Brittany Daly - Blog Post 5: Routman (2003), Ch. 8: Teach Comprehension

Whether one is reading for pleasure or reading to learn, comprehension and understanding are extremely important. Most of the reading strategies we teach in upper elementary grades serve to help students better comprehend various texts they read. Not only do we want students to understand what they read, we want them to be able to think critically about texts and share that thinking with others. However, many students are so focused on their fluency or their ability to sound like a good reader when they read aloud, that they do not take the time to think about what they are reading. I have noticed this during many of my reading conferences this year. When I ask students to read to me, they read quickly, rarely pausing to reread or to give thought to a word, sentence, or portion of the text they do not understand. When I ask them questions about the texts they read to me, they struggle to summarize, synthesize, or make inferences about what they have read. They have come to believe that they are good readers if they sound out words correctly and read quickly without making many errors. However, fluency alone does not make one a good reader. In chapter 8, Routman provides strategies that readers can use to achieve a better understanding of texts they read. Routman is careful to remind teachers that teaching strategies is not enough.  Reading strategies do not equal comprehension; rather, strategies are tools that facilitate comprehension. We as teachers must teach students how to use different strategies to extend their thinking, and we must give them time to apply and practice these strategies.

Much of what Routman says in this chapter reminds me of our discussion of, “What I’ve Learned about Effective Reading Instruction,” by Richard Allington. Both authors discuss the importance of organizing our instructional time. Routman and Allington argue that students must be spending a significant amount of time each day reading and writing. In many classrooms, there is too much direct instruction, and too little guided practice.  I know that this is true in my classroom some days. My mini-lessons become major-lessons, and I don’t give my students enough time to apply what they are learning. This is something I have been working on, and I know that it still needs to be improved.  Both authors also highlight the importance of modeling strategies and our own thinking for students.  For example, if we are teaching students how to make connections, we should demonstrate for students how we make connections as we read. I love to do this as I read aloud in my classroom. I often pause as I read to share my questions, inferences, connections, and predictions. I explain how certain parts of the text influence my thinking.  I think I can take this one step further by writing down the thoughts that I share aloud. I often ask students to do this as they read, and visually showing them how I think as I read may help them become more conscious of their own thinking as they read.

Routman and Allington also discuss the importance of peer interaction and talking. Collaborative talk can help students create meaning. I saw great value in this during our last book club unit. While getting students to stay on task and have meaningful conversations can be difficult, I think it is worth it.  Some of my students picked books that were a little too challenging for them, but I could tell that their conversations with their peers helped to give them a better understanding of what they were reading. I was also excited to see how this component of our weekly reading practice brought about more enthusiasm for reading among my students.  They were excited to talk to their peers and share their thoughts.  I definitely plan to continue incorporating talk into my literacy instruction.

While many of the strategies Routman (and Allington) suggested are already widely used in my classroom, I know I need to devote more time to explicitly teaching my students how to self-monitor. I mentioned earlier that many of my students read fluently, but they do not spend time thinking about their reading. These students are not monitoring the things that they do to make sense of the text. They are not actively thinking as they read. Perhaps we can create an anchor chart or checklist to which students can refer when they feel like they are getting lost in the text they are reading. I think that as I demonstrate this practice using the materials we create, students will more naturally do the same as they read aloud, independently, or in groups. Practicing self-monitoring will naturally require students to use other strategies, such as summarizing, making connections, asking questions, synthesizing, and inferring. It is when students are consistently applying a variety of strategies that they will come to comprehend texts on a deeper level.