Cassie Mayer

EDUG 550
RICA Reflection 12 &13
Comprehension
In my both my classrooms that I am student teaching in I have seen kids read
as fast as they can. The speed read across the page like it is a race in order to be
the fastest in the class. More often than not, however, the student can recall very
little from what they read and shows even less understanding. Comprehension is
the understanding of what is being read. There are many concepts and factors that
affect comprehensions such as, literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension
skills. There are also instructional strategies that can be used in all types of text to
help with comprehension, such as what to do before children read, during reading,
after reading.
Literal comprehension is the ability of the reader to understand surface level
meaning. For example in my first grade guided reading the SIPPS mini book series
do not have much depth, so student only tend to draw surface level understanding
from them, such as, the dog got dirty, or the pig was pink. The ability to
interpret what one has read is inferential comprehension skills. The answers to
inferential questions are not in the text, they are in the readers your head. A
classroom example of this would be predicting what would happen next in the story
Beware of the Storybook Wolves, as my tutees did based on what they can
assume will happen as events unfold. Evaluative comprehension skills is the ability
to make judgments about what is read. The answers to these questions are also in
the readers head, rather than the book. While reading Thidwick the Kindhearted
Moose, with my tutees, we made judgements based on the different characters

character. Such as, was the kindness of the moose, versus the rudeness of the
unwelcomed guests, and what they SHOULD have done differently.
There are many different strategies to use before, during, and after reading
with/to/by students. One very important strategy Ive used while working with
students before reading is setting them up for success by setting the purpose for
reading. This gives students an idea of what they are to focus on while reading, and
why its important for them to read it. For example, during a science lesson my
master teacher set the purpose for reading by saying, we are going to read an
article about whether or not monsters are real. We learn about the myths, the
evidence, and the facts about monsters. During reading it is beneficial to support
comprehension by predicting, generating questions, clarifying, and summarizing
text. This is seen as I read to my tutees weekly when I ask questions like, what will
happen next? Based on what we already know, who do you think caused the
problem? What do you think the phrase quick as a quick thing means? After
reading it is important to help comprehension by reviewing what was read, asking
summative questions, or do a quick write. While students learn and read there are a
lot of thoughts floating around in their head. One of my favorite activities to do after
reading something that is full of information is to do a quick write with my students.
Not only is the good evidence for me as a teacher to see what my students have
learned but it also helps my students get what is stuck in their head out, and on
paper and helps support their memory.
In my future classroom reading comprehension will be very important. One
strategy I would like to bring into my classroom would be to explicitly trach literal,
inferential, and evaluative comprehension skills. This way I set my students up for
success in the future and they understand how to answer specific questions as best

as they can without confusion, which also supports comprehension. During reading
in my classroom, it is important to ask questions to check for understanding and to
get the cognitive process started in my students head, but I would like to model this
thinking in order for a gradual release of responsibility. As my time with my students
go, I would like to foster this thinking so that it is second nature to them and
comprehension is that much easier on their own.

Works Cited
Zarrillo, J. J. (2011). Ready for Revised RICA A Test PReparation Guide for California's
Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, Inc.