehend. Remember that all subjects are effectively Reading Class – everything, even Math, requires reading skills. By attacking reading through various subject, we create greatest instances for the students to make text connections.
To paraphrase Harvey and Goudvis, it is important to create active learning among readers as opposed to passive. These techniques above allow students to take an active role, making connections that improve comprehension. After all, comprehension is the key that allows the child to learn to read. The teacher can make the key, but only the student can open the door.
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