5 Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension in All Students

Specialists Laura Hicks, Renee Hutchins and I recently traveled to The Galloway School in Atlanta for a staff development session titled “Comprehension: Helping Students Remember What They Read,” taught by Brenda Fitzgerald, Ed.S. This was the second course in a series on dyslexia.

The two days of training were packed with valuable information about the characteristics of children living with dyslexia and methods for improving comprehension in all learners. Below are five strategies Mrs. Fitzgerald shared for helping students improve reading comprehension: 

1. Activate background knowledge before asking students to read. In an activity called “ABC Brainstorming,” students are asked to create a list of words about the reading topic. They then scan their textbook to find a second list of vocabulary words from the reading assignment. These two lists not only activate prior knowledge, but they also become a word bank for use in future writing assignments. 

2. Generate and ask questions. Teachers should ask questions of students to help them stay focused as well as to support and advance their learning. Eventually, students will must become conditioned to ask themselves questions as they read.

3. Teach them to infer and predict. Starting at a young age, students must practice both. Teachers can lead children in a guessing game, asking students to guess what is happening and what will happen next. For example, “We got tickets, bought our popcorn, and waited quietly in the theater.” Ask students to infer what is happening and what will happen next.

4. Teach them to summarize. Playing “Categories” is a good strategy. List 3-5 words with something in common. For example, “What do the words chess, pool, checkers and cards all have in common?” Another strategy is “3-2-1.” Stop periodically while students are reading and ask them to: List 3 things they have just read, 2 new things they found out, and 1 question they have.

5. Teach vocabulary before students read a passage. Students learn vocabulary two different ways -- directly through instruction or indirectly through conversation. Break the words down into suffixes, prefixes, Latin and Greek roots. According to Mrs. Fitzgerald, after teaching decoding skills, teaching vocabulary is the single most important element to improving comprehension. 

Using strategies like these to improve comprehension not only benefits students with reading disabilities, it has a positive impact on all learners in all subject areas.