Fluency and comprehension are not the same thing.  You need to help the
students build comprehension strategies.  Comprehension is a key skill in
learning to read.  Fluency is only one of the seven strategies of highly
effective readers.  Comprehension is also only one strategy.  When teaching
reading, one must focus on a set of skills.

 

Saludos,

 

Eugenio     

 

From: familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Charlotte Learning
Center
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 3:54 PM
To: 'The Family Literacy Discussion List'
Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 956] Re: Comprehension Monitoring
StrategiesDiscussionBegins Tod

Susan, you said to have a student restate after a few sentences if
necessary. If a student has such low understanding of a text (that they are
able to read fluently) it does make sense to lower their instructional
reading level, to something, as you said, that isn't too complicated.

However,  I have a native, elderly adult student who can read fluently up to
a 6th grade level, but cannot correctly answer comprehension questions at
any level (1st-6th) on a QRI.   Deciding an instructional level given her
fluency rates is a little baffling. 

How does one assess a starting point for using these comprehension
strategies?

 

And also, how much of comprehension testing is also a test of oral
communication skills, and perhaps in this instance (in the QRI) "mainstream"
communication skills are required to demonstrate comprehension, e.g. give
the main idea.

Mora

  _____  

From: familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Susan McShane
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 11:44 AM
To: The Family Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 953] Re: Comprehension Monitoring
StrategiesDiscussionBegins Today

 

Hello Everybody! Since there are so many possibilities in the broad category
of comprehension monitoring, Donna and I think that it's probably best to
start with something that makes sense to the learner and isn't  too
complicated. 

 

One possibility is restating-that is putting what they've read into their
own words. You can explain that it's a good way to stay focused on the
meaning and to "test" their understanding.  Ask them to stop after the first
section or paragraph (or even the first couple of sentences) and try to put
what the writer said in their own words. If they can't do it, that's a clue
that they may need to re-read and think about it more carefully.

 

Another possibility is a variation on the "coding text" strategy. The book
includes an example that has several different kinds of marks to indicate
questions, mark important facts, and make other responses to the text. You
might start with something much simpler that introduces the idea of marking
the text. Maybe they could just underline any words they don't understand or
put a check mark by any important or interesting facts or bits of
information. If they begin with just one or maybe two kinds of "codes" it
may be less intimidating. 

 

Starting with one of these simple approaches also makes it easier for
you/the teacher to demonstrate and model the strategy.

 

Does this sound reasonable? Has anyone done anything like this or used any
other comprehension-monitoring strategies?

 

  _____  

From: familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Gail Price
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 11:19 AM
To: The Family Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 952] Comprehension Monitoring Strategies
DiscussionBegins Today

 

Good morning, List members,

 

I am very pleased to welcome Susan McShane, Reading Initiative Specialist at
the National Center for Family Literacy, and Donna Elder, Reading Specialist
at the National Center for Family Literacy, to our List. They will be
leading the discussion on comprehension monitoring strategies for adult
readers. I know many of you have been looking forward to this discussion and
I hope you are prepared to join in with your questions, comments and
experiences. 

 

I would like to get us started by asking Susan and Donna how they introduce
the comprehension monitoring strategies on pages 80- 82 of Applying Research
in Reading Instruction for Adults: First Steps for Teachers, to students. Is
there a particular strategy that you introduce before the others? How might
you present the strategy to maximize learner buy-in? 

 

 

 

 

Gail J. Price

Multimedia Specialist

National Center for Family Literacy

325 W. Main Street, Suite 300

Louisville, KY 40202

gprice at famlit.org

502 584-1133, ext. 112

 

 

Join us for the 17th Annual National Conference on Family Literacy!
"Literacy Grows Families and Communities"
March 30, 31, & April 1, 2008-Louisville, KY
Register online at www.famlit.org/conference

 

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