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Teaching Reading: K-2 Workshop

Comprehension and Response

In this session, you will investigate and apply research-based principles of effective comprehension instruction in early literacy.

In this session, you will investigate and apply research-based principles of effective comprehension instruction in early literacy.

Learning Goals

At the end of this session, you will better understand:

  • comprehension strategies used by proficient readers
  • characteristics of effective comprehension instruction
  • the components of explicit and strategic instruction
  • the nature of reading response

Factors Related to This Session

  • Background knowledge
  • Word-recognition skills
  • Vocabulary knowledge
  • Text structure
  • Fluency
  • Monitoring comprehension
  • Interest

 

“The thing about comprehension that’s easy, for any of us who teach, is the assignment or assessment of comprehension. What’s more difficult is to step back and figure out how you are actually demonstrating or modeling these [comprehension] processes.”
Jeanne R. Paratore

Related Resources

Professional Resources

Blachowicz, C., and D. Ogle. Reading Comprehension: Strategies for Independent Learners. New York, N.Y.: Guilford Press, 2001.

Cunningham, P. M., and R. L. Allington. Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write. New York, N.Y.: Longman, 1999.

Gambrell, L. B., and A. L. Dromsky. “Fostering Reading Comprehension.” In Strickland, D. S., and L. M. Morrow, eds. Beginning Reading and Writing. New York, N.Y.: Teachers College Press, 2000.

Harvey, S., and A. Goudvis. Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse, 2000.

Keene, E. O., and S. Zimmerman. Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Readers’ Workshop. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 1997.

Miller, D. Reading With Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse, 2002.

Pearson, P. D., et al. “Developing Expertise in Reading Comprehension.” In Samuels, S. J., and A. Farstrup, eds. What Research Has To Say About Reading Instruction. 2d ed., 145-199. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association, 1992.

Pressley, M., et al. Learning To Read: Lessons From Exemplary First-Grade Classrooms. New York, N.Y.: Guilford Press, 2001.

Rosenblatt, L. Literature as Exploration. New York, N.Y.: Modern Language Association, 1983.

Rosenblatt, L. The Reader, the Text, and the Poem. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978.

Snow, C. E., M. S. Burns, and P. Griffin. Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1998.

Related Research

Durkin, D. “What Classroom Observations Reveal About Reading Comprehension Instruction.” Reading Research Quarterly 14 (1978): 481-533.

Rosenblatt, L. The Reader, the Text, the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978.

Classroom Excerpts Used in the Video

Classrooms shown in the video session are from Teaching Reading K-2: A Library of Classroom Practices.

Building Oral Language with Cindy Wilson

Promoting Readers as Leaders with Valerie Kostandos

Staying on Topic with Martha Duran-Contreras

Students Making Choices with Becky Pursley

Series Directory

Teaching Reading: K-2 Workshop

Credits

Produced by WGBH Educational Foundation. 2003.
  • Closed Captioning
  • ISBN: 1-57680-681-2

Workshops