1. Prepared by the SLMS Role in Reading Task Force July 2009
What Every SLMS Should Know about Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies
Prepared by the
SLMS Role in Reading Task Force 
                                July 2009

2. Research shows that reading comprehension strategies can and should be taught from the primary grades through high school (p. 216). Research also shows that this instruction is not taking place in many classrooms (p. 198).
By combining knowledge of literature and information resources with the ability to teach reading comprehension strategies, the LMS is able to increase student learning.
Source: Reading Instruction that Works: The Case for Balanced Teaching by Michael Pressley
(Guildford Press, 1998)

3. By explicitly teaching and coteaching reading comprehension strategies, LMS can make a positive impact on students’ reading development.
These strategies are easily integrated into classroom-library lesson plans and storytime learning objectives.
In collaborative planning, the LMS suggests specific texts for co-teaching specific reading comprehension strategies. When the classroom teacher or literacy specialist and the LMS use the same terminology in modeling and guiding students’ practice of reading comprehension strategies, readers have a consistent and viable scaffold for learning these strategies.
Source: Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension: Maximizing Your Impact by Judi Moreillon
(ALA Editions, 2007)

4. Reading Comprehension Strategies
Activating or building background knowledge
Using sensory images
Questioning
Making predictions and inferences
Determining importance
Monitoring and regaining comprehension
Synthesizing
Strategies defined and instruction explained by:
Allen, Janet Yellow brick roads: Shared and guided paths to independent reading Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Keene, Ellin Oliver, and Susan Zimmermann Mosaic of thought: Teaching comprehension in a reader's workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Tovani, Cris I read it, but I don’t get it: Comprehension strategies for adolescent readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Zimmermann, Susan, and Chryse Hutchins keys to comprehension: How to help your kids read it and get it! New York: Three Rivers Press.

5. Procedures for Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies
Direct instruction begins with educators modeling one strategy at a time (for whole group instruction).
Educators use think-alouds to describe why, when, and how they are using the strategy to make meaning.
Educators guide whole group in practicing the strategy.
Educators guide small groups, partners, or individual readers in applying the strategy.
Readers reflect on the benefits and challenges of using the strategy.
Phase out educator direction until readers apply strategies independently.
Strategies defined and instruction explained by:
Allen, Janet Yellow brick roads: Shared and guided paths to independent reading Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Keene, Ellin Oliver, and Susan Zimmermann Mosaic of thought: Teaching comprehension in a reader's workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Tovani, Cris I read it, but I don’t get it: Comprehension strategies for adolescent readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Zimmermann, Susan, and Chryse Hutchins keys to comprehension: How to help your kids read it and get it! New York: Three Rivers Press.

6. Reading Comprehension Strategy
Activating and Building Background Knowledge
Text-to-self
Text-to-text
Text-to world connection
Refer to Background Knowledge Handout

7. AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Activating and Building Background Knowledge Indicators
Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning. (1.1.2)
Connect ideas to own interests and previous knowledge and experience. (4.1.5)
Recognize when, why, and how to focus efforts in personal learning. (4.4.3)
Connections between reading comprehension strategies and AASL standards from:
Moreillon, Judi Matrix: Relationship between reading comprehension strategies and AASL's standards for the 21st-century learner. < (Accessed April 2, 2009).

8. Reading Comprehension Strategy
Using Sensory Images
Engaging all five senses in “visualization”
Increasing enjoyment as well as comprehension of texts
Refer to Visualizing Handout

9. AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Sensory Images Indicator
Read, view, and listen for pleasure and for personal growth. (4.1.1)
Connections between reading comprehension strategies and AASL standards from:
Moreillon, Judi Matrix: Relationship between reading comprehension strategies and AASL's standards for the 21st-century learner. < (Accessed April 2, 2009). 9

10. Reading Comprehension Strategy
Questioning
Monitoring comprehension through questioning
Focusing on questions rather than answers before, during, and after reading
Questioning the text and the author
Refer to Questioning Handout

11. AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Questioning Indicators
Develop and refine a range of questions to frame search for new understanding. (1.1.3)
Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions. (1.1.4)
Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts. (1.2.1)
Connections between reading comprehension strategies and AASL standards from:
Moreillon, Judi Matrix: Relationship between reading comprehension strategies and AASL's standards for the 21st-century learner. < (Accessed April 2, 2009).

12. Reading Comprehension Strategy
Making Predictions and Inferences
Making predictions based on plot
Making inferences found between the lines (dependent on reader’s background knowledge)
Propelling reader through the text
Interpreting and make meaning
Refer to Inferring Handout

13. AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Making Predications and Inferences Indicator
Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning. (1.1.6)
Connections between reading comprehension strategies and AASL standards from:
Moreillon, Judi Matrix: Relationship between reading comprehension strategies and AASL's standards for the 21st-century learner. < (Accessed April 2, 2009).

14. Reading Comprehension Strategy
Determining Importance
Sorting and prioritizing
Identifying main ideas and supporting details
Summarizing
Essential skill for notemaking
Refer to Determining Importance Handout

15. AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Determining Importance Indicator
Organize knowledge so it is useful. (2.1.2)
Note: Students must be able to distinguish main ideas from supporting details in order to make notes and organize knowledge.
Connections between reading comprehension strategies and AASL standards from:
Moreillon, Judi Matrix: Relationship between reading comprehension strategies and AASL's standards for the 21st-century learner. < (Accessed April 2, 2009).

16. Reading Comprehension Strategy
Monitoring and Regaining Comprehension
Determining when comprehension was lost
Using fix-up options to regain comprehension
Refer to Monitoring and Regaining Comprehension Handout

17. AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Monitoring and Regaining Comprehension Indicator
Monitor gathered information and assess for gaps and weaknesses. (1.4.3)
Connections between reading comprehension strategies and AASL standards from:
Moreillon, Judi Matrix: Relationship between reading comprehension strategies and AASL's standards for the 21st-century learner. < (Accessed April 2, 2009).

18. Reading Comprehension Strategy
Synthesizing
Making meaning from multiple resources
Using decision-making to interpret information through the selecting important ideas and concepts and discarding others
Thinking critically about information and ideas
Refer to Synthesizing Handout

19. AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Synthesizing Indicator
Make sense of information gathered from diverse sources by identifying misconceptions, main and supporting ideas, conflicting information, and point of view or bias. (1.1.7)
Connections between reading comprehension strategies and AASL standards from:
Moreillon, Judi Matrix: Relationship between reading comprehension strategies and AASL's standards for the 21st-century learner. < (Accessed April 2, 2009).

20. AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner and ALL Reading Comprehension Strategies Indicators
Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning (1.1.6)
Use strategies to draw conclusions from information and apply knowledge to curricular areas, real world situations, and further investigations (2.1.3)
Connections between reading comprehension strategies and AASL standards from:
Moreillon, Judi Matrix: Relationship between reading comprehension strategies and AASL's standards for the 21st-century learner. < (Accessed April 2, 2009).

21. AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner and ALL Reading Comprehension Strategies Indicators (continued)
Use strategies to draw conclusions from information and apply knowledge to curricular areas, real world situations, and further investigations (2.1.3)
Read widely and fluently to make connections with own self, the world, and previous reading (4.1.2)
Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres (4.1.3)
Connections between reading comprehension strategies and AASL standards from:
Moreillon, Judi Matrix: Relationship between reading comprehension strategies and AASL's standards for the 21st-century learner. < (Accessed April 2, 2009).

22. Resources for Educators
Allen, J Yellow Brick Roads: Shared and Guided Paths to Independent Reading Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
______ Tools for Teaching Content Literacy. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Grimes, S Reading Is Our Business : How Librarians Foster Reading Comprehension. Chicago: ALA Editions.
Harvey, S., and A. Goudvis Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Keene, E. O., and S. Zimmermann Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader's Workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

23. Resources for Educators (Continued)
Moreillon, J Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension: Maximizing Your Impact. Chicago: ALA Editions.
Tovani, C Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Content Comprehension, Grades Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
_____ I Read It, But I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Walker, C Teaching Reading Strategies in the School Library. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Zimmermann, S., and C. Hutchins Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It! New York: Three Rivers Press.