Comprehension Strategies:
Emergent and Young Readers
ALYSE SCHWARTZ
CAPITAL UNIVERSITY
ADVISOR: DR. CHERYL DOBROKA
My Experience
*Charter School
*Content Area Reading Strategies
*Three Students
*Literacy at home
*Individualized Education Plans (IEP)
*Computer Based Learning
Goal
Increase reading
comprehension through
use of comprehension
strategies
Key Terms
Scaffolding
Modeling
Explicit Instruction
Active Engagement
Accommodation and Assimilation
Encoding and Decoding
Differentiation
Encoding and Decoding
 Decoding-Ability to read
 Encoding-Comprehending what is read
Differentiation
 Each student is an individual-make the classroom
work for everyone
 High Quality Instruction!
Example of Differentiation
Accomodation and Assimilation
 Accomodation-Changing what we know to add new
information
 Assimiliation-Adding information to what we already
know
Active Engagement
 Involving students
 Hands-on
 Not lecture based
Scaffolding
 Providing support to a student and slowly moving
away from the amount of support given as student
acquires skill
Explicit Instruction
 Direct
 Engaging
 Modeling
 Setting purpose
Comprehension Strategies
Using Resources
Note-taking
Graphic Organizers
Reading Guides
Multiple Modalities
Read Alouds
High 5!
Making Connections
Games
Comprehension Strategies Continued
Using Resources
 Vocabulary Acquisition-DIRECT INSTRUCTION
Examples: Thesaurus, glossary, “fact finder”
Pros
Cons/Consider
ation
*Independence *Teach each
resource one at a
time
Note Taking
Remember and Recall
Directly teach and practice
Examples: Guided Notes
Pros
* Reference tool
Cons/Consider
ations
*Teach
paraphrasing
Modeling
How to take good notes!
1. Write the date at the top of your paper
2. Write the subject (Social Studies, Math, etc.)
3. Write what you are learning about in each subject
4. Write down key words and their definitions
*Many times key words are words that are highlighted or in bold font. Other times, you can find
key words by looking for words that are in the book more than one time.
5. Write neatly and give spaces in between each definition and word.
6. Write down examples to help you remember how to complete a problem (This is especially
helpful in math!)
Different ways to take notes:
1. Number or letter your notes
2. Highlight words in your notes
3. Use bullets or stars in your notes
4. Use charts

*There are lots of different ways to take notes, try different ways and see what you
like best!
Graphic Organizers
 Visually organizing information
 Examples: Timelines, Venn Diagrams, Semantic
Maps
Pros
*Makes abstract
concrete
Cons/Consider
ations
*Select
appropriate
organizer
Example of Graphic Organizer
Reading Guides and Questioning
Follow along with text-active process
Key information
Review and Discuss
Pros
*Own words
*Combine
reading and
writing
Cons/Consider
ations
*Literal Questions
*Guided Notes
Example of Pre-Reading Guide
Example of During-Reading Guide
Multiple Modalities & Making Connections
Text to….
Prior knowledge
Experiences
Text/Pictures/Videos
Pros
*Attention
*Engagement
Cons
*None
Read Alouds & Shared Reading
Young and emergent readers who are unable or in the
early stages of learning to read
Pros
Cons/Consider
ations
*Oral Language
*Dependency on
*Vocabulary
others or
*Print Awareness computer
*Phonological
Awareness
High 5!
Background knowledge
Questioning
Text structure
Mental Images “Making pictures in our head!”
Summarizing
Pros
*Combination of
strategies
Cons/Consider
ations
*Mental imagery
is difficult
High 5! Strategy Continued
1. Activate background knowledge
2. Questioning
3. Analyzing text structure
4. Creating mental images
5. Summarizing
Making comprehension fun
Reiterates previously learned concepts
Examples: Games, Online Books
Pros
*Engaging
*All ability levels
Cons/Consider
ations
*Overuse
Effectiveness of Strategies with my students
What I Learned
Use multiple strategies!
Teach one strategy at a time
Consider Zone of Proximal Development
Each strategy will work differently for each student
and each text
Future Planning: What I still want to learn
Other fun methods to teach and incorporate
comprehension strategies
Objectively assess reading comprehension
Increase parent-involvement
Creating a print-rich environment
Key to Reading Comprehension
 Tell me and I’ll forget; show
me and I may remember;
involve me and I’ll
understand”-Chinese Proverb