General instructional activities

To correspond with a typical reading lesson, comprehension strategy instruction can be organized into a three-part framework, with specific activities used before, during, and after reading.

Providing instruction such as the following example allows students to see, learn, and use a variety of comprehension strategies as they read. Note, however, that the framework is a general one and represents an array of strategies. All of the strategies in this framework do not have to be used with every text or in every reading situation.

Before Reading

Before reading, the teacher may:

• Motivate students through activities that may increase their interest (book talks, dramatic readings, or displays of art related to the text), making the text relevant to students in some way.
• Activate students' background knowledge important to the content of the text by discussing what students will read and what they already know about its topic and about the text organization.

Students, with some help from the teacher, may:

• Establish a purpose for reading.
• Identify and discuss difficult words, phrases, and concepts in the text.
• Preview the text (by surveying the title, illustrations, and unusual text structures) to make predictions about its content.
• Think, talk, and write about the topic of the text.

• During Reading

  During reading, the teacher may:

• Remind students to use comprehension strategies as they read and to monitor their understanding.
• Ask questions that keep students on track and focus their attention on main ideas and important points in the text.
• Focus attention on parts in a text that require students to make inferences.
• Call on students to summarize key sections or events.
• Encourage students to return to any predictions they have made before reading to see if they are confirmed by the text.

• Students, with some help from the teacher, may:

• Determine and summarize important ideas and supportive details.
• Make connections between and among important ideas in the text.
• Integrate new ideas with existing background knowledge.
• Ask themselves questions about the text.
• Sequence events and ideas in the text.
• Offer interpretations of and responses to the text.
• Check understanding by paraphrasing or restating important and/or difficult sentences
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