Fifty Active Learning Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension

The 1998 Nation's Report Card on Reading, issued by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), indicates that 26 percent of U.S. 8th graders and 23 percent of 12th graders were reading below the basic level. This means they could not necessarily demonstrate an understanding of the literal meaning of a text, draw out its main idea, make inferences, and relate their reading to personal experience (Allen, 2000). Recognizing that nearly one fourth of our middle and secondary students have difficulty understanding what they read, this text, offers teachers a variety of strategies to assist students, both younger and older, with increasing this most basic of skills. Through the strategies in this text, it is our goal to give students the tools they need to succeed in a constantly changing and challenging society. Rapid advances in science and technology and increasing pressure to become global citizens means that students are being deluged with new and more difficult vocabulary. It also means that they are asked to read text that has become more intricate and requires greater interpretation and understanding. Failing to give students a foundation for making sense of the myriad varieties of text they encounter only handicaps them in a world that will demand more astute and responsible citizenship. TEACHING THROUGH TICTIVE STRATEGIES: THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK This book is designed to assist teachers in actively engaging students in increasing their reading vocabulary and comprehension. Through an infusion of the best research on the learning of vocabulary and comprehension skills, this text shows teachers how to activate the learning process in students, engage them in the exploration of vocabulary and help them develop comprehension skills they need to become enlightened and enthusiastic readers. Thus, the strategies in this book: Encourage students to become active participants in ongoing vocabulary and comprehension development. Identify how students can be "active learners" in the process, not passive recipients of information. Require students to reflect on and monitor their own comprehension processes and modes of learning, developing more and stronger skills as they progress. In addition, the strategies in this text offer teachers: Methodologies to incorporate powerful strategies into their current teaching models without "adding on" more material. Strategies for teaching and assessing reading skills, such as inferencing, verifying the main idea, and fluency. Step-by-step instructions to enable them to incorporate the strategies quickly and effectively in their classrooms. Classroom examples to assist them in visualizing a real-life application for implementing each strategy. Strategies that are classroom tested. GETTING AROUND: ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXT This book is organized into six sections related to the five comprehension processes and assessment. Section I relates to word and sentence comprehension and introduces strategies for developing vocabulary and fluency. Section II relates to paragraph level comprehension, and strategies that support readers' understanding of the connections among sentences and the structure of paragraphs. Section III focuses on strategies for integrating background knowledge into the reading process. Secti9n IV offers a look at holistic comprehension and strategies to strengthen understanding and provide skills in summarization. Section V focuses on self-monitoring strategies and gives suggestions for supporting students in becoming strategic readers. Section VI provides innovative assessment approaches that focus not only on comprehension but also on the assessment of reading strategy use. The 50 strategies in this book are designed to support teachers in assessing comprehension strategies currently used by students. Teachers can use this knowledgeHerrell, Adrienne is the author of 'Fifty Active Learning Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension', published 2001 under ISBN 9780130184382 and ISBN 0130184381.