Reading Comprehension

So as a teacher it is often stated that no matter what subject you teach, we are all reading teachers. I tell my students frequently that in order to be the smartest person in the room all you have to do is read and comprehend…. because nobody else is taking the time to do it. SO let’s delve into ways to comprehend what we are taking time to read better.

So research shows that there are 5 things to consider as you are reading the material in order to best comprehend said material, distinguish what you read from fact and opinion, infer with context clues, determine text structure, know the types of language and consider is the denotation and connotation of terms.

So the first one here seems pretty obvious but actually it is a skill that seems to need more attention now than ever. With the internet and volumes of information out there, one way to really comprehend what we are reading is to question it. Are we being presented with facts, are they current and how do we know? Often times opinions can be intentionally presented as being as factual to make a certain point or persuade but it is our job as the reader to scrutinize and double check facts or at least determine whether the author is presenting information from a point of view.

Number 2, making inferences is the art of picking up what the author is putting down. So, in other words, there a sometimes going to be details that are not directly told to us but the reader is going to have to attempt to infer but reading between the lines.