| To teach reading comprehension you need to help | | | | Identify each characters relationship with the |
| your students master three skills: reading the | | | | other characters. |
| text, manipulating the text and connecting ideas in | | | | Write questions about the text (for other |
| the text. | | | | students to answer). |
| 1) Reading The Text - The following strategies will | | | | 3) Connecting Ideas - the following strategies will |
| help your students do this. | | | | help your students do this. |
| Read slow enough to understand each sentence. | | | | Connect the story with your personal experience. |
| Create mental images of what is being read | | | | (How are the characters like people you know? |
| before moving on. | | | | How are the characters different from people |
| As you read the text, circle (or write out) any | | | | you know? How is the setting like where you live? |
| words that you don't know the meaning of. After | | | | How is the setting different from where you live? |
| reading the text, look the words up in a dictionary. | | | | Have you ever had a problem like the characters? |
| With this new knowledge in mind, read the text | | | | Would you have done what the characters did?) |
| again. | | | | Connect the story with other stories you have |
| Discuss the meaning of difficult words or ideas | | | | read. |
| with other students or the class as a whole. | | | | (How would you rate this story? What story is |
| Look up any locations in an atlas. | | | | better than this one? Why? What story is worse |
| 2) Manipulating The Text - The following | | | | than this one? Why? How is this story like |
| strategies will help your students do this. | | | | -------------- (choose another story)? How is it |
| Identify the beginning, the middle and the end. | | | | different?) |
| List the scene changes - each time that the story | | | | Connect the story with the world of knowledge |
| shifts location. | | | | Discuss key aspects of the story with other |
| Identify the characters and the setting. | | | | students or the whole class (For example, the |
| Ask who, what, where, when and why. | | | | golden slippers in Cinderella could lead to a |
| Identify the main idea of each paragraph or | | | | discussion about slipper types, slipper cost, slipper |
| chapter. | | | | construction and accepted slipper use). These |
| Identify the introduction, complication and | | | | discussions could lead to the researching and |
| resolution. | | | | writing of a reports. |
| Draw a story board. | | | | |