Westport Central School District

7 Keys to Comprehension

Sounding out or "word calling" is part of the reading puzzle but falls short of real reading. If children don't understand what they read, they're not really reading. If they don't unlock meaning as they read, the words are a boring babble and will never really enjoy reading. Research has shown that good readers use 7 key strategies when reading.

The 7 keys to unlock meaning are:

(click on the key idea to get more information)

1. Create mental images: Good readers create a wide range of visual, auditory and other sensory images as they read, and they become emotionally involved with what they read.

2. Use background knowledge: Good readers use their relevant prior knowledge before, during and after reading to enhance their understanding of what they've read.

3. Ask questions: Good readers generate questions before, during and
after reading to clarify meaning, make predictions and focus their attention
on what's important.

4. Make inferences: Good readers use their prior knowledge and information from what they read to make predictions, seek answers to questions, draw conclusions and create interpretations that deepen their understanding of the text.

5. Determine the most important ideas or themes: Good readers identify key ideas or themes as they read, and they can distinguish between important and unimportant information.

6. Synthesize information: Good readers track their thinking as it evolves during reading, to get the overall meaning.

7. Use fix-up strategies: Good readers are aware of when they understand and when they don't. If they have trouble understanding specific words, phrases or longer passages, they use a wide range of problem-solving strategies including skipping ahead, rereading, asking questions, using a dictionary and reading the passage aloud. It is the reader's job to determine when the text does not make sense. Good readers will stop reading when they don't understand what they've read and figure out how to fix the problem.

Excerpted from 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It!
by: Susan Zimmerman and Chryse Hutchins

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