The document outlines strategies for improving reading comprehension presented by Katie Bain. It discusses the importance of reading motivation and provides seven rules to engage students, such as making reading relevant to students' lives. It then details strategies like making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, determining importance, and summarizing. The presentation emphasizes teaching reading strategies through modeling, practice, and encouraging continued use to help students become strategic, self-monitoring readers.

1. 1
Reading Comprehension:
Strategies for Success
Presented by Katie Bain
English Language Fellow

2. Session Objectives
Participants will build upon a
knowledge of strategies that can
help improve students’ reading
proficiency.

3. WHY READ?
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4. Katie’s Top Ten Reasons for
Why Reading is so Great!
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5. Number 10
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6. Number 9
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7. Number 8
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8. Number 7
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9. Number 6
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10. Number 5
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11. Number 4
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12. Number 3
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13. Number 2
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14. Number 1
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15. 15

16. Reading Motivation
• Are your students motivated to
read?
• What are ways to motivate
students to read?
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17. Reading Motivation is
Important!
A report of the Program for International Student Assessment
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
2010) found that
interest in reading predicted
students’ reading
comprehension.
Across all 64 countries participating in the Program for
International Student Assessment, students who enjoyed reading
the most performed significantly better than students who
enjoyed reading the least.
(Gambrell, 2011, p. 172)
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18. Seven Rules of
Engagement!
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19. Rule #1
“Students Are More
Motivated
to Read When the Reading
Tasks and Activities Are
Relevant to Their Lives”
(Gambrell, 2011, p. 173)
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20. Classroom Tip
Students can keep a
reading diary. They can
draw, write, and discuss
how what they have read
connects to their lives.
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21. Rule #2
“Students Are More
Motivated
to Read When They Have
Access to a Wide Range of
Reading Materials”
(Gambrell, 2011, p. 173)
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22. Classroom Tips
• Download free books online! You can find
several websites for downloading books on my
website: www.elfellowkbain.wordpress.com
• Read Aloud! Find books at the library and read
them aloud to your classroom.
• Do Book Talks!
(Gambrell, 2011)
22

23. Rule #3
“Students Are More
Motivated
to Read When They Have
Ample Opportunities to
Engage
in Sustained Reading”
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(Gambrell, 2011, p. 174)

24. Classroom Tip
Allocate time in your lessons for
students to
READ independently,
in Spanish or in English. Start off with
having students read for only five
minutes. Then gradually increase
the amount of time you give for
students to read.
(Gambrell, 2011)
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25. Rule #4
“Students Are More Motivated
to Read When They Have
Opportunities to Make Choices
About What They Read and
How They Engage in and
Complete Literacy Tasks”
(Gambrell, 2011, p. 175)
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26. Classroom Tip
Give students as many “bounded
choices” as you can.
This means, pre-select 3-5 options for
reading materials and assignments
and allow students to choose
between your pre-selected options.
(Gambrell, 2011)
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27. Rule #5
“Students Are More Motivated
to Read When They Have
Opportunities to Socially
Interact With Others About the
Text They Are Reading.”
(Gambrell, 2011, p. 175)
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28. Classroom Tip
• After allowing students to read
silently, give students a chance to
turn to a partner and do a “quick
talk” about what they have just read.
Give each person a one-minute turn
to talk about what they have read.
(Gambrell, 2011)
28

29. Rule #6
“Students Are More Motivated
to Read When They Have
Opportunities to Be Successful
With Challenging Texts”
(Gambrell, 2011, p. 176) 29

30. Classroom Tip
• Guide students through
“scaffolded” reading activities in
which you help to make reading
materials more accessible for
students. (See more ideas for
strategies later in the
presentation!)
30

31. Rule #7
“Students Are More Motivated
To Read When Classroom
Incentives Reflect the Value
and Importance of Reading”
(Gambrell, 2011, p. 177) 31

32. Classroom Tip
• Give real, specific, honest
and deserved praise to your
students, and give it as
frequently as possible!
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33. Reading Comprehension
Strategies
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34. Strategies Defined,
Explained, and Practiced
• Making Connections
• Questioning
• Visualizing
• Inferring
• Determining Importance/Main
Ideas
• Synthesizing/Summarizing
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35. Making Connections
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36. Making Connections
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uql0IIIMJDY
• Text-to-Self (T-S) refers to connections made
between the text and the reader's personal
experience.
• Text-to-Text (T-T) refers to connections made
between a text being read to a text that was
previously read.
• Text-to-World (T-W) refers to connections
made between a text being read and
something that occurs in the world.
(Scharlach, 2008)
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37. Asking
QuestionsQuestioning
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38. Questioning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKPf2sfW7ck
• Questioning Readers ask questions
about the text and the author’s
intentions and seek information to
clarify and extend their thinking
before, during and after reading.
(Scharlach, 2008)
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39. Visualizing
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40. Visualizing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E-X5XhbXiY
• Mental pictures are the cinema unfolding
in your mind that make reading three-
dimensional.
• Visualization helps readers engage with
text in ways that make it personal and
memorable.
• Readers adapt their images as they
continue to read.
(Scharlach, 2008)
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41. Making Inferences
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42. Making Inferences
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg0Mzj-iSws
• Inferring
• Usually referred to as "reading between the lines".
• This strategy usually involves:
o Forming a best guess using evidence -- context
clues, picture clues, etc.
o Making predictions
o Drawing conclusions
o Finding meaning of unknown words
(Scharlach, 2008)
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43. Determining Importance
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44. Determining Importance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYtzoiI2XI
This refers to the skill of identifying which
ideas in a text are the most important.
It also refers to being able to
understand the main theme or concept
of a text.
(Scharlach, 2008)
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45. Synthesizing/Summarizing
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46. Synthesizing
• Readers create original insights,
perspectives and understandings by
reflecting on text(s) and merging
elements from text and existing
schema.
(Scharlach, 2008)
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47. A summarization strategy
WHO WANTED BUT SO
For example, after reading chapter one from
The Jacket by Andrew Clements
WHO: Phil
WANTED: to get his brother’s jacket back
from the nice kid named Daniel
BUT: Daniel claimed it was a birthday present
from his Grandmother
SO: they ended up in the principal’s office
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48. What happens to students when
they become strategic?
• Students know there’s more than one right way to do
things.
• They acknowledge their mistakes and try to rectify
them.
• They evaluate their products and behavior.
• Learning increases.
• Self-esteem increases.
• Students develop and use a personal study process.
• They know how to “try.”
(2006, Opp-Beckman, L., Klinghammer, S. Shaping the way we teach English: Successful practices around the world.
Washington, D.C.: Office of English Language Programs United States Department of State)
48

49. Teach Reading Strategies
1.Describe the strategy.
2.Model its use.
3.Provide ample assisted practice
time.
4.Promote student self-monitoring.
5.Encourage continued use of the
strategy.
(2006, Opp-Beckman, L., Klinghammer, S. Shaping the way we teach English: Successful practices around the world.
Washington, D.C.: Office of English Language Programs United States Department of State) 49

50. Why should we train
students to use strategies?
• Students begin to self-diagnose their strengths and weaknesses.
• Students know what helps them to read efficiently.
• Students develop a broad range of problem-solving skills.
• Students make decisions about how to approach reading.
• Students monitor and self-evaluate.
• Students transfer successful strategies to new learning contexts.
(2006, Opp-Beckman, L., Klinghammer, S. Shaping the way we teach English: Successful practices around the world.
Washington, D.C.: Office of English Language Programs ,United States Department of State)
50

51. Action Plan
• Design a portion of a lesson that includes
some strategies we learned today.
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52. Quick Reflection:
Sentence Machine!
1. What is one useful strategy to help English
Learners read successfully?

53. Sources
• Gambrell, L.B. (2011). Seven rules of engagement: What's most
important to know about motivation to read. The Reading
Teacher, 65(3), 172–178. doi:10.1002/TRTR.01024.
• Opp-Beckman, L., Klinghammer, S. (2006) Shaping the way we
teach English: Successful practices around the world.
Washington, D.C.: Office of English Language Programs
,United States Department of State.
• Scharlach, T.D. (2008). START comprehending: Students and
teachers actively reading text. The Reading Teacher, 62(1),
20–31. doi:10.1598/RT.62.1.3.
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