What do your readers need to become GREAT comprehenders?
Most comprehension instruction revolves around teaching a multitude of Comprehension Strategies. Do a Google search for 'Teaching Comprehension' and all you get are the strategy lists. But the research and our own personal experience tell us that strategies are NOT NECESSARILY the starting point.
"Good evidence suggests that important aspects of reading comprehension and inference generation happen automatically .... but readers can also deploy strategies to support comprehension.
Cook, Anne E., and Edward J. O'Brien. "Passive activation and instantiation of inferences during reading." (2015).
So strategies are important, We call them 'Stop-and-think-about it' metacognitive actions that the reader employs to embellish and enhance comprehension or to problem-solve comprehension difficulties.
BUT, these are preceded by a skill set that generates an automatic level of basic comprehension.
From birth our learners have been building a sophisticated understanding of oral language and how it works. They intuitively use their knowledge of the world, vocabulary, language structure, and inference (Scarborough's Rope) to construct meaning from the oral language that they are exposed to.
NOW that they are being confronted with written language, they must learn to transfer this automatic skill set into written text.
Our Point of Difference
SharpReading Stage 3 addresses this 'in-the-moment' processing that is the foundation for quick accurate comprehension BEFORE embarking on the metacognitive use of strategies (Stages 4-6).
"Very motivating, the kids LOVE it. Teachers have real clarity and the lesson preparation time is minimal!!!"
All teachers of reading Yr 2-Yr 10, Learning Support, Teacher Aides, Home Schoolers
Beginner Teachers: Having a simple comprehensive 'how to teach' and 'what to teach' approach for reading comprehension is a godsend - a great foundation to build upon.
Experienced teachers: This course could be a game changer, something that will totally revitalise your approach to comprehension.
School Literacy Leaders: We specialise in school-wide training, with systems to get teacher buy-in and coach training to maintain the integrity and longevity of your PD investment.
STUDENT READINESS:
Students need to have developed decoding fluency to the point where decoding is no longer using up their available working memory.
CLICK HERE for more information about the basic criteria for comprehension instruction (Stages 3-6).
For Year 4 and above students still having decoding difficulties, we suggest our Struggling Older Reader Course.
Do you want to have a look under the bonnet? No payment required
We have spent many hours on our course design to ensure it caters for a whole range of learning preferences.
On-your-own learning
If you want to go it alone then go for it - our written and video explanations, tasks and quizzes will help you to process and apply this new knowledge (use it or lose it)
Live face-to-face tutoring
If you learn best through interaction with a tutor our Zoom webinars and Zoom coaching is all included when you enrol.
The proof of the pudding is in the learner outcomes. Typically you will get...
spikes in your comprehension data and then ongoing movement
big gains in student motivation and engagement - they are doing the work!
they understand where they are going and can articulate their learning
For you the teacher our routines are the key to SHARPREADING reading success.
Highly structured routines allow the students to take control of their practice and deals with "How do I teach it?"
Teacher talk is greatly reduced
You are freed up to monitor their processing of text - this is an eye-opener.
No need for a daily lesson plan. You have your routine and your learning outcome. Preparation time is greatly reduced.