“Comprehension to What End?” by Stephanie Harvey

Stephanie Harvey, one of the authors of Strategies that Work, is also a contributor for another book I am reading, Comprehension Moving Forward.  This book is a compilation of chapters written by various experts in the field of reading education, including Ellin Oliver Keene, Susan Zimmerman, Anne Goudvis and Cris Tovani.  Each chapter addresses the question, “What’s the next step in reading comprehension instruction?”  Research in reading instruction began in the 80’s and has truly taken off in the last 10-15 years, as the No Child Left Behind Act pushed reading instruction to the forefront.  Today there are more teachers who are educated and skilled at reading strategy instruction than ever before, so it seems natural to ask what the next step should be.

Harvey’s chapter is entitled, “Comprehension to What End?” and it provides insights into what teachers should do once they have taught comprehension strategies to their students.  She emphasizes that process (how students learn) and content (what they learn) are both important.  Comprehension strategies are a means to an end – not an end in themselves.  She quipped, “we don’t teach students to think so they can ponder their belly buttons” (p. 115).  As a reading and English teacher, I could not agree more that comprehension strategies should be tools for making content more accessible.  My expertise is in utilizing comprehension strategies to help make the complex texts that are required within our literature textbooks easier for students to read and understand.  The model lesson on The Pit and the Pendulum that I shared recently is a good example of that.  A lesson that I created for my English IV classes to help them tackle Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is another example:

Harvey went on to describe the “Comprehension Continuum” processes that run from the most basic to the most sophisticated of responses to text.  Ideally students should be taken from one end of the continuum to the other over time. 

The most basic comprehension process is answering literal questions.  This is the least sophisticated level of comprehension because it does not necessarily expand thinking or guarantee comprehension.  I use these types of questions as checkpoints throughout a lesson to make sure that students are at least paying attention.  I give immediate feedback on these types of questions so that misconceptions can be redirected before moving on with a reading.  They are a means to an end – not the end in themselves.

Retelling is the next process on the continuum.  Unlike literal questions, retelling allows students to put thoughts into their own words.  Retelling can improve comprehension because it enables students to “think their way through a text” (p. 120).  Although retelling can be useful, it still does not reflect deep understanding of a text. 

Merging thinking with content is the third process on the continuum, but the first that leads to real comprehension.  This is what is taking place when students react genuinely with a text, when they stop and ask questions, clarify, make a connection or an inference.  That was the purpose of the shallow coding graphic organizer that I included in the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight lesson, as well as the written response questions at the end of the lesson. 

The next process on the continuum is acquiring knowledge.  According to Harvey, “Active learners turn information into knowledge by merging their thinking with the content” (p. 122).  After a teacher models how to locate information from texts, students should be able to do so in order to investigate topics and gather information to answer their questions.  This is what Cris Tovani calls the “catch and release” method (p. 132).  When students are able to investigate interesting topics they will be truly engaged in the learning process. 

The final process is for students to actively use knowledge.  The purpose of learning is not to pass a quiz; the purpose is to use knowledge to incorporate it into our thinking and apply it in day-to-day life.  We hope that knowledge will sometimes even inspire our students to make a difference or take action in some way.

The final two processes are what I had in mind as I revised the required research project for this quarter and turned it into a true I-search project.  Students are provided with guidance as they investigate careers of interest and learn the steps it will take to achieve their chosen career.  The I-search paper allows for constant reflection throughout the research process.  Below are some of the documents that I have created to implement this project.

The following document was created collaboratively with my English class.  I wanted them to know why they were looking for this information, so I asked them, "What sort of facts do you need to know about a college that you are considering?".  This list is what they came up with, and they were able to use this form to record details from their research.