Help Students Understand More of What They Read

Teachers are often frustrated because students either don’t do their reading assignments, or don’t seem to take away much from their reading. Students often complain that they read it, but they just don’t get it.

When students don’t understand what they read, their attitude often shifts and they skip the reading, thinking, “What’s the point?”. The result is often that teachers stop giving reading assignments because students don’t do the reading anyway.

We think this is a lost opportunity. When students feel competent and capable of understanding, and when they see the value in it, they are more motivated to do the reading. How the teacher frames a reading task can make a huge difference in what students take away from it.

Reading is thinking.

A common misconception is that reading is about pronouncing the words. That is only the first step. Reading is about making connections. It is about applying what you already know to something new. It is about seeing how new material fits in with familiar material and enlarging your overall understanding of a topic. Just having your eyeballs look at the words is not enough, you need to engage your brain in processing the information. You may understand this, but do your students understand it?

Here are our tips and strategies to help students understand more of what they read:

Prepare students before they read.

Help students connect the new to the known by asking questions. What have you learned about mammals? How did the first battle of Saratoga change the direction of the war?

Ask students to make predictions.

You know that some mammals hibernate. How do you think hibernation helps these animals? We’ve talked about how the battle at Saratoga changed the war. Today you are going to read about a second battle at Saratoga. What might happen in a second battle?

Make sure students know key vocabulary before they read.

This doesn’t mean assigning long lists of words to look up in the dictionary, define and use in a sentence. It does mean giving students the basic understanding they need to comprehend the material. For example, you might ask students “What does it mean to hibernate?”, or “What is a battle “front?”.

Help students to visualize.

Some of the best reading involves seeing pictures in your head. If you have ever watched a movie and despaired because the characters don’t look like you pictured them when you read the book, you understand the power of visualization. Visualization not only helps with novels, it can help us to comprehend other kinds of content. For example, ask students to close their eyes and imagine what the bear hibernating in a cave looks like. Ask students to describe what they see in their head as they read about the living conditions of the soldiers at Saratoga.

Ask students to do something with the information they have read.

The traditional way to have students do something with what they have read is to ask them to complete comprehension questions. However, many students are wise to this game, skip the reading and answer the questions by skimming for the answer. Does this sound familiar?

Comprehension questions are often used as a way to assess students to see if they did the assignment. Asking and assessing is not a method for teaching comprehension. Consider questions and activities that help students to understand, not just assess whether or not they understand.

Think about the higher levels of Blooms taxonomy when asking students to respond to their reading. How can students apply, analyze, synthesize or evaluate what they have read? Perhaps they could they draw pictures comparing and contrasting how hibernating animals and humans prepare for winter. High school students could complete a chart evaluating what Major Generals Burgoyne and Gates did right and wrong, and explain what might have happened if they had made a different choice.

Apply content reading strategies.

There are many named and tested reading comprehension strategies that help students to understand what they read. You are no doubt familiar with some of these, but be aware that there are many different strategies that you can add to your teaching repertoire. Consider strategies such as KWL, DRTA, Sketch-to-Stretch, Anticipation Guides, QAR, and Think Aloud. Graphic organizers can also help students to engage with the material they have read.

The bottom line is, when you assign reading, think about what you can do to help students understand what they read. You can not only help them understand what they read that day, but also how to read and comprehend what they read in the future.

All teachers have a role in improving students reading comprehension. This is especially true at the upper levels where students no longer have classes that focus on reading instruction. Students are expected to use their reading skills to learn content and teachers can help them to read with more and better understanding.

What strategies have you found successful in helping students to understand what they read?

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