Reading Comprehension BasicsConceptos básicos en la comprensión de lectura
By: Keith
My 7 year old has been trying a variety of reading comprehension programs. His reading ability is roughly at the 6th grade level, but his comprehension level is 3rd grade. It’s my fault. We focused on reading for 4 years and I neglected comprehension skills. Nevertheless, we’re catching up. Thus, we’ve been trying comprehension workbooks to find out which one works best for him. This search for a good method has taught me an important lesson. Comprehension, at least for Neil, has been a matter of daily repetition of a few basic rules. His inclination, since our concentration had been on simply reading words for so long, is to breeze through books without stopping to think about what’s being said. Comprehension, then, has been an exercise in slowing down. The workbooks we’ve settled on are the Evan-Moor Nonfiction Reading Practice books (we’re using the 3rd grade one). They correlate to state standards, which is good. The other thing I like about them is that they follow a pre-determined approach to process each reading lesson. It’s not enough to sit down, read, and answer questions. Neil needed a pre-flight check list to keep him on track. Here it is:
Before I Read
___ I think about what I already know.
___ I think about what I want to learn.
___ I predict what is going to happen.
___ I read the title for clues.
___ I look at the pictures for clues.
While I Read
___ I stop and retell to check what I remember
___ I reread parts that are confusing.
___ I read the captions under the pictures.
___ I make pictures of the story in my mind.
___ I figure out ways to understand hard words.
After I Read
___ I think about what I have just read.
___ I speak, draw, and write about what I read.
___ I reread favorite parts.
___ I reread to find details.
___ I look back at the story to find answers to questions.
Before Neil starts reading his lessons, I make him read this check list. He thinks it’s silly because he says “I know it already!” but I’ve noticed a big improvement despite his insistence otherwise. Every day of our first week in this workbook I read and explained the rules to him. For instance, where it says, “I stop and retell to check what I remember.” I explained the importance of retelling passages in our own words to make them easier to understand. Now, when he reads this list before a lesson, he knows exactly what is meant by each instruction. Comprehension has suddenly become much easier. It might seem simplistic and unimaginative to just have a kid read a check-list every day, but it works (as long as each instruction is understood).
Mi hijo de 7 años de edad ha estado probado una variedad de programas para la comprensión de lectura. Su habilidad para leer se encuentra más o menos al nivel de 6º de primaria, pero su nivel de comprensión está al nivel de 3º grado. Es mi culpa. Nos enfocamos en la lectura por 4 años y descuidamos la habilidad de comprensión. Aún así, estamos emparejándonos. Por lo tanto, hemos estado probando diferentes libros de trabajo para la comprensión de la lectura para ver cuáles funcionan mejor con mi hijo. Esta búsqueda de un buen método me ha enseñado una lección importante. La comprensión, al menos para Neil, es cuestión de repetición diaria de unas cuantas reglas básicas. Su inclinación, ya que nuestra concentración había sido por tanto tiempo simplemente el leer palabras, es el leer rápidamente los libros sin detenerse a analizar lo que está leyendo. La comprensión, entonces, ha sido un ejercicio para reducir la velocidad de su lectura. Los libros de trabajo que hemos estado utilizando son los Libros de Practica de Lectura que no es Ficción de Evan-Moor (estamos utilizando el de 3º grado). Estos están correlacionados con los requisitos estatales, lo que es bueno. La otra cosa que me gusta de estos es que siguen un enfoque predeterminado para procesar cada lección de lectura. No es suficiente el simplemente sentarse a leer y contestar preguntas. Neil necesitó una lista de control previa a cada lección para mantenerse en curso. Esta es:
Antes de leer
___ Pienso en lo que ya conozco del tema.
___ Pienso en lo que quiero aprender.
___ Predigo que es lo que va a ocurrir.
___ Leo el título para encontrar pistas.
___ Veo las ilustraciones pare encontrar pistas.
Mientras leo
___ Me detengo para recontar y revisar qué tanto recuerdo.
___ Releo las partes que son confusas.
___ Leo los títulos bajo las ilustraciones.
___ Creo ilustraciones de la historia en mi mente.
___ Trato de encontrar maneras de entender las palabras difíciles.
Después de leer
___ Pienso acerca de lo que acabo de leer.
___ Hablo, dibujo, y escribo acerca de lo que acabo de leer.
___ Leo nuevamente mis partes favoritas.
___ Releo nuevamente para encontrar detalles.
___ Regreso a la historia para encontrar las respuestas a mis preguntas.
Antes de que Neil comience sus lecciones de lectura, le hago leer esta lista de control. El piensa que es bobo porque dice “¡Ya me la sé!” pero he notado una gran mejoría a pesar de que él insiste lo contrario. Cada primer día de la semana en su cuaderno de trabajo yo leo y le explico las reglas. Por ejemplo, cuando dice, “Me detengo para recontar y revisar qué tanto recuerdo.” Yo le explico la importancia de contar los pasajes en nuestras propias palabras para hacerlos más fáciles de entender. Ahora, cuando él lee esta lista antes de cada lección, él sabe exactamente qué es lo que se requiere con cada instrucción. La comprensión de repente se ha vuelto más fácil. Puede que parezca simplista y sin imaginación el simplemente hacer que el niño lea una lista previa cada día, pero sí funciona (siempre y cuando cada instrucción sea comprendida).
I’m curious Keith, does Neil retain more of the subject when he reads independently versus reading aloud? Glad to see you’ve found something to work for his reading comprehension.
EVO: He’s been getting a lot better at retaining while reading to himself, but he still does better when reading aloud.
Keith, how is his comprehension with audio books?
And do you know what kind of learner he is?
Btw, is Sylvan working for you and the boys as a replacement for the HOP? I just realized I need to find some sort of Language Arts curriculum to replace my son’s phonics next year. I supplement now with Sylvan with vocabulary. I don’t think we’ve tried any of their other books. Any thoughts?
EVO: That’s an interesting question. We’ve never used an audio book so I’m curious how he would do. It seems I’ve thought of every other angle, but I never thought of that!
Sylvan Reading Comprehension is good, but It doesn’t have the same structure as this one we’re using now (Evan-Moor). I like Sylvan, but we found Neil does better with Evan-Moor. The questions and reading levels are comparable, but I like that Evan-Moor makes the kids do this checklist every day. The Evan-Moor book has more exercises also. Our vocabulary is Spelling Power by Beverly L Adams-Gordon.
Thank you Keith for the suggestions. We also use Evan-Moor. I’ve not seen samples of Spelling Power though. I’m hesitant to buy something I cannot see. Is there any way to access some of the words?
EVO: I’ll look. I don’t think I’ve posted any of the words in previous posts. If I haven’t then that would make another good post.
At 7 years old he would be in the 2nd grade. If he’s reading (fluency) on the 6th grade level, and comprehension is at 3rd grade then he’s still ahead of his grade level. How can you blame yourself for teaching him to read first when that’s the only way to becoming a good reader? Learning how to read is taught in elementary and reading comprehension in the middle school. Critical thinking high school. If you child is advanced then all those start at earlier grade levels.A struggling reader will always struggle with comprehension until they become a fluent reader. You already made him advance in that area so there are no barriers to comprehension. Struggling readers always have to try to decode, multiple rereads, stop and ask for help, miscue words, misread, skip vocabulary words they don’t know how to figure out which might affect meaning , and when they spend so much time just getting through the text, they have to go over it again to work on understanding it. That frustration causes low self esteem and behavioral problems to cover up reading frustration. With a fluent reader, the mind only has to figure out meaning while reading. Making a connection is the key to comprehension. If you’ve never heard or seen something before it’s hard to understand it unless you can find something you already know that’s similiar to understand the concept.. Misconception occurs with wrong connections. So, retelling the passage or story is a good way to help memory skills and story sequence. visualization and compare/contrast is good for comprehension. compare/contrast to a real world event and asking what if questions would increase critical thinking skills. You are doing a good job. My kids loved the Jumpstart educational series from the Kindergarten CD up to 6th grade. I wished they had it going through high school. I still mail the CD’s to my neice in california. It’s also an online program now, free access for kids, knowledgeadventure.com. It’s the fun way for this generation of kids to learn even though my son is now in his 2nd year of college.