Comprehension

Comprehension is a key factor in successful and meaningful reading, but is a complex skill that is often overlooked when teaching. Comprehension is primarily comprised of overall interest, background knowledge, and strategies of the reader, the style, organization, difficulty, and concepts of the text, and the situation or purpose of the reading. All of these focuses make up the Comprehension Matrix which illustrate effective comprehension in reading. As I stated, the three major factors of comprehension are the reader, the text, and the situation. Good readers are known to adjust their reading in different situations, for different purposes. The comprehension matrix focuses on pre reading, reading and post reading.

Some questions, from a teacher's perspective, that may help guide a student's comprehensive reading are

• What do my students know about this topic?
• How can I get my students interested in this topic?
• What strategies do my students need to learn?
• How can I help my students understand the vocabulary and contexts of this text?

It is important for teachers to preview texts and think about questions like this to help them determine what they want their students to get out of each reading assignment. 

Some strategies found to help students with comprehension strategies are Visualization and Mind Movies, Questioning and "I Wonders", Schema of background knowledge, and Inferring. Questioning and "I Wonders" promote students constantly questioning the text. This technique promotes a creative mind and thinking outside of just the text on the page, they are coming up with their own ideas and scenarios, based on what they have read. 

Working on comprehension at an early age is necessary to help provide students with groundwork to build on when working on more challenging reading situations. A short story is much easier to comprehend compared to a textbook. A student should start young so that they get into the habit of breaking down the text and really understanding it. This habit and formula will help them as they get into more complex reading and will provide the basics of comprehension strategies to help them.