Teaching Comprehension: The Comprehension Process Approach

Teaching Comprehension is unparalleled to any other text in its coverage of how to teach reading comprehension to students of all ages. Renowned scholar Cathy Collins Block takes on the challenging task of providing what every student needs to know about teaching comprehension, in a concise manner. This text is packed with innovative lessons and approaches based on the latest developments in research-based practices. Designed to suit the reader’s individual needs, each chapter ends with a complete lesson plan that can be implemented in classrooms with a wide range of student reading ability levels.

Table of Contents:
Each chapter begins with “Chapter Overview” and concludes with “In Summary,” “Reflecting on What You Have Learned,” and “To Read More About...” Preface. I. THE NEW RESPONSIBILITY OF TEACHERS, CURRICULUM AND STUDENTS IN THE COMPREHENSION PROCESS APPROACH. 1. The Responsibilities for Teachers in the Comprehension Process. What Responsibilities Do Teachers Bear? Goals: Teacher Responsibilities in Teaching Comprehension. Goal 1: Giving Choices During Scaffolding, and Performing Pivotal Point Scaffolding to Avoid the Slight Rejection Phenomenon. Goal 2: One-to-One Conferences Are Changed to Discovery Discussions. Goal 3: Avoid Merely Giving Instructions by “Tilling a Text,” “Showing, and Storytelling.” Goal 4: Leadership Is Given to Students When You Assume the Role of Contributor Instead of Initiator. Goals 5: Seek a Deep Understanding with Respondent-Centered and Questions and the Power of Three. 2. The Responsibilities That Curriculum Plays in the Comprehension Process. Why Do We Need to Differentiate Comprehension Instruction? Strand 1 Lessons: Teaching Students to Interrelate Two Comprehension Processes Before They Read a Specific Text. How Can You Teach Students to Interrelate Comprehension Processes? Strand 2 Lessons: Time to Live Within Books—Authors Say to Students: “Strand 2 Lessons Provide More Time to Take Our Stories and Make Them Your Own.” Strand 3 Lessons: Students Choose What They Want to Learn About Reading—Teachers Say to Students: “The Goal of These Lessons Is to Hear What You Want to Learn to Comprehend.” 3. The Role Students Play in Comprehension Development: Their Voices, Choices, and Hoists Strengthen Their Competence. The Role Students Play in Comprehension Development. Increasing the Power of Children’s Voice. Choice. Increasing Children’s Ability to Hoist. Lesson 5: Teaching Students To Reflect on Their Abilities to Improve Their Comprehension. II. DOMAINS OF COMPREHENSION AND HOW TO TEACH THEM. 4. Crafting Accurate Literal Understandings. Crafting Accurate Literal Understandings. Crafting Literal Understanding at the Sentence Level. Crafting Accurate Understanding at the Paragraph Level. Attending to Authors Writing Styles. Establishing a Purpose. Instead of Building Background, Teach Students How to Let Background Build. Instead of “Finding the Main Idea” Teach Students How Main Ideas Find Them. Instead of Reading to Identify Memorable Character Traits and Events. Literal Understanding of an Entire Text. Inter-Textual Literal Understanding. Increasing Students Memory and Retention. 5. Developing Inferential, Predictive, and Interpretive Comprehension. Theories Relative to Inferencing, Predicting, and Interpreting. Why Inferencing, Predicting, and Interpreting Is So Difficult for Children? Teaching Inference Instruction in Hypothesis Testing. Instruction Through Verifying and Supplying Knowledge Structures. Teaching Macrostructures to Students. 6. Imagery: Looking Within, and Up and Away Without Moving Too Far Afield of the Text. Research Concerning Imagery. Teaching Imagery Through Deepening Domain Knowledge Structures. Teaching Imagery by Inducing and Invoking Images. Teaching Imagery Through Poetry and Art. 7. Metacognition: Catch-Up Processes and Applying Comprehension in Personalized Settings. Theoretical Background. Teaching the First Domain of Metacognition: Controlling Thoughts During Reading. Teaching Domain Two of Metacognition: Developing Text Sensitivity. Teaching Domain Three of Metacognitive Thinking: Increasing Knowledge of One’s Goals. Learning Catch-Up Processes. Assessing Metacognition. III. TEACHING AND ASSESSING CPA LESSONS ACROSS CURRICULUM, MEDIA AND CULTURES. 8. Comprehension Instruction Is Not Generic: It’s Genre Specific. Why Is Comprehension Instruction Genre Specific. How Can We Begin to Teach Genre Specific Comprehension? Teaching Children to Fall In Love with Non-Fiction. Teaching Historical, Historical Fiction, Historical Autobiography/Biography, and Social Science Genres. Teaching the Math Genre. Teaching the Scientific Genre. Teaching the Fine Arts. 9. Technological Comprehension and Reading Culturally Sensitive Contexts. Differences in Comprehending Technology Versus Print. How to Teach Students to Comprehend When Using Technology. Reading Culturally Dominated Texts. How to Increase Students’ Comprehension of Culturally-Sensitive Texts. 10. Assessment of Comprehension. Theoretical Background. New Assessments. Closing.