Teachers should demonstrate their own thinking about their reading process in think alouds for print and digital texts (Schoenbach & Greenleaf, 2009; Rhodes & Robnolt, 2009).
Discussions about texts leads to comprehensions by making the reading process visible (Johannessen & McCann, 2009; Schoenbach & Greenleaf, 2009). One strategy to consider is Save the Last Word for Me (Burke, 2007).
Online class discussions helped clarify the text (Rhodes & Robnolt, 2009).
"Many adolescents who struggle with academic reading have misconceptions of what reading is, seeing it as a magical process in which comprehension just happens for successful readers" (Schoenbach & Greenleaf, 2009, p. 101).
Metacognitive conversations about the reading process increases helps students better understand their reading process (Schoenbach & Greenleaf, 2009).
Self-monitoring strategies on digital texts includes navigating pop-ups, hyperlinks, downloading, speed, typing, and search engines; where as print texts include headings, key terms, and graphics (Rhodes & Robnolt, 2009).
Wikibooks provide annotation tools for students to monitor-comprehension online (Kajder, 2007).
Say Something
How to Implement: Students read silently and stop and check points and discuss what they read using comprehension reading strategies.
1. First you must demonstrate the strategy. I write out a skit for my students to perform. One skit is a good example of partner reading and one is a bad example of partner reading. Then we practice the first session together. 2. I copy the guidelines and sentence starters that link to comprehension to the left on card stock paper for them to have with them as they read and discuss. 3. I also require the partners to title each section with that captures the main idea of the section. This is my way of assessing that they did comprehend that section.
Purpose: This strategy helps students discuss their reading and monitor their understanding of the text. Advanced readers may not always need this strategy because they naturally monitor their comprehension; however, if you are introducing a complex text with archaic language, this would be a powerful tool for them as well.
Modifications: I have twisted this strategy several ways:
Twist 1: I have posted all of these sentence starters around my room. After DEAR time or SSR time, I have students stand up and share their reading with the class using one of these starters. Twist 2: For long difficult texts, I sometimes chunk it for the students. At my hand drawn line, they must use one of these sentences starters to respond the chunked section they read. Twist 3: The two weeks before testing, I had students choose their favorite one. This is the one they committed to practicing and using on their scrap paper on testing. The most popular one was "I wonder."
Resource: This strategy comes from pages 106-109 in When Kids Can't Read by Kylene Beers.