3.2 Supporting Reading Comprehension Strategies

Supporting Reading Comprehension Strategies

Reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading instruction. While decoding allows students to translate print into spoken words, comprehension is the cognitive process of making meaning from those words. According to the "Simple View of Reading," reading comprehension is the product of decoding skills and language comprehension. A student must possess both to understand a text. Paraprofessionals are key partners in supporting reading comprehension, particularly by guiding students through pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading strategies.

Pre-Reading, During-Reading, and Post-Reading Strategies

Effective reading is an active process that requires students to engage with the text at every stage. Paraprofessionals reinforce these stages using specific strategies.

1. Pre-Reading: Setting the Stage

Before reading a text, the goal is to activate the student's prior knowledge (schema), build interest, and set a purpose for reading.

• Activating Schema: Ask questions about the topic. For example, before reading a book about volcanoes, ask: "What do you already know about volcanoes? Have you ever seen one in a movie?"
• Picture Walks: For younger readers, flip through the book and look at the illustrations. Ask: "What do you think is happening here? Who do you think the characters are?"
• Predicting: Ask students to make a prediction about the plot or topic based on the title, cover image, and headings.
• Vocabulary Preview: Identify two or three challenging words essential to the passage and explain their meanings beforehand.

2. During-Reading: Monitoring Comprehension

As students read, they must monitor their own understanding. Paraprofessionals help students stay engaged and self-correct when comprehension breaks down.

• Self-Monitoring: Teach students to pause and ask themselves: "Did what I just read make sense?" If not, they should employ repair strategies like re-reading or looking at illustrations.
• Visualizing: Ask students to close their eyes and describe the mental movie they are making. For example: "What does the forest look like in your mind based on the author's description?"
• Making Connections: Help students make connections to deepen meaning:
  • Text-to-Self: "How does this character's feelings remind you of a time you were scared?"
  • Text-to-Text: "How is this story similar to the book we read last week?"
  • Text-to-World: "How does this article relate to what we learned in science class?"

3. Post-Reading: Synthesizing and Reflecting

After reading, students must organize and digest the information they have processed.

• Summarizing and Retelling: Guide students to state the main events or facts in their own words. For fiction, use the "Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then" framework (e.g., Cinderella [Somebody] wanted to go to the ball [Wanted], but her stepmother wouldn't let her [But], so her fairy godmother helped her [So], then she lost her slipper and the prince found her [Then]).
• Identifying Main Idea: Ask: "What was the most important thing the author wanted us to learn from this article?"
• Reflecting: Ask students to check their pre-reading predictions: "Were our predictions correct? Why or why not?"

Scaffolded Questioning: From Literal to Inferential

When checking comprehension, paraprofessionals should ask a mix of question types, ranging from concrete to abstract. This is guided by scaffolded questioning:

• Literal Questions: These are "right-there" questions. The answer is stated directly in the text (e.g., "What color was the boy's jacket?").
• Inferential Questions: These require "reading between the lines." The student must combine text clues with their own schema to deduce the answer (e.g., "How did the boy feel when he lost his jacket?").
• Evaluative Questions: These ask the student to form an opinion or judge the text (e.g., "Do you think the boy made the right decision?").

If a student struggles to answer an inferential question, the paraprofessional must scaffold it by breaking it down into literal questions first.

Scaffolding in Action

• Target Question (Inferential): "Why is the character packing a suitcase?"
• Student Response: "I don't know."
• Scaffold Step 1 (Literal): "Let's look at the picture on page 4. What is the character putting into the suitcase?" (Student: "Shirts, pants, and a swimsuit.")
• Scaffold Step 2 (Literal): "Where do people usually wear swimsuits?" (Student: "At the beach or a pool.")
• Scaffold Step 3 (Inferential): "So, based on what they are packing, what do you think the character is preparing to do?" (Student: "They are going on a trip or vacation!")

Supporting Oral vs. Silent Reading

Paraprofessionals support comprehension in both oral and silent reading contexts, which require different approaches.

• Oral Reading Support: When students read aloud, the focus is on fluency (accuracy, reading rate, and expression/prosody). Paraprofessionals can use echo reading (the paraprofessional reads a sentence with proper expression, and the student repeats it) or choral reading (reading in unison). If a student misreads a word, wait until the end of the sentence to see if they self-correct, then address it.
• Silent Reading Support: During silent reading, the paraprofessional's role is to keep students focused, check in periodically, and ensure they are active readers. Instruct students to use sticky notes to write down questions, draw a star next to important parts, or write a quick summary of each chapter on a graphic organizer.

Worked Classroom Scenario: The "Word Caller"

• The Problem: A third-grade student, Marcus, reads aloud fluently, pronouncing all words correctly with a fast reading rate. However, when asked about the story, he cannot answer basic comprehension questions. He is a "word caller" who decodes without extracting meaning.
• The Strategy: The paraprofessional halts Marcus's rapid reading. Instead of reading the whole page, the paraprofessional places an index card under the first paragraph. "Marcus, read just this paragraph, and then tell me what happened in your own words."
• The Outcome: By chunking the text and requiring immediate reflection after small sections, the paraprofessional forces Marcus to shift his attention from simple pronunciation to active comprehension.