Teaching Strategies for Comprehension

Chapter four of Kylene Beers’ book, When Kids Can’t Read: What Teachers Can Do, discusses the emphasis of teaching reading strategies over straight comprehension – and WHY it’s important. As a teacher-in-training, tips and guidance like Beers gives is as good as gold.

I have always been aware that as English teachers, we must teach and not just tell. Beers makes the distinction between instruction vs. instructions. There is a massive chasm between giving students instructions, which are only directions as to what to do, and providing them with instruction – teaching them how to do something. This differentiation will help me to really think about everything I am saying to my students. Reading the transcripts from the student teacher as well as the follow-up conversations really exemplified the difference between helping students with comprehension of a single text and helping students learn strategies that will help them understand texts they’ll read in the future.

In this chapter, Beers emphasized the importance of both modeling and discussion in the classroom. It is clear that for students to learn and be able to use new reading strategies, they must be clearly explained and modeled, then practiced. For me, this means that my classroom will be a combination of the guided practice method of instruction and student-centered. I will explain what strategy students are to focus on and HOW IT WILL HELP THEM WITH COMPREHENSION before I model it for them while reading aloud. I plan on using small group discussions and literature circles in my classroom so students will have the opportunity to model for one another, discuss their strategies and share unique perspectives on what they read. Beers makes it clear that students must be guided through the process of learning how to use comprehension strategies – sometimes more overtly than teachers may realize.

What Beers’ chapter helped me understand the most is the importance and power of reflection as a teacher. Through the inclusion of the transcripts with Kate, the student teacher, she modeled for me how much reflecting on lessons and instructional methods can help to improve teaching. Sometimes, because the program at UNH is so intensive and immersive, I feel as though I am expected to come out knowing exactly what to do for every class. Reading stories about teachers doing things poorly in their first few years of teaching is encouraging to me. It’s reassuring to know that nobody is perfect and mistakes will be made. The most important part of being a beginning teacher and making mistakes in the classroom is that I reflect! Mistakes can be a good thing, as long as they are used to improve lessons and methods for the future. I also believe in (nearly) full disclosure with my students. If I realize I have done something wrong or wish I taught something another way, I plan on sharing that realization with them – especially if I feel that they can immediately benefit. (Also, as a learning teacher, I like to listen to advice from students. Sometimes what they say is bogus, but it can often be intuitive.) For example, the first “discussion” that Kate had with her class about Eleven was more explanation on her part than students learning any strategies. Should I find myself in that position and had the benefit of debriefing with a mentor teacher, I would revisit the story with the same class. Discussing it again, with a different or more directed focus, would benefit both myself and the students.

Chapter 4 helped me to be more comfortable in my own "beginning teacher skin" – now I know it really is okay to make plenty of mistakes, because teaching is continuously learning -- right alongside the students.