Reading Comprehension Strategies
Effective, fluent readers use a variety of metacognitive strategies to make sense of the texts they read across genres and content areas. Comprehension is the ultimate goal of teaching students to read. In order to reach that goal, teachers must explicitly teach and model strategies for students to use and allow sufficient practice opportunities. Teachers must make clear to students the purpose of using these strategies. Comprehension strategies empower students to use metacognition to construct meaning from texts. Metacognition refers to a person's understanding of their own thought process. If students are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses when reading, they can employ fix-up strategies to strengthen reading skills and enhance comprehension. Effective teachers employ the gradual release of responsibility model to scaffold students towards independently using these evidence based comprehension strategies.