Bilingual/ESL Department Dr. Romeo Romero

Institute English/Reading proficiency as the standard for transition

Understanding the key areas of reading must be a part of every aspect of teaching reading. Comprehension or strategic understanding must be the pillar of support for the other four; vocabulary, fluency, phonics, and phonemic awareness.

Identify six key comprehension strategies to teach to mastery Use multiple ways to teach the six strategies to application and synthesis stage Utilize fiction and nonfiction text during the mastery of comprehension strategies Understand the importance of using visual organizers as a learning tool not a teaching tool

Teacher models the Monitoring Comprehension Strategy so that students can monitor their own reading and clarify what they do not understand. a. Were the students provided opportunities to reread the selection? b. Were the students using visuals to help with comprehension? c. Were the students provided with opportunities to ask for help when not understanding? d. Were the students provided with opportunities to resolve problems such as looking forward in the text to resolve the difficulty?

Teacher models the Make Connections Strategy so that students will add to their understanding of the passage a. Were students provided with opportunities to practice text to text connections? b. Were students provided with opportunities to practice text to world connections? c. Were students provided with opportunities to practice text to text to self?

Teacher models the Visualization Strategy so that students can visualize the actions and ideas of a text. a. Were students provided with opportunities to draw using story maps, story boards/chain of events and Venn- diagrams? b. Were students orally retelling what they saw when reading a passage? c. Were students provided with listings of sensory images to help with visualization?

Teacher models the Self-Questioning Strategy so that students can have deeper processing of information. a. Were students provided opportunities to practice questioning the text before reading for better understanding of the selection? b. During reading? c. After reading?

Teacher models Predict and Infer Strategy to build students’ expectations, clarify their thoughts and promote deep engagement. a. Were students provided opportunities to practice making predictions (such as, “I think that …will happen next.” before reading? b. During reading? c. After reading?

Teacher models the Summarizing Strategy so that students can sum up important information as they read. a. Were students provided with opportunities to identify the most important information? b. Were students provided with opportunities to recognize the less important information? c. Were students provided with opportunities to paraphrase?

Ms. Linda Furey, National Educational Consultant Comprehension Clinic: Diagnosis, Remedies, Results