Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades Debbie Miller
If you have ever wondered how to teach comprehension strategies to primary-age children, read on. First, imagine a primary-school classroom where all the children are engaged and motivated; where the buzz of excited, emerging readers fills the air; where simultaneously words are sounded out and connections are made between the books of their choice and the experiences of their lives. In this book, Debbie Miller focuses on how best to teach children strategies for comprehending text. She leads the reader through the course of a year showing how her own students learned to become thoughtful, independent, and strategic readers. Through explicit instruction, modelling, classroom discussion, and, most important, by gradually releasing responsibility to her pupils, the author provides a model for creating a climate and culture of thinking and learning. In this practical and accessible book you will learn: techniques for modelling thinking; specific examples of modelled strategy lessons for inferring, asking questions, making connections, determining importance in text, creating mental images, and synthesising information; how to help children make their thinking visible through oral, written, artistic, and dramatic responses to literature; and, how to successfully develop book clubs as a way for children to share their thinking. In this volume you will find new ideas and learn new tools for teaching comprehension strategies which will help you to achieve your motive and engaged classroom of readers.