November Blog: Erin McAbee Chapter 8- Teach Comprehension (Routman)

           When I was going through elementary school, I remember being taught to read for comprehension. Which I feel fortunate to have had that type of learning environment, because from reading this chapter that hasn't always been the case in schools. Recently, I had a conversation with a family member and we were discussing reading and school. This family member is a few years older than myself and stated than when she was going through elementary school, comprehension was not emphasized and it was more about reading the words quickly. I found that interesting that the emphasis of reading hasn't always been comprehension like it seems now. Isn't that what we want to do as teachers; make sure our students understand what they're reading? I know this particular family member does not enjoy reading and said she felt like she was never taught that reading could be fun.
            As I'm thinking back to that conversation and having read the chapter of teaching comprehension, I couldn't help but think maybe if her teachers would of taught more useful strategies and taught better how to make connections maybe that love of reading wouldn't have been in lost.  I know there are strategies that help with comprehension and from reading this text it is very important not to go overboard with focusing on the strategies, but use them as a tool for extending and facilitating comprehension.
           As a first grade teacher, we are still teaching the fundamentals of reading and learning how to read letters and form them into words and then sentences. But as we teach the basics of reading, we are also teaching how to make sense of what they're reading. I liked the three questions that Routman said we need to teach our students to ask themselves as they read: Does this make sense?, Does this sound like language?, Do I know what is happening in the text? In my classroom, we talked about the goal of reading is to make sure we know what we're reading and these questions are something I want my students to become familiar with.
        I like how Routman suggested making our own reading/thinking process visible. Sometimes I assume students know how to go back and re-read something they don't understand, but I should never assume students know how to do something. Modeling the process of re-reading and what I do as a reader will be very beneficial and helpful for my students. I'm challenged to go into my classroom and use the useful strategies explained more in depth in this chapter.