Josie Lutton

Edok #3
Fall 2010
Jeanie Cozens
Onofrey, K., & Theurer, J. (2007). What's a teacher to do: Suggestions for
comprehension strategy instruction. Reading Teacher, 60(7), 681-684.

CENTRAL THEME:
The article talks about how comprehension has been taught over the years by
forcing students to read a text and answer some questions. This text provides teachers
details on two different instructional strategies that could be used in the classroom to help
students with reading comprehension, without relying on read/answer concept
completely. One being visualized creations and the second, in the moment read-aloud
journal partners.
MAIN IDEAS:
1. Over the years teachers have relied upon teaching reading comprehension by
providing students with a text and having them answer some questions about
what they read. Turns out this practice is often ineffective in aiding the
teaching of reading comprehension.
2. Visualized creation is a technique that requires the use of a small portion of
visually stimulating text, such as poetry or a picture book. Students are then
led by the teacher and asked to explain the images they are creating mental
from the text line by line or page by page.
3. “In the moment” read-aloud journal partners require students not only to
interpret the text, but to reflect and then engage in a social exchange with
another student about what they concluded. “In the moment” doesn’t take
much time to prepare; you just need to make sure to find thought-provoking
text.
4. As an instructor during “In the moment” you must instruct students on how
you want their response crafted, come up with some brainstorming ideas
together, and evaluate the text for plot, characters and setting to create some
predetermined stopping points for them to pause for reflection.
AUTHORS’ CONCLUSION:
The authors concluded that reading instruction needs to be more than just
answering questions. Students need to be actively engaged with the text and both of these
activities should help them achieve that. So, by getting them to visual or create mental
images and share their thoughts they are digging deeper into the text, creating a better
understanding.
EVALUATION:
I found this article very interesting. Working at the younger level I will deal with
many children who have difficulty with reading comprehension. I was one of those
students who suffered through years of having teachers provide us with a text and answer
the questions that followed. Anyone can do that even the readers who didn’t take the time
to think about the text can search and find an answer in a book, which is often what I
found myself doing. The idea of having students’ visual pieces of text is fun, and I could
see it being very effective at any age. If worked into curriculum and repeated with
multiply lessons I could see students truly getting the hang of it, enjoying it, and learning
how to comprehend at the same time.