6 Ways to Improve Your Reading Comprehension

One of the reasons people do not read as much as should, at least according to what they tell me, is that they do not understand what they are reading. They end up reading the same thing over and over again, not understanding what they are seeing, and give up in frustration. They decide reading is of no practical value, and so they go and do something else. How can a person, particularly a person with limited experience, break this cycle? I would like to give you a few suggestions, if I may.

1. Read Magazine articles

Magazine articles are written to be read relatively quickly, and are typically focused on a single idea. Often the writer of the article starts with the assumption that the reader knows little or nothing about the topic of the article, and so he starts at from there. So the reader needs very little in the way of background information to learn from the article. However, let me be clear about something here. I am not talking about gossip mags and the such. I am talking about magazines which write serious articles. While you do not have to go to the extreme of "Communications of the ACM", you need to read magazines which deal with serious topics. A few suggestions would be "Science", "Success", and even "The New Yorker". Just find articles which have some real thought behind them.

2. Ignore what you do not know.

If you are reading an article and you come across a word you do not know, keep reading. More than 90% of the time, one of two things will happen. First, the idea could be safely ignored while still getting the main idea of the article. Second, the idea could be explained later in the article. What do you do not want to do, except in extreme cases, is to stop your reading to look the word up. Keep the flow of words going, and if you need to look something up, do so afterwards.

3. Read more

Everything you read causes your mind to become more limber and more powerful. Reading is an exercise program for the mind. Even if you do not understand everything you read, you will understand more than you did before. Keeping reading, keep exercising the mind, and you will be able to comprehend more.

4. Read fiction

Good fiction writers base their story on something in the real world. That means they have to research a topic before they include it in their stories. While the characters, actions, and dialogues are not real, the context and basis of a good story is real. By reading fiction, you can see how these different situations can be understood. And who knows, you might even get to like the stories.

5. Network with others

Other people have experiences you do not have. They have an understanding of things you have not yet experienced. By talking with others, you can gain at least some understanding of what they know. This can then be used to understand readings that you did not understand before. Every time you meet someone, it is an opportunity to learn more. Use these chances well.

6. Keep a journal

Many times I am exposed to ideas that I have never experienced before. Often the first time I encounter a new idea, I understand it then, but I forget it later. If you want to improve your memory, take up a journal. In your journal, write down the new ideas and experiences you had that day. The mere act of writing it down (not typing, writing) will help you remember better.

Wrapping Up

Improving your reading comprehension is not something you need to fear. It comes with practice and exposure. By being conscious of the learning opportunities you are being exposed to, you will become a more understanding reader. And that will make reading a lot more enjoyable.

Reading Comprehension - Teach Your Child with Reading Story

Have you ever tried to discuss a story your child was reading, only to find that she did not know what was going on? We all know that reading is fundamental to a child's success. There are myriad programs and curricula for very young children (kindergarten through third grade) that ensure they learn to translate the symbols on the page or screen into something they recognize. But as children get older, and the stories become more complicated, it's apparent that decoding is not enough. They also need to learn how to comprehend.

We used to think that children would learn how to comprehend automatically if they simply read a lot. Parents would make rules: "You must read for one hour every day," and so on. But we were wrong. Comprehension, for those who aren't naturally talented in it, must be explicitly taught.

The good news is that it can be explicitly taught. In fact, there has been so much research on the subject that we know pretty well how to teach it. And it's straightforward, but you have to stick with it.

The trick is to teach your child to do certain things while reading that help him pay attention to the story and organize the information in his brain as he reads it. That is, give your child strategies for reading. A very good set of strategies is the following.

Select a short story or short book to read aloud to your child. Look at the title, the cover art, the back cover, and so on and guess what the story is about. It's important for you to "think out loud" through this process so your child sees and hears it. If all you have to go on is the title, then make a guess based on that. Can you tell who the main character is? Can you determine what the main character wants?

Predict. Before reading the first part (story) or chapter (book), make a prediction: who is going to be involved, what is she going to do, how is she going to do it, and why is she going to do it. If all you have is a title, you will probably miss your predictions by a mile! But that's ok. You are focusing your child's attention so he is reading for something.

Monitor. This one requires a bit of practice to get the hang of it, but it helps if your child is reading to see if her predictions were correct. Education specialists call it "metacognition," but the basic idea is to have your child deliberately remain aware of whether or not she is "getting it." At the moment she realizes she isn't, she should go back to the point she last understood and clarify what happened since.

Clarify. After reading the first part or chapter, ask your child "who, what, why, and how," about the primary event: "who" did it, "what" did he do, and so on. If your child can't answer any of the questions and they were given in the story, have him page through to find the answers. Sometimes, the answers (especially to "why" questions) only come later in the story.

Summarize. Have your child briefly summarize what happened in the part of the story you just read. Center the summary on the most important action. Ask, "Who did it? What did he or she do? Why did he or she do it? How did he or she do it?" If your child is a visual learner, have her use a graphic organizer to keep track of her summaries as she progresses through the story.

Continue to model this process for your child through the first two chapters or stories. Then, invite your child to help you complete the steps above (predict, monitor, clarify, and summarize). Finally, when you are comfortable your child understands the approach, have him read on his own, using these strategies. You can monitor his progress or comprehension level by checking the detail of his graphic organizers or summaries

This method is based on the "reciprocal teaching" method (Palinscar 1984). The teaching method and strategies employed have been shown to be remarkably effective at increasing the reading comprehension of students. But don't expect your child to read faster as a result of this. It's slow and difficult, especially in the beginning. The payoff, however, is increased comprehension skills, better grades, and the emotional growth that comes from reading good literature!

How to Teach Reading Comprehension - Three Student Skills You Need to Learn

To teach reading comprehension you need to help your students master three skills: reading the text, manipulating the text and connecting ideas in the text.

1) Reading The Text - The following strategies will help your students do this.

Read slow enough to understand each sentence.
Create mental images of what is being read before moving on.
As you read the text, circle (or write out) any words that you don't know the meaning of. After reading the text, look the words up in a dictionary. With this new knowledge in mind, read the text again.
Discuss the meaning of difficult words or ideas with other students or the class as a whole.
Look up any locations in an atlas.

2) Manipulating The Text - The following strategies will help your students do this.

Identify the beginning, the middle and the end.
List the scene changes - each time that the story shifts location.
Identify the characters and the setting.
Ask who, what, where, when and why.
Identify the main idea of each paragraph or chapter.
Identify the introduction, complication and resolution.
Draw a story board.
Identify each characters relationship with the other characters.
Write questions about the text (for other students to answer).

3) Connecting Ideas - the following strategies will help your students do this.

Connect the story with your personal experience.
(How are the characters like people you know? How are the characters different from people you know? How is the setting like where you live? How is the setting different from where you live? Have you ever had a problem like the characters? Would you have done what the characters did?)

Connect the story with other stories you have read.
(How would you rate this story? What story is better than this one? Why? What story is worse than this one? Why? How is this story like -------------- (choose another story)? How is it different?)

Connect the story with the world of knowledge
Discuss key aspects of the story with other students or the whole class (For example, the golden slippers in Cinderella could lead to a discussion about slipper types, slipper cost, slipper construction and accepted slipper use). These discussions could lead to the researching and writing of a reports.

Free Reading Comprehension Activity - An Instant Lessons That Will Get Your Students Thinking

Ask your students to write three paragraphs based on the questions:

What happened? Why did it happen? and What will happen now?

You'll see that I have used the story of The Three Little Pigs as an example.

What happened?

Ask your students to clearly identify the key themes and events of the story.

The Three Little Pigs leave home and build houses of their own (straw, sticks and brick). The Big Bad Wolf attempts to blow each of their houses down so that he can catch the pigs. He succeeds with the first two houses but the pigs get away. He fails when he tries to blow the brick house down because it is too strong. The Wolf continues to pursue the Pigs by climbing down their chimney. The Pigs place a pot of boiling water at the bottom of it and scare him away.

Why did it happen?

Ask your students to identify the underlying forces that propel the story along. Each student can simply look at the the first paragraph they have written and explain why each of the things in it happened.

The Three Pigs left home because they had grown up. The Pigs were (probably) targeted by the Wolf because he was hungry and they were living on their own, which made them an easy target. The first house of straw fell down because it wasn't strong enough. The second house of sticks also fell down because it wasn't strong enough. The third house of bricks didn't fall down because it was stronger than the Wolf's blowing. The Wolf climbs the chimney because it is the only opening available. The Pigs use a large pot of boiling water because it was probably already sitting near fireplace. All the pigs had to do was fill it with water

What will happen now?

Ask your students to consider what will happen to the characters of the story, after the story.

The Wolf hides in the forest until his burns have healed. He never leaves, choosing to spend the rest of his days living in a cave at the side of a craggy mountain. For food, he hunts wild mice and rabbits.

The First and Second little Pig live with the Third Little Pig until they finish building their own brick houses. They choose to build their new houses right next to their brother's brick house. All three pigs install metal bars at the top of their chimneys so that it is impossible for anyone to climb down them.