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 * NGT Reflection 1: Reflecting on __#|Reading Comprehension__ Instruction (10 points) - Due Sept. 10**

If you were not able to purchase the book yet, you can __#|download__ a scanned version of Chapter 1 to __#|complete__ your homework.


 * P ** lease share some of your personal reflections about __#|reading comprehension__ that were prompted by our Chart Paper Activity in class and your reading of Cornett's Chapter 1. Structure your reflection by listing three to five of the biggest ideas that now make sense to you about (a) what comprehension includes and (b) how it should be taught. Explain reasons for your choices. This assignment is worth 10 points.

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When I first thought of what comprehension meant, I truly felt it was simply understanding the text. After reading Cornett’s Comprehension First, I now understand that comprehension isn’t just about grasping the idea of what one is reading, but it also includes how teachers teach their students comprehension, who the learner is and how well time is spent in the classroom on reading, understanding and reflecting on the material.

Teacher and How She Teaches: After reading Chapter 1, I feel the teacher is the most important instrument in her students’ comprehension. She needs to have a knowledge of what comprehension is, what differentiated instruction ( assistive technology, various teaching activities, tools and models) is, a motivation of engagement strategies so students feel motivated to improve and she needs to make sure students are bringing reading home by designing a type of system where she is confident reading is being improved throughout the course of the students’ day (at home/in classroom). In doing so, it is imperative that the teacher asks 'Big Questions,' have students contribute their personal reflections on reading topics and allow students to read aloud as well as independently. The teacher is the backbone of her students’ comprehension and this should trickle throughout the day and in every subject, not just the language arts.

Types of Learners: Before a teacher can master her students’ understanding of comprehension, she has to know where her learners stand as individuals. Does the learner/reader have a developmental __#|disability__? Or, is the reader’s first language English? How does the reader sound when he/she reads aloud? All of these pieces about a learner will help the teacher decide how she should proceed with various practices for specific readers and how she will develop her lessons and instruction for independent and group practiced reading.

Time Well Spent: In the conclusion of Chapter 1, Mathis quotes that, “Six hours of instruction for 180 days cannot overcome the effects of a deprived and impoverished home environment for 18 hours a day for 365 days a year.” I disagree with this statement. A good teacher will use her time wisely in the classroom, making sure that she understands what comprehension is in order for her students to improve and master their art of what they read. Practicing reading every day and allowing time for independent reading will help students develop a passion for exploring enjoyable reads and grasping as well as analyzing in-school texts. The time spent reading in school is most important and a good teacher will orchestrate this very well. **Meredith Shepherd**

Comprehension doesn’t just include the student it includes how and what strategies a teacher is using, how a text is read or heard, how the task useful or relevant to the student, how the task structured and variety of the context (different cultures, ages or genders). Comprehension is beyond just reading the words on the page, having good grammar and outstanding sentence structure. Teachers need to assess what they know and what the students know about comprehension and proceed to create a plan, which includes how the students can get to where they need to be in understanding the concept of comprehension. Teachers can get a feel of where the students are by a written or oral assessment or a higher level thinking class discussion, which helps students generate questions. Most of all teachers need to motivate students to learn this important topic and a teacher could do that by making a lesson more personal or relatable, varying their teaching style (lectures, tactile or visuals) and even switching up independent and group work every once and awhile. **Mackenzie Blasch**

Prior to Tuesday's class, I thought of reading comprehension as simply 'understanding what you read'. After participating in our class activity and reading Cornett's Chapter 1, I realize that comprehension is much more complex. Some of the biggest ideas that now make sense to me include the following:

1) Comprehension is not easily taught. Successfully implementing research-backed comprehension instructional practices takes time, knowledge, and practice. I chose this item because although I understood that comprehension was critical to a student's learning, I did not realize how complex it was. As a teacher-in-training it is my job to learn as much as I can about comprehension so that I can successfully teach my students to love reading and to be life-long readers. Phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and fluency are building blocks to comprehension but they should not be the focus.

2) We must reject some conventional teaching practices and put comprehension first. I chose this item because I understand that when Comprehension Problem Solving (CPS) is the focus of instruction, comprehension is moved "to the forefront of eduction where it belongs." Understanding the following key concepts is needed for comprehension instruction suited to the needs of 21st century students: literacy, reading, comprehension, text, big ideas, important questions, and inquiry.

3) Cornett discusses how the "key to the comprehension revolution" is differentiated instruction. Successful differentiated instruction is influenced by "Five Factors". These factors include: learner, text, task, context, and teacher/teaching. I chose this item because the Five Factors were central to our classroom activity and are discussed throughout the book. As a teacher, one must have a thorough understanding of these factors (and their interactions) in order to perform proper assessments and interventions. It was nice to have the chance to brainstorm characteristics of these factors before reading the text.

4) Cornett states that "Thought provoking comprehension should not be withheld until children are expert word decoders." I chose this item because it changes the way I read to my 5 year old. We read every night, but I need to make a practice of asking thought provoking questions.
 * Joy Erautt **

Comprehension is a concept that goes way beyond its literal meaning and definition. The way one comprehends is crucial in learning, understanding, and so on. After our class activity and reading Cornett Chapter 1, these are some of the factors I found to be most important.

1. Every student is different. Whether it is their reading level, first language, socio-economic status, family and home life, and so on, the teacher must cater toward each student’s individual needs especially when learning to comprehend and create understanding. Evidently, comprehension is not a concept that is easily taught because of all of these factors. Different types of students will require different teaching and learning strategies to fully learn the concept of comprehension and create understanding.

2. As Cornett states, comprehension first is crucial in the classroom in order to obtain the best results. Although comprehension primarily connects to reading, writing, language arts, etc., every subject that is taught in the classroom requires the ability to comprehend. A science experiment, an article for social studies, word problems for mathematics, are just some of the other subjects taught that require a students’ ability to comprehend.

3. The idea of Comprehension Problem Solving (CPS) is an important aspect as this is how the teacher evaluates how comprehension should be taught for each individual student. CPS is used to ask questions about the text to further understanding and to generate big ideas.

4. Based on Cornett Chapter 1, the primary goal of comprehension is to have the student create understanding and generate big ideas. If the student reads a text fluently but is unable to understand the main ideas and develop their own thoughts, then the student did not comprehend the text even though they have read it fluently.


 * Gabrielle Lynfield**


 * Hayley Greene**
 * 1) After reading chapter 1, I discovered that comprehension is a lot more complex than I had ever imagined. At the beginning of the chapter, there is a list of tasks from different teachers. In this list, it is revealed that comprehension is defined and assessed differently by each teacher. The vast difference in how comprehension is defined calls on teachers to provide tasks that call for varied assessments on different levels of student comprehension. This concept is essential as many teachers use one type of assessment, like multiple choice tests, and believe that the resulting scores are the only way to judge class comprehension on the subject. This is dangerous because in reality, some students may just have a difficult time with that particular type of test.
 * 2) After completing the first chapter, I now understand that because comprehension is not unanimously defined in school systems, teachers must offer students multiple approaches to concepts so that comprehension can truly be an “inquiry-based problem-solving process”. This approach may include engaging students in varied texts; both word-based and non-word-based. By showing non-word-based texts such as podcasts or informational films in addition to traditional textbook instruction, students with different learning styles can achieve comprehension.
 * 3) The five factors of comprehension include the learner, text, task, teacher/teaching, and context. It is important for teachers to remember each of these factors as they all play a significant part in students’ academic success. While it is nearly impossible to alter the learner, teachers may alter the text, task, teaching style, and provide different context in order to accommodate each student. The text book makes the important point that this does not mean that every student needs their own IEP, but rather that teachers remain aware of what they can easily do to improve student comprehension.
 * 4) Another “big idea” of chapter 1 was the outline of the four different instructional practices from putting comprehension first. These practices included creating a supportive learning community, teaching unique and diverse texts, stating task goals clearly, and using a variety of different teaching methods. This list is essential when in the classroom because it clearly defines the actions necessary for student success and comprehension, which remains the ultimate goal of teachers. I found this to be a main idea of the chapter as it offers specific actions that can be done to ensure that teachers take into account the five factors of comprehension.


 * Hayley Greene**

__The reader, text, task, teachers and socio-cultural context all effect comprehension. If teachers learn the best was to put comprehension before reading, target students to construct meaning and testing strategies that don't just extract information, students would have a better understanding of comprehension.__

__1. What he or she knows influences how her or she acts. How a teacher teaches influences comprehension. A much broader idea from just understanding text. quality in comprehension instruction aims to develop mindful learners. Chapter One gave four different ideas on how teachers test comprehension. All examples have no proven effect. How a teacher teaches is an important big idea of this chapter because their instruction is what leads to better comprehension from their students.__

__2. Comprehension includes extracting information but focuses on constructing meaning. Ideas like self- assesses your current understanding, create personally meaningful definitions, with these as starting points, and derive instructional ideas congruent with these definitions, such as if-then statements. these ideas expressed in the chapter show how readers can take information learned and further thought broader then the actually text. the student needs to be able to generate big ideas. the student may have read the text correctly or fluently, but may or may not be able to generate or develop their own thoughts or ideas.__

__3. Comprehension first rather than reading first. Comprehension first helps with sub skills such as, phonemic awareness, the alphabet, and word knowledge. The comprehension problem solving (CPS) is placed at the center of literacy and content areas instruction. Comprehension is moved in front of reading.__

__Cassie Mailhot__

__At first glance, when prompted, “what is comprehension?” I only thought of it mainly as text and the ability to read and comprehend the content given to you. Based on both the chart activity and Chapter One, it is apparent that comprehension is so much more than one initially understands it to be. __

__1. At the beginning of the chapter, four different approaches toward comprehension are described. Each of these focus on some of the five factors but not all. Teachers need to incorporate the reader, text, task/activity, teacher/teaching, and socio-cultural context into how comprehension is taught. __

__2. Another aspect about comprehension teachers must understand is that they need to distance themselves from some of the traditional methods to prevent creating “mindless behavior.” Nowadays, the definition of literacy expands to so much more than it once did. Students used to only have exposure to the text they read and understand how to read it. In the 21st century, teachers now can utilize the “new literacies.” They can now incorporate theatre, drama, music and computer technology in order to expand the student's literacy. __

__3. Two concepts that go alongside one another and that should be addressed to every teacher is utilizing “big ideas” and “important questions.” By doing this, the student can dive in deeper to what they are learning and understand it on a whole different level. As stated, these are so crucial to the learner because, “students need to be taught to self-question before, during, and after encountering any text if they are to become independent and continue to develop comprehension abilities.” __

__4. Another major concept discussed involves understanding the learner. As stated in an example towards the end of the chapter, a teacher was expected to test the students each week in their reading ability. Her response was “I hate it and so do they.” Students excel at different levels in the classroom. For example, some have the privilege of a family who enforces their learning and sits down with them every night while others don’t. By forcing the students to just be tested on the ability to read doesn’t enable them to understand comprehension. __

__//**Haley Switlyk **//__

__After reading chapter 1 of “Comprehension First” and participating in the in class activities, I feel that I have a much better grasp the concept of Comprehension. Prior to learning this new information, I assumed comprehension simply meant understanding the text. Now I have an entirely new meaning for the word and have gained a great deal of knowledge on how to better educate students on this topic. These four topics are the highlights of what I have learned so far about comprehension.__ __1. Cornett explains that comprehension should be fully understood by the teacher before this instructor can effectively teach this topic. I found that once a teacher fully understands this concept themselves, they can then assist students in the learning process. A teacher also plays an important role in this process by creating a stimulating learning environment for the student by using their own personal knowledge.__ __2. I also found it very important that the teacher recognizes that every student is unique in the way in which they learn. A teacher must then decide how to “differentiate instruction” in order to effectively teach comprehension. Cornett named the 5 factors that affect a student’s inability to comprehend a text. Teachers should be aware of the learner, the text, the task, the contexts and their own teaching, in order to better a student’s comprehension skills.__ __3. After learning more about comprehension, I now understand that this process cannot be taught in one specific method but must be taught in multiple ways. Teachers can use a variety of texts that are non-word based as well as word based to teach students about comprehension. Since comprehension is achieved by generating “big ideas” teachers can further students understanding by using a variety of texts to help students create this meaning.__ __4. I also found Cornett’s ideas about revolutionizing the teaching of comprehension very interesting. I learned that it is important to divert from conventional strategies of teaching comprehension and adopt his new approach involving creative thinking. I thought it was interesting that Cornett’s theory combined the conventional fundamental skills of reading and comprehending with a more personalized technique with teachers using “differentiating instruction” strategies.__ __**Jenna Basile**__

__After our first class meeting, I started to think about what comprehension really meant in and out of the classroom. At first, I thought that “comprehension” was simply how we understand the material that is given to us. But as a class, we came to realize that is it much more than that. There are so many factors that affect a student’s comprehension level.__

__The teaching environment must be an open and understanding one. This essentially resonates from the teacher. When I become an elementary school teacher, I am going to make sure that the material I am trying to convey is accessible to all types of learners. I understand that students process information at different rates and styles. I want to be able to reach all of my students on an intellectual level in the best way I can. I will also keep an open mind about where my students come from and the community my school is located in. __

__Big ideas are also important when reviewing material. Students are not going to remember every little detail of an article, story or textbook. They will remember fun facts and stories that teachers make relevant to the lesson they are teaching. I believe that making the content come to life is a key to understanding the text, regardless of complexity. __

__Another topic I found interesting in this reading was regarding comprehension achievement and test scores. I have never been a fan of standardized testing as a student. Furthermore, as an aspiring teacher, I still do not see the significance to them. I do agree that the testing takes away from teaching time and the scores themselves do not really prove the comprehension level of individual students. I believe that comprehension level should be measured through all of the work students do throughout the school year (graded or not graded). __

__**Nicole Rains** __

__When the question of “what is comprehension” was first asked I thought I had a pretty good answer. Now, however, after reading the first chapter in Cornett’s Comprehension First I know that my initial answer was nowhere close to being right.__

#|Reading comprehension__ may be one of the most important topics covered in school. It also may be one of the hardest to teach. Cornett states that teachers believe students are being tested too much and it is a waste of time. Instead of these exams, I believe teachers should focus on helping their student’s master comprehension. Comprehension is a process that has many small parts that equal the whole. Teachers must help the students master the smaller steps such as understanding the readings, determining the big ideas or themes, and answering the important questions before students can achieve total comprehension.

Teachers who teach comprehension need to “think unconventionally, question the herd, imagine new scenarios, and produce astonishing work” (Cornett 15). I think younger teachers might be the perfect candidates to teach comprehension because they are new to the field and have a fresh take on the subjects. I think it might be easier for these teachers to think creatively and incorporate the changing world around us.

I also understand now that every student learns a little differently. As a teacher it is your responsibility to adapt your teaching methods to meet the needs of each of your students. The five factors that influence comprehension success according to Cornett include, learners, texts, tasks, contexts, and teaching. There are so many different aspects that can affect how students learn and it is the teacher’s responsibility to try and help each student learn in the best way possible.

Jenna Newborn



The idea of comprehension immediately brought to mind an instance in a classroom that I volunteer at. One child I was reading with was reading with impressive speed but when asked what was happening in the book, he had no idea. After reading this chapter, I now have a newfound understanding of what is happening in a child’s head when comprehension is put on the back burner rather than given at a greater emphasis.


 * 1) Comprehension is achieved by a pyramid effect. In order to achieve comprehension a child must have the four levels of the No Child Left Behind legislation in their head before they can start to read fluently enough to understand the information given. These four ideas include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and vocabulary. In order to teach these “sub-skills” a teacher must apply their teaching to each set, not just one form of reading. Instead of giving children a list of questions to look out for while they’re reading a story, the child needs to go over key words, how they are pronounced, and what the big idea of the story is before they can figure out key aspects of the story.
 * 2) Looking at the different factors that affect comprehension that we learned from the chart activity in class, I saw that all of these factors (ie. the reader, the text, the task, the teacher and so on) are geared towards the idea that every child is different. Every child learns differently. When teachers teach each child based on their ability levels they are able to get them to see the “big ideas” within the text.
 * 3) Going off of my last point, the concept of “big ideas” was an important part of the text. These complete thoughts are what children need to get from the literature that they read. I learned that this is the most important part to take away from the text so this seems like the most difficult part to teach. Teachers can show the big idea by inquiring about the conclusion of the text and seeing how direct or indirect the big idea is that is being shown.
 * 4) I also took from the text that “teachers should spend the bulk of their time on key instructional events.” This is a smart idea because most of my time spent volunteering at an elementary school, I engage in reading aloud with a child and my teacher has deep discussions about the text before each child engages in independent reading. I think this can really help a child learn because they need to be able to read on their own and the teacher can help guide them in a way that will motivate them to want to read on their own to discover more about the text.
 * 5) Lastly, in class I learned that a child’s socioeconomic status can affect their comprehension. As I was reading the text, there were various facts about how much better children do with a supportive learning environment at home. An interesting quote about a child learning 180 days of school for 6 hours a day does not help with a bad home environment. Teachers can overrule this idea by creating a comprehension revolution and involving each aspect of comprehension in their lessons daily.


 * Abby Jaffa**

After reading Chapter 1; Comprehensions Definitions, Issues and Directions I learned that Comprehension is a lot more than just the obvious. Our class activity opened my eyes to all the different factors that are included in comprehension. Below are a few big ideas of what comprehension includes and how it should be taught.

1. The biggest idea of Comprehension to me is how the material is being taught. The teachers play the most important role in the classroom. I strongly believe that how well or poorly the teacher is teaching the material will affect the student’s ability to comprehend. Teachers need to engage their student and encourage questions. They also have to provide a variety of different teaching methods for the different types of learners through out the classroom.

2. Another big idea is the types of learners in the classroom. The teacher has to beware of the type of learners his/her students are. This is critical to the student’s ability to comprehend. Each student will learn better a certain way, if the teacher knows the style they do, than the teacher will be able to aid towards the child more effectively than to the class as a whole.

3. A big idea that the teacher must always remember is the five factors of comprehension. The five factors of comprehension include is the learner, the text, the task, teacher/teaching and the context. It is important to remember these five factors because teachers can use these to guide their assessments and classroom plans. When the teachers use these five factors of comprehension they will be assessing the diverse needs of the students.

4. In the chapter the idea of putting comprehension first is a big idea. It is stressed because it motivates the students to use creative thinking. It forces the concepts of the text to be understood. It also helps strengthen the students phonemic awareness, the alphabet and word knowledge. Comprehension first is more than being the first student in the class to finish the reading assignment. It’s an idea that adds quality instruction to the assessment. Teachers should give their students enough allotted time to complete the assignment, enough resources to understand to the words in the text and also enough practice to master the skill being assessed.


 * Jamie Ricci**

My own definition of the word comprehension was simply a form of understanding. This was a very generalized and vague description of the word. Which brought me to the realization that maybe I didn’t truly understand the meaning of what comprehension was. Come to find out, after reading chapter 1, comprehension is more dynamic and complex than I originally thought. Comprehension depends on a variety of different factors such as who the learner/reader is, different teaching styles and techniques, and the context and environment in which the material is given.

Who is the Learner: The learner is one of the key factors that influence comprehension. The learner can be influenced by a majority of factors that can negatively affect their understanding of the materials. This is why it is the most difficult factor influencing comprehension success. Some of these factors include the student’s background, motivation, fluency, memory, decoding ability, and engagement. It is important for the teacher to realize these differences and be able to design specific lesson plans around her student’s abilities. This takes patients, a sense of awareness, and understanding of the class. I chose the learner because I believe that the student is the most important factor that influences comprehension. And it is probably the hardest element to control. In the activity in class the Learner/Reader was the one with the most bullet points as to what affects comprehension.

Teacher/Teaching Strategies: It is important for the teacher to have a good understanding of what comprehension is. It is both a process and a product that involves extracting and constructing generalizations about text, (both word and non-word based). It is a process used for problem solving and making meaning out of text. Teachers play a key role in helping students to understand material. They have to be motivators, literacy models, and help students develop their own response opinions. By using different engagement techniques and being a good role model this will help to engage and motivate students to learn more. This may lead to students developing an interest in what they are learning about and inflate their ability to think about ‘Big Ideas’ and formulate core-thinking questions. A good teacher will have awareness that every student has a different learning technique that works best for him or her. This will invoke differentiated lesson plans that will hone in on individual students needs, rather than the class as a whole. This technique will help in a better overall outcome for comprehension success. I think it is important for teachers to realize that in order to focus their instruction they need knowledge about their destination of the class and the route that they need to lead their students down in order to get there.

Context: “What are the key characteristics concerning where, when, and with whom the text is being used?” This is the main question asked when referring to context as it relates to the influence of comprehension success. Teachers need to make sure that they surround the students in an environment that is inviting and supportive of different learning styles. Having visual aids, audio books, and appropriate reading materials available in the classroom can support in a contextually comfortable environment. Promoting more inviting surroundings may help to ease student’s physical and mental inabilities to learn in the classroom. There are so many factors that can affect the Learner/Reader. Being able to diminish one for these negative influences is going to promote better learning atmospheres. Some factors are more controllable than others. It is up to the teacher and their style and influence that can promote a positive type of learning environment. That is why I believe context is very important to the overall achievement of comprehension success.

There are many other factors that influence comprehension both positively and negatively. The learner/reader, teaching styles and techniques, and context of the material are just some of the many factors that can aid in a better understanding of comprehension. As we saw in class with the Chart Paper Activity there are many ways that negative factors can impact comprehension. That is why teachers have to work especially hard to be flexible, diverse, creative, and patient in order to deal with all these outside influences. I look forward to learning as much as I can about comprehension so that I may be able to better portray it to my students in the future.

_
 * Caitlyn Welsh**

There are far more aspects to comprehension than I ever knew. Prior to the chart paper activity and reading the first chapter, I believed that comprehension simply meant understanding. Now I know that there are many factors that go into comprehension.
 * 1) Both the activity and the first chapter of the text mention the five factors of comprehension. The activity in class greatly helped with this area. By focusing on not just the learner, but also the other four factors (test, task, teacher/teaching, and context), the teacher can realize what strategies may or may not work. These five aspects also focus on aspects that cannot be changed, but can have a great effect on how a student comprehends. For example, within the factor of context, there are certain aspects that a teacher can change such as where a child sits in class, but a teacher cannot change where the school is located. There are many smaller portions to each of these aspects that can have a large impact on how each child learns, and that is important to focus on.
 * 2) Another interesting teaching strategy that the text brings up is to teach comprehension prior to reading. Prior to this course, I had primarily thought about comprehension having to do with reading a text. This is not the case. These students would start to learn the skills needed for comprehension before mastering reading. The ability to read is not necessary in order to master meaning making. Students can be given activities to stimulate their ability to make sense of things and comprehend. The best way of approaching this would be to use differentiated instruction based on individual classes.
 * 3) Another aspect I found interesting was the change in what people are now being expected to comprehend. One section of the text mentions that high school graduates are now expected to comprehend far more than they had before. They must be able to problem solve using digital sources. In order to get a job now, graduates must now understand far more complex texts rather than just being able to read left to right. This is another reason why comprehension is extremely important to teach, and not just reading. The sooner that teachers start to teach comprehension, the more they can think and start to understand different formats. **Sarah Warburton**

Prior to the activity in class, I only defined comprehension as being able to understand either the text, or the main idea of the text. Comprehension is much more complex than I thought, having as many as 5 factors that influence it.

1. Comprehension is not just left up to the student after they have taken in the text. There are many factors that a teacher can do or change in order to improve a students’ comprehension. Teaching and teaching styles have a big part. If a student does not understand the instruction of the task, how are they going to be able to correctly complete the task at hand? Since each student learns differently, teachers must be able to make accommodations so each student knows what they are suppose to be doing, to complete it successfully.

2. I always associated the main idea with the big idea. I never thought that the big ideas were connected to comprehension. Big ideas represent life lessons and deep understanding (p. 7). These ideas can take form of morals, themes, conclusion, and stem from concepts. If a student does not comprehend the text, they are not able to take away the big idea, but missing out on the whole purpose of what the text is saying.

3 I never thought of inquiry as more than asking a question or questioning an idea or statement. The idea that inquiry involves, quest that engages problem-solving thinking allows for students to engage in the problem solving without really knowing it. Since comprehension is considered the end product of the problem solving process (p.6), I understand why it is related to comprehension.

4. While reading, I was surprised when mentioned that there wasn’t a strong correlation between phonics and comprehension. I think that phonological awareness is a stepping-stone towards vocabulary development. Comprehension should be taught along with oral reading fluency and word pronunciation.


 * - Allie Haley**

Before reading Chapter 1 and being part of the class discussion last week, I never realized how important comprehension is. There are many ideas and factors that goes into comprehension that I have just learned and read about. The most important ones I think are: 1.Before beginning teaching comprehension, the teacher should figure out about each child’s background; culturally, where it grew up, how much reading background they have. After the teacher figures all of that out, they can then design certain activities, which would help the child absorb what is being taught. Finding out where children have came from is important, not every child was grown up to reading a book before bedtime. 2. The five factors of comprehension is also very important. The five factors are the learner, the text, the task, teacher/teaching, and the context. If teachers use these five factors when assessing and planning they are giving instruction to the diverse of their students. 3. In chapter 1, comprehension compared to as a problem solving process. Comprehension deals with “extracting and constructing” ideas from anything that you read. It is also the “end product” of the problem solving process, since the reader has learned and absorbed information from whatever that was being read. By comparing it to a problem solivng process it helps me grasp how important comprehension really is. 4. The last main idea I think is important is, the teacher making sure the material that is going to be covered is age appropriate for the students. The teacher should make sure the difficutly is what the students need to help them succeed in learning new material. The teacher has a lot of responsibitly to make sure each student is progressing throughout the year.

Giana Filippone

Defining Comprehension: Before our first class and reading Cornett’s first chapter, I had never thought of “comprehension” as such an intricate term. In class, I was enlightened to learn a large portion of the multidimensional components of comprehension. I was blown away by the number of ideas that the class had brainstormed and it was interesting for me to think about how each effects comprehension. As a teacher, I now understand that I have the power to facilitate comprehension for my young readers by manipulating the text, task or activity, and how I am teaching the content. Furthermore, I had never even considered how comprehension is a “problem-solving process” (Cornett, 6). Thinking of comprehension as the end product of the problem-solving process helped to clarify the meaning of comprehension for me. As a teacher, I will think of comprehension as a multifaceted problem-solving process in order to facilitate learning and be a literacy model for my students.

The Value of Inquiry: Urging inquiry in the classroom is a vital component to comprehension. Having students practice inquiry-based problem solving using diverse texts is a good approach to comprehension (Cornett, 23). It is key for a teacher to get their student’s minds rolling with provocative questions in order for the students to be put in an inquiring stance. Helping students to investigate deeper into what they are reading will point them in the direction to discover the big ideas of the text. I think of this as an unfolding process with comprehension at the core.

Learner Characteristics: I found learner difficulties to be particularly interesting. During class, I was curious as to how or if the specific reader characteristics can be addressed to facilitate comprehension. It is important to know as a future teacher that if a student is struggling on a specific comprehension problem, the teacher must manipulate instruction to meet his/her unique needs, rather than repeat methods that have shown to be unsuccessful. There are many different comprehension difficulties that teachers must be aware of including issues with: decoding, vocabulary, oral language, reading concept, and fluency. I am interested to learn more of how to overcome such hurdles for struggling learners! **Kayla Bartolomeo**



When we began discussing comprehension and reading in class I realized how ignorant I was of all of the different components that go into reading and comprehension. It was mostly different ideas about the reader that I don’t think I’ve ever paid attention to before. A detail so small as how a book is being read to a child, or how much they can relate the book made me realize how much more there is to comprehension and reading than I had ever imagined. (a) As stated in chapter 1, “comprehension is both a process and a product”. Comprehension is in many ways like a math problem. Figuring out how to read a text and make meaning of it is a “problem-solving process”. The end of the process of comprehension comes with understanding the concepts and content learned after reading a given text. While I couldn’t detect a clearly stated definition of what comprehension is, it was clear that comprehension relates to the structure and understanding of a story and how exactly a student in the end assesses it. (b) When it comes to how comprehension and how it should be taught, I don’t believe there is one correct or distinct answer. In chapter 1, Cornett discusses examples of four different teaching styles for teaching comprehension. An idea that stuck out in my mind was the teaching structure of Teacher A and Teacher C. I think that having the students read independently then going back and questioning them on the key points and aspects of the story is the best way to assess whether or not the children are taking from the story and comprehending what they need to. Both teachers use different types of assessment but I appreciate the approach both teachers took to assess their students comprehension. I then looked into the section that discussed definitions in relation to comprehension. The execution of teaching comprehension to students is so important and as stated in the chapter, “Definitions provide focus and serve as goals or destinations”. This section discussed how important it was for teachers to understand their own knowledge of comprehension and then decide what type of lesson will be most beneficial for their students understanding. It seems as though the teaching end of comprehension is all relative to what the teacher understands about comprehension and finds most important.


 * Carly Michel**

NGT Reflection 1: Please share some of your personal reflections about reading comprehension that were prompted by our chart paper activity in class and your reading of Cornett’s Chapter 1. Structure your reflection by listing three to five of the biggest ideas that now make sense to you about (a) what comprehension includes and (b) how it should be taught. Explain reasons for your choices. Comprehension to me has always centered on understanding. As Cornett points out through the construction of this text, understanding has always been interpreted in various ways depending on the teacher, theorists and academic entity. As learned from the chart paper activity in class, comprehension has multiple factors that need to be considered and addressed during classroom instruction. For instance for a student to fully understand an activity or task there are several factors that should be considered. Factors such as: clearness of directions, diversity, resources/materials, appropriate reading level, structure of activity, group vs. individual projects, relevance to classroom text/teaching & relevance to the child/ children. This class activity demonstrated the importance of both the text and the concept of comprehension as more than just understanding, but defining what understanding means and the factors that play a role in making the concept successful or unsuccessful. Comprehension defined as making meaning is a key concept that was addressed throughout Chapter 1. Cornett heavily discusses the dated approach to Comprehension or the non-exist one that has graced our school systems for years. This old approach views Comprehension as separate from reading and decoding. This strategy has led to far too many cases of students like Dick & Jane that can read fluently at a high level but don’t have a clue about what they are reading. This systematic approach was taught to me and many educators that now teach the same approach to their students. I chose this because Cornett, encourages a new literacy approach that challenges teachers and paraprofessionals to re-think their/our definitions of comprehension, literacy and reading in the 21st century and how all three work together and not as separate entities. Cornett also talks about Comprehension in terms of how it should be taught. Moving beyond the standard way of teaching, Cornett discusses Comprehension as a complex concept that should be taught using a problem-solving, inquiry based approach. One that leaves ample room for understanding and creating meaning. She also ties in the Constructivist Theory that suggests that people can and should create their own understanding. The importance of this new view of Comprehension is that it allows for the expansion of students’ minds to imagine, image and think on a higher more cognitive level. Krystal Smith



I have come to realize that reading comprehension is more than just “understanding” what we read. The reader, teacher, text, task/activity, and socio-cultural contexts all contribute to a students’ ability to “comprehend.”


 * 1) Teachers need to use multiple comprehension strategies in the classroom, and this needs to be a high priority. As stated in Cornett, “quality comprehension instruction aims to develop mindful learners by teaching them to use strategies flexibly.” Everybody learns differently and there are many differences amongst students that could be encountered in the classroom, which is why teachers must use a variety of comprehension strategies. According to Cornett, “no one strategy, method, or program has been found to be superior for //all// students.”
 * 2) As stated in Cornett, “Comprehension includes extracting information but focuses on constructing meaning.” Comprehension uses “problem-solving processes” to create meaning out of texts. Children do not have to be expert “word decoders” before comprehension instruction can begin.
 * 3) Teachers also need to be aware of the learner and their backgrounds. How can a teacher properly instruct his/her students without further delving into their previous knowledge or abilities? Do any students have a disability? What are their strengths? These are some important things to find out prior to any type of instruction. Problems in comprehension must be tackled student by student.


 * Danielle Santagata**



Before completing the Chart Paper Activity and reading chapter 1, I had always thought I knew what reading comprehension was. It was simple: understand what you read. I didn’t realize that it was much more complex. First, comprehension is not just defined as understanding, but taking that understanding to predict and analyze to create meaning (Cornett, 2010). A child could read a story and tell me the setting or the character’s name and what happened during the narration, but to comprehend the story the child should be able to ask questions and “problem-solve” (Cornett, 2010). If they can comprehend the story then they are able to learn from the story. They remember the character’s name as well as how the character felt, and the “big ideas” throughout the story (Cornett, 2010). Second, living in the digital world that is today, it never crossed my mind that comprehending could mean exploring other types of text besides the written word. I know understand that text includes “digital, visual, spoken, and printed forms” (Cornett, 2010). A teacher might take his or her class to an art museum and ask their students to look at a painting and write about it. Some might describe the painting as it is, but as stated before; comprehension is analyzing and asking questions about the text (or picture). Lastly, comprehension is not taught by itself and is affected by outside factors. Comprehension includes fluency but can be affected by socio-economic context, the teacher, the activity, the text, and the reader themselves. The ability of a student to be able to comprehend is through these components. Teaching comprehension seems to be a difficult skill to master. One of the reasons comprehension is hard to teach is because of the aforementioned “factors”. All students are not the same and do not learn the same. Cornett mentions an approach that is a “custom-designed” teaching method (2010). This would be great if research was conducted on every school in America to fit each individual child’s comprehension needs. Another thing about teaching comprehension that I thought was interesting was how a student’s problem might not be solved with a direct solution (Cornett, 2010). Just because a student has low fluency, doesn’t mean he or she will comprehend any better with better fluency. In chapter 1 Cornett addresses different types of teachers and teaching strategies. I believe it is good for a teacher to have many different approaches to teaching comprehension, such as discussion, assessment, and response options (Cornett, 2010). These approaches can determine a student’s need and help the teacher to help the student with comprehension.


 * Heather Charron**

In class, I was introduced to many ideas and concepts of comprehension. I learned that there are many different parts of learning comprehension such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and vocabulary. A lot of the brainstormed ideas in class were familiar to me but after reading the first chapter of “Comprehension First” I have more knowledge of background information on the topic. For example the controversy between recall methods versus higher level thinking. There are many different methods to ensure comprehension.

1. Comprehension includes literacy which is the ability to communicate thoughts, feelings, ideas and emotions. From reading Cornett I have realized that there are many different ways to communicate this idea. I believe it is important that teachers use all of the components of literacy to achieve comprehension. Literacy is not language arts alone but it includes fine arts such as visual arts, drama and dance and technology which consist of blogs, online math and reading instant messages. Teachers should take advantage of all aspects of literacy to appeal to each individual student and their strengths. Technology and fine arts should be included in lessons because they are relevant to the 21st century. If everything is changing around the students than why not teach comprehension in a new way which relates to the world around them and the growing technological advances.

2. A large part of comprehension is getting the “Big Idea”. The big idea is the main message you get from a piece such as the moral of the book. Many children can recall information they learned from the book or their teacher but they need to be able to put the smaller pieces together to meet the ultimate goal of reaching the “Big Idea”. Teachers should ensure students use the scientific method of the reading process and use self-questioning. If a class was taught that way than students would be able to reach the conclusion themselves through higher level thinking. The absence of higher level thinking in classrooms is causing lack of comprehension. A lot of students can identify the parts of the main idea without reaching a conclusion which defeats the entire purpose of comprehension. By having the students reach the “Big Idea” on their own by piecing together the parts to improve their overall comprehension in the future.

3. One factor that is a large influence of comprehension is socioeconomic status. Test scores around the country show alarming gaps between minorities and majorities. There are no studies that prove that more difficult and more frequent testing results in improvement in comprehension. Teachers should focus on getting their students who are behind to meet a specific goal of comprehension rather than wasting time on testing alone. Every student is different so as a teacher you should look for different types of lessons that will help each student reach their goal. A teacher cannot change the socioeconomic status of a student but can use “Differentiating Instruction” to aid their learning. This instruction will help with students because it tends to their specific needs rather than using a generalized program which may or may not appeal to the students or help their comprehension.

In conclusion, comprehension has many different definitions but it all depends on how the teacher in the classroom defines it and what technique the teacher uses to grade the students.


 * Emily Fabrizio**



While discussing reading comprehension in class, I was surprised by how much thought and time had to be given to both the teacher and the reader in order to ensure that each and every student was being considered. The potential strengths and weaknesses of each student seems like one of the most important aspects of reading comprehension to keep in mind.

Comprehension includes understanding on all levels. Cornett describes comprehension as an "extracting and constructing" process, which does not only involve the teacher's style but also every student's learning style. One main concept to keep in mind for comprehension is knowing each and every student's learning capabilities in the classroom and how a teacher can use these differences to make a lesson plan that covers them.

Playing off of my last point, Cornett brings up the fact that with different learning abilities it is almost difficult to zero in on what exactly can be done to help a specific student, or group of students. Cornett explains that repetition can possibly be one of the worst ways around getting an idea grasped by a learner having difficulty. This concept now makes more sense to me after briefly reading up on the topic. One way that learning problems could be resolved by a teacher is by broad assessments that then allow the teacher to zero in on specific problems a student may be having, for if the problem is not addressed or given any effort by the teacher, than it will just continue to persist.

One more topic that I found interesting in class that I haven't given too much thought is the socioeconomic statuses of the children in the classroom. Not every child has the support at home that they fully need to in order to be successful as a student. This can make comprehension difficult because the student is not always pushed to succeed. Involving all of the aspects of comprehension by the teacher in a day to day routine could help these specific students understand their material a bit more, and give them the individual assistance that they need in order to gain a full understanding and the ability to apply themselves.


 * -Patrick Kavanaugh**

I’ve always thought of comprehension as simply “understanding” what one has read or heard. I’ve never given much more thought about it than that. Once prompted to think about the factors that affect comprehension and after reading Cornett’s chapter 1 I have grasped a better understanding to the web of comprehension.

1. It now is clearer to me that knowing how to pronounce words and saying them fluently are not a reflection of understanding the meaning of the words, and does not mean that a student will take any meaning away from what he or she has just read so “fluently”. I believe the author did a great job of explaining that although many factors such as phonics, sight words, fluency, and phonemic awareness play an important role (the legs) they cannot be the forefront and comprehension on the back burner. That technique has not been working as proven by declining or flat test scores. Instead, comprehension must come first.

2. A major factor in reading comprehension that a teacher does have control over is the **teacher** and the **teaching**. Teachers are models and motivators to the students in the classroom. Students can benefit greatly from a teacher that is motivating, uses scaffolding, uses effective questioning methods, and is an effective literacy model. In addition, teachers can gather information about his or her students and then address comprehension problems and choose appropriate interventions for the students. Although students may only have “six hours a day of instruction for 180 days…” as quoted from Mathis 2005 p.590, teachers can achieve comprehension goals if comprehension is put first rather than “reading first”. After reading chapter one, I clearly see the major role that teachers play in the comprehension revolution taking place. Teachers need to trade in the conventional methods if they truly want their students to be high-level thinkers and readers.

3. After finishing the reading I came away with a greater sense of the word comprehension and all it entails. Prior to doing the reading I thought of it only as understanding what you just read. The first chapter of //Comprehension First// clearly explains that it means much more than that. I have learned that comprehension is a thinking process that is used to take meaning and make meaning from print and non-print texts. Comprehension is also the “end product”- what is learned from the reading.


 * Jamie Broccolo **



Comprehension includes several key components and is more than just the basic thought of simply understanding what is read. A student must be able to understand as well as actively engage with the text and relate to it. Another component to comprehension is gaining meaning from the text. Since it is possible to understand the words read, a student may be unable to understand the meaning of them all together but still considered as comprehending the material. Comprehension can be taught in many different ways, as exemplified with "Teachers A-D" in the text book. Although these can be valuable tools to access a child's comprehension, they are not ideal and not should be used exclusively. This is much more clear to me, since I was educated largely using these methods almost exclusively. I am now learning that they are not the only/best methods to test comprehension in students, but given my neutral past experiences with them, I think they can be partnered affectively with the "Five factors that influence comprehension success." I feel that comprehension should be taught with great care using the "five factors" that influance comprehension success. Understanding the learners themselves is key to teaching anything, let alone comprehension. Once a **learner** is understood the lessons can be manipulated to best use the teacher and **teaching** as a tool to maximize the best results for a student to comprehend. Utilizing appropriate and engaging **texts and contexts** is also a strong way to influence how a reader may better comprehend the material. Creating the appropriate tasks that go along with the material will also encourage a child to stay motivated in order to better answer any possible questions or preform any objectives that correspond with the given reading. A fourth piece that I found interesting in the reading is the overwhelming use of testing. I personally am a poor standardized test taker, but thrive in school and classes. This disconnect makes me think that high stakes testing will have similar outcomes with the younger students, ultimately harming their self-esteem and view of their education.

Carla Viana Coscarelli
 * Caitlin Morrissey **
 * 1) Reading comprehension involves a complex set of acts and abilities demanded from the reader. Many factors get into action when we talk about achieving reading comprehension success. We cannot understand comprehension as a matter of all or nothing. There are many degrees and levels of comprehension. For a certain purpose to locate and information could be considered comprehension. In other occasions being critical about the ideas that someone presents in a text can be what we consider comprehension.
 * 2) Emphasizing and practicing only phonics aspects of the reading process as well as some other abilities required on standard tests will not make the students became good readers because it would not involve having them comprehend what they are reading.
 * 3) In order to really understand what they are reading, students need ‘to connect textual information to their lives and feelings’ (p.4). They also need to become ‘mindful` learners, by knowing how to use reading strategies flexibly, and being able to create their own understandings of what they read.
 * 4) Although the idea of `big ideas’ (p.8) do not make much sense to me, because we can ask exactly what is a big or a small idea? And why an idea must be big or important (big for whom)? Cornett’s considerations on the relevance of making questions seems to be doubtless. According to her “the ability to ask such [important] questions is an essential skill all teachers need in order to provide effective comprehension instruction. More important, students need to be taught to self-question before, during, and after encountering any text if they are to become independent and continue to develop comprehension abilities.” We need to motivate our students to make questions, to present their doubts and be proud of them. Curiosity and some ‘estrangement’ are fundamental to learning and life. If there is no questions, there is no search for answers. And the more we search, more questions we get. As Cornett mentions, quoting Gambrell, Malloy, Mazzoni (2007), “ the result of inquiry is that, when readers tale this stance from the beginning, they comprehend more and better” (p. 9). Making questions will improve text comprehension because it will make it personally meaningful. Since it is important to be personally meaningful that I think there is no big or small questions. For the reader, all his (genuinely his) questions are big.
 * 5) When Cornett discusses about evaluations, testing and scores she mentions a question raised by a teacher summarizes her idea well: “My hogs won’t get any fatter if I weight them more often” (p.10). There is an increasing demand for testing, but now we need to prepare our students for a “workplace that often requires employees to comprehend and navigate complex texts, including Internet multimedia hypertext. It is no longer enough to be able to read words from left to right and follow literal direction” (p.10). Besides dealing with multimodal hypertexts, we need also to help the students to understand the texts they need to read in life. They need to learn how to really comprehend the texts they read. In order to do that, they need to learn phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, syntax, fluency and, mainly, how to build the comprehension of the text, so that the text becomes meaningful for them.
 * 1) When Cornett discusses about evaluations, testing and scores she mentions a question raised by a teacher summarizes her idea well: “My hogs won’t get any fatter if I weight them more often” (p.10). There is an increasing demand for testing, but now we need to prepare our students for a “workplace that often requires employees to comprehend and navigate complex texts, including Internet multimedia hypertext. It is no longer enough to be able to read words from left to right and follow literal direction” (p.10). Besides dealing with multimodal hypertexts, we need also to help the students to understand the texts they need to read in life. They need to learn how to really comprehend the texts they read. In order to do that, they need to learn phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, syntax, fluency and, mainly, how to build the comprehension of the text, so that the text becomes meaningful for them.

The meaning of comprehension is far more extensive and in depth than I realized. Prior to Thursday’s class, I only thought about comprehension in the most literal sense of the word; understanding. However, after the activity in class and reading chapter 1, my understanding of the true meaning of comprehension has developed, as well as how it can be effectively taught.


 * 1) I now understand that comprehension is affected by far more than just the reader’s abilities. There are numerous factors that go into how the reader comprehends and what sorts of things can hurt or help them in developing their comprehensive reading abilities. Text, task, context, and teaching are four other main components of what contributes to comprehension, and these are merely the tip of the iceberg. Within these are many smaller pieces that combine to make up these components. Therefore, needless to say, comprehension goes far beyond the readers themselves.
 * 2) From discussions in the class and the reading for the chapter, I now also understand the explanations and thoughts behind how comprehension should be taught. I personally lean towards the top-down method, starting with a concept and breaking it down into smaller parts, versus the bottom-up method, putting the smaller parts together to create the whole. I believe that students who are taught the basics of comprehension in this manner will have a better understand of how to reach the “big idea”, one of the end goals of comprehension mentioned in the reading. By seeing what things go together to form this, and having the “big idea” to refer back to as starting point, this will aid in understanding how these components relate back to it. With this understanding, the students can see what details should be paid attention to and what might have significance in forming these “big ideas”.
 * 3) My final major understanding about comprehension is that the way that schools are testing their students on their reading abilities is really inefficient, not only to the school, but to the students as well. A student who can read quickly with adequate will be deemed by the school as a “good reader”, but what remains unidentified by these methods of testing is whether the student is comprehending what they are saying. With this lack of assessment, students may go unaided in advancing their comprehension levels, as their teacher has already assessed them as a “good reader”, though they may be struggling in this area. Schools focus too late on testing students on their comprehension and focus too strongly on how well the student simply reads words at an early age. Comprehension needs to be focused on from the very beginning of when a student begins reading and not after they have gotten the hang of identifying/reading/sounding out/pronouncing words.


 * Sarah Bard**


 * After reading Chapter one I have realized that there is so much more to the idea of comprehension and it is the key factor to ones learning process. The chapter shows multiple strategies a teacher may use to enforce a lesson plan which I found to be interesting. If there's anything that I have learned from my field experience in classrooms is that every child comprehends material differently. As a teacher you have to be flexible and understanding to each child's differences. Therefore I do not feel that there is one correct way to be sure each child is in an equal understanding of the material being taught.**


 * I have learned that through this text that there is a big difference between memorizing information, recognizing information, and understanding it. Like the examples used in class, if a child is being quizzed on site words and are to flip through flash cards with these words on them, they are more than likely to learn how to read faster for sure but the possibility of them being able to put these words in a proper sentence and then explain to you what they just read is very slim. In order for a child to excel in reading they are going to need to not just be able to recognize words but also understand their meaning.**


 * Number one rule to moving forward with a child's literacy skill is comprehension first, read after. Teaching a child to understand the content they are reading before they read it gives them more motivation to read because they can connect the context to read because they can connect the context to real things and potentially relate to the context as well. This then leads in to a child's interest level in reading. If the child is 1). confident in their reading and 2). knows that there are books that may pertain to their interest they are more likely going to be intrigued to pick up a book and enjoy reading it.**


 * Paige Bardsley**

The child in the class will always be the most important part of comprehension of course that does become difficult when there are 25 unique learners sitting waiting for instruction. Each child has their own background that may have had influences on their motivation for reading, their confidence, and even their basic idea of what reading is. Every child is capable of achieving a high level of comprehension, it then falls into the hands of the teacher. The teacher holds a lot of the power when it comes to the level of comprehension achieved of his/her students. They hold the power of choosing text, task and are responsible for delivering clear directions that are appropriate for the grade level. They must ask the correct questions to promote a higher level of thinking that makes the students draw out meaning and connect ideas. The students must be engaged in what they are doing therefore the teacher also must be engaged and enthused with the topic at hand. The text itself is crucial to the degree of comprehension the students will achieve. It must be age appropriate, hopefully it can easily be related to something in their lives to keep them interested. The way in which the text is presented is also important, whether it is read, audio, or visual pictures. Comprehension is a large problem solving process, the pieces that make it up do not function only ask many studies have shown. Chapter 1 gave many statistics about our students and the poor levels of comprehension. “60 percent of students have some degree of problem in learning to read. Only about one in three children learns to read with relative ease.” There has to be a better way to tach reading in our schools, these children are the future the need to be able to comprehend.**
 * Before Tuesdays class I thought I had a pretty clear understanding of what comprehension entailed, however after the chart activity my eyes were opened to all the factors that effected a child’s level of comprehension. Looking at the completed charts of problems, situations and styles that could effect a child’s comprehension I realized comprehension was a lot more than just simply understanding what the text is saying. Each of the five main factors of comprehension are crucial, although a few are more dominate than others.


 * Maggie Polito**