Mastering Reading Comprehension Skills | Kathleen Jasper

Summary

In this informative video, Kathleen Jasper delves into the concept of reading comprehension, outlining its definition as the process of visualizing and predicting text. She emphasizes the importance of prerequisite skills like phonological awareness, phonics, and fluency, and suggests strategies to enhance comprehension, such as repeated reading and metacognitive exercises. Kathleen also provides insights on how to tackle reading comprehension questions on certification exams, highlighting the significance of questioning, predicting, and summarizing in assessing and improving comprehension skills.

Takeaways

• 📚 Reading comprehension involves visualizing and predicting the content of a story or article beyond just reading the words on the page.
• 🧠 It's important to understand that building comprehension is a complex process that requires prerequisite skills such as phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and vocabulary.
• 🔁 To improve reading comprehension, practice reading frequently and with fluency to free up cognitive energy for understanding and visualizing the text.
• 💪 Developing strong reading fluency and automaticity comes with practice, including techniques like repeated reading to increase accuracy and confidence.
• 🤔 Metacognition plays a significant role in reading comprehension, which involves teaching students how to think about their thought process while reading.
• 🗣️ Using 'think aloud' sessions can help students learn how to approach difficult words or passages, thus enhancing their metacognitive abilities.
• 🔮 Prediction and summarization are high-level comprehension skills that are critical for understanding and should be fostered in students through various strategies.
• 📈 For those studying for reading comprehension exams, looking for keywords in answer choices related to questioning, predicting, summarizing, and metacognition can guide to the correct answers.
• 📝 When answering constructed response questions on exams, incorporating strategies like questioning, metacognition, prediction, and summarization can lead to effective responses.
• 🏃‍♂️ The endurance of cognitive engagement in reading, similar to physical endurance in running, is crucial for maintaining focus and understanding, especially in difficult texts.
• 📚 Kathleen Jasper offers resources for those studying for reading exams, including digital and physical copies of study guides, to aid in improving reading comprehension skills.

Q & A

What is reading comprehension according to Kathleen Jasper?

Reading comprehension is engaging with text and forming pictures in our minds, visualizing the story, and predicting what might happen next.

How does Kathleen Jasper describe the process of visualizing a story while reading?

She describes it as using our prior knowledge and experiences to intermingle with the stories we read, creating images in our heads of what's happening in the story.

What prerequisite skills are necessary for students to gain comprehension, as mentioned by Kathleen Jasper?

Students need to have phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics for word recognition, fluency, and vocabulary as prerequisite skills for comprehension.

Why is fluency important for comprehension, according to the video?

Fluency is important because it allows the reader to move through a passage smoothly, freeing up cognitive energy for comprehension rather than spending it all on decoding words.

How does Kathleen Jasper suggest improving fluency in reading?

She suggests practicing reading frequently, using repeated reading of passages to build automaticity and fluency.

What is the role of metacognition in reading comprehension?

Metacognition involves teaching students how to use their brains effectively while reading, such as figuring out difficult words and applying comprehension strategies.

How can teachers foster metacognition in students?

Teachers can foster metacognition through read-aloud think-alouds, where they model their thought process while reading, allowing students to see the process of comprehension.

What are some strategies Kathleen Jasper recommends for increasing reading comprehension?

She recommends fluency practice through repeated reading, metacognition exercises, questioning techniques, prediction, and summarization.

How does Kathleen Jasper relate reading to running in terms of cognitive endurance?

She compares reading to running by emphasizing the importance of building endurance in both activities, noting that just like in running, one must push through difficulties in reading to improve.

What advice does Kathleen Jasper give for answering reading comprehension questions on certification exams?

She advises looking for keywords in the answer choices related to questioning, predicting, summarizing, and metacognition, as these are the skills used in comprehension.

What resources does Kathleen Jasper offer for those studying for reading exams?

She offers resources on her website, Kathleenjasper.com, including digital and physical copies of study guides for teaching reading exams like the 5205 and 5206.