What Every SLMS Should Know

about Teaching
Reading Comprehension Strategies
Prepared by the
SLMS Role in Reading Task Force
July 2009
Research shows that reading
comprehension strategies can and
should be taught from the primary
grades through high school (p. 216).

Research also shows that this

instruction is not taking place in
many classrooms (p. 198).
Source:
Reading Instruction that Works: The Case for Balanced Teaching
by Michael Pressley
(Guildford Press, 1998)
By explicitly teaching and
coteaching reading comprehension
strategies, LMS can make a
positive impact on students
reading development.
These strategies are easily integrated into
classroom-library lesson plans and storytime
learning objectives.
Source:
Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension:
Maximizing Your Impact by Judi Moreillon
(ALA Editions, 2007)
Reading Comprehension
Strategies
Activating or building background
knowledge
Using sensory images
Questioning
Making predictions and inferences
Determining importance
Monitoring and regaining comprehension
Synthesizing
Procedures for Teaching
Reading Comprehension
Strategies
Direct instruction begins with educators modeling one
strategy at a time (for whole group instruction).
Educators use think-alouds to describe why, when, and
how they are using the strategy to make meaning.
Educators guide whole group in practicing the strategy.

Educators guide small groups, partners, or individual

readers in applying the strategy.
Readers reflect on the benefits and challenges of using
the strategy.
Phase out educator direction until readers apply
strategies independently.
 Reading Comprehension
Strategy

Activating and Building Background

Knowledge
Text-to-self
Text-to-text
Text-to world connection
 AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner

Activating and Building Background

Knowledge Indicators
Use prior and background knowledge as
context for new learning. (1.1.2)
Connect ideas to own interests and
previous knowledge and experience.
(4.1.5)
Recognize when, why, and how to focus
efforts in personal learning. (4.4.3)
Reading Comprehension
Strategy

Using Sensory Images

Engaging all five senses in
visualization
Increasing enjoyment as well as
comprehension of texts
 AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner

Sensory Images Indicator

Read, view, and listen for pleasure and
for personal growth. (4.1.1)
 Reading
Comprehension
Strategy

Questioning
Monitoring comprehension through
questioning
Focusing on questions rather than
answers before, during, and after
reading
Questioning the text and the author
 AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner

Questioning Indicators
Develop and refine a range of questions to
frame search for new understanding. (1.1.3)
Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources
to answer questions. (1.1.4)
Display initiative and engagement by posing
questions and investigating the answers
beyond the collection of superficial facts.
(1.2.1)
Reading Comprehension
Strategy

Making Predictions and Inferences

Making predictions based on plot
Making inferences found between the
lines (dependent on readers
background knowledge)
Propelling reader through the text
Interpreting and make meaning
 AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner

Making Predications and Inferences

Indicator
Read, view, and listen for information
presented in any format (e.g., textual,
visual, media, digital) in order to make
inferences and gather meaning. (1.1.6)
 Reading Comprehension
Strategy

Determining Importance
Sorting and prioritizing
Identifying main ideas and supporting
details
Summarizing
Essential skill for notemaking
 AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner

Determining Importance Indicator

Organize knowledge so it is useful.
(2.1.2)

Note: Students must be able to distinguish

main ideas from supporting details in order to
make notes and organize knowledge.
Reading Comprehension
Strategy

Monitoring and Regaining

Comprehension
Determining when comprehension was
lost
Using fix-up options to regain
comprehension
 AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner

Monitoring and Regaining

Comprehension Indicator
Monitor gathered information and
assess for gaps and weaknesses.
(1.4.3)
 Reading Comprehension
Strategy

Synthesizing
Making meaning from multiple resources
Using decision-making to interpret
information through the selecting
important ideas and concepts and
discarding others
Thinking critically about information and
ideas
 AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner

Synthesizing Indicator
Make sense of information gathered
from diverse sources by identifying
misconceptions, main and supporting
ideas, conflicting information, and point
of view or bias. (1.1.7)
 AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner
and ALL Reading Comprehension
Strategies Indicators
Read, view, and listen for information
presented in any format (e.g., textual,
visual, media, digital) in order to make
inferences and gather meaning (1.1.6)
Use strategies to draw conclusions
from information and apply knowledge
to curricular areas, real world
situations, and further investigations
(2.1.3)
 AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner
and ALL Reading Comprehension
Strategies Indicators (continued)
Use strategies to draw conclusions from
information and apply knowledge to curricular
areas, real world situations, and further
investigations (2.1.3)
Read widely and fluently to make connections
with own self, the world, and previous reading
(4.1.2)
Respond to literature and creative expressions
of ideas in various formats and genres (4.1.3)
Resources for Educators
Allen, J. 2000. Yellow Brick Roads: Shared and Guided Paths to
Independent Reading 4-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

______. 2004. Tools for Teaching Content Literacy. Portland, ME:

Stenhouse.

Grimes, S. 2006. Reading Is Our Business : How Librarians Foster

Reading Comprehension. Chicago: ALA Editions.

Harvey, S., and A. Goudvis. 2000. Strategies that Work: Teaching

Comprehension to Enhance Understanding. Portland, ME:
Stenhouse.

Keene, E. O., and S. Zimmermann. 1997. Mosaic of Thought: Teaching

Comprehension in a Reader's Workshop. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
 Resources for Educators
(Continued)

Moreillon, J. 2007. Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading

Comprehension: Maximizing Your Impact. Chicago: ALA Editions.

Tovani, C. 2007. Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Content

Comprehension, Grades 6-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

_____. 2000. I Read It, But I Dont Get It: Comprehension Strategies for
Adolescent Readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Walker, C. 2004. Teaching Reading Strategies in the School Library.

Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Zimmermann, S., and C. Hutchins. 2003. 7 Keys to Comprehension: How

to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It! New York: Three Rivers Press.