Some students do not understand what “monitoring” is or that they need to “monitor” their comprehension of text as they read. This strategy is appropriate for middle elementary students through high school and can be used with narrative and expository text.
Tell the students that you are a good reader but even good readers sometimes experience difficulty when reading. Using a text that you might read (such as a novel, newspaper, etc.):
1. Demonstrate to the students some of the difficulties you meet in your reading and how you monitor your comprehension.
a. If you are not understanding the text, show them what you do to get back on track (e.g., text lookback, check pictures and other graphics, read ahead).
b. If you do not know a word, demonstrate what you do (e.g., sound it out, “read around” the word to see if there are context clues, check pictures and other graphics, check the glossary, check the dictionary).
2. Ask the students what difficulties they experience in reading and what they do. Write their ideas on the board or a chart. For example:
3. Discuss the ideas on the chart. Help students understand that:
a. All readers sometimes experience difficulties.
b. Good readers monitor, or check, their reading to make sure they are understanding it.
c. When good readers do not understand, they apply repair strategies so that they can get back on track.
After you have demonstrated and discussed monitoring, students can begin to keep their own charts to become more aware of comprehension, monitoring, and repair. Give each student an individual monitoring chart and discuss each column.
For example:
1. As the students read, they record their monitoring activities on the chart.
2. When they finish reading, have them discuss their charts, explaining their difficulties and what they did to begin comprehension again. If appropriate, discuss other, more effective repair strategies they could use.
|
