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 reader’s
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 Don’t 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.