Julio Said:

can I improve my reading comprehension skills?

We Answered:

I'm a slow reader, because it takes me a while to comprehend things. Of course that by reading faster than what you can handle would get in the way of your comprehension skills. I do recommend to read slower, reading fast does nothing but harms you. Once you find out that you are not comprehending what you read, you would come back and re-read it, wasting even more time. Might as well get it the first time around right? You should start practicing and read more because there will be tests like the SAT that asks questions based on the whole passage, and not just words alone where you can use context clues to define them.

Guy Said:

How do you enhance comprehension in elementary students?

We Answered:

First, are the fluent readers? Sometimes the students decoding gets in the way. If the reading is too slow and labored, and each word takes some time, then there is no room left in the brain for comprehension. It is typically, however, that a 2nd grade reader and above can begin to concentrate on comprehension.

I just took a class towards my reading specialist degree at UVA. We were given over 50 strategies that have to do with reading comprehension and/or comprehension of other materials. It doesn't look like we can post documents on here - so if you want it email me by going through my profile.

I'm not sure of your training, but if you are a teacher then I'm sure you've heard scaffolding a lot. That means you provide the support they need to start figuring things out on their own. Two of the strategies that I plan to try in my 2nd grade classroom next year are Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) and Question Answer Relationships (QAR).

In DRTA the teacher reads a book aloud and stops throughout to help the students anticipate, predict, and confirm/modify their ideas. Through this think aloud process the students' brains start clicking into the same types of questions when they are reading on their own.

With QAR you teach the student that there are 4 basic types of comprehension questions. They are: 1. right there; 2. think and search 3. on my own 4. author and me.
The skill set for these gets harder as you walk through that order. By making students aware of these root questions, they are better able to tackle how they plan to answer the question.

There are so many more great ones in the document. So I highly recommend you get in touch!

Dora Said:

Do you take the time to read with your elementary school aged child?

We Answered:

My daughters only 20 months. But when she is of age i will read to her have her read to me and teach her constantly. Thats just laziness of todays parents. they refuse to stimulate and challange there children.

Jorge Said:

could I possible improve my reading comprehension?

We Answered:

Back in the early 1960s, there was a national preoccupation with reading faster. I was so slow, according to some "goals" that the "experts" set for everyone, and no matter how many speed-reading courses I took, I never got any faster. My parents got frustrated at my slow reading and wrang their hands over how poor my education future appeared. Then, years later, when I was in undergraduate college, and was in the library reading stuff that the professor had put on reserve there that we had to read as an assignment, I realized one day how fast I was reading, and I was amazed. This was the speed that my parents had always wanted me to read years earlier. I thought, I'd sure love my parents to realize how fast I read now, simply as an outgrowth of all the reading I had had to do throughout highschool and early college, but, I just knew they'd never believe me, and by then, as I was older and on my own, their interest in my speed of reading had probably waned, so, I never talked to them about it. So, what I found out was that if you just "practice, practice, practice", you'll get where you want to go, whether it's faster or slower, and once you slow down, you can pick up your speed again simply by the amount of reading you do, AND by your ability to discern what is worth reading and retaining, and what is barely worth scanning your eyeballs over. It's a funny thing, that my dad had told me that many years earlier, one morning at the breakfast table as I watched him read the big city morning newspaper so fast. And now, after three university degrees and untold amounts of reading, I've got it down to an art. I can read slow when I want to, and I can read faster when I want to, and I can prioritize what I read based on what value I perceive it may have, or not. And then one day I got frustrated about how poor my retention was when I read the Bible, so, I decided to REALLY slow down, so, I decided to get loose-leaf school paper (lots of it), and a good ball point pen, and copy it word for word from front to back. And 7 and 3/4 years later, I completed it. Now THAT'S slow reading, and my retention skill went WAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY up. And when I got through, I followed my own advice, (practice, practice, practice) and so I began copying TWO Roman Catholic Bibles, and am still working on them now as we speak. It's been quite a few years since I deliberately slowed down even more than when I copied the Protestant Bible since it's more of a deliberate prayerful exercise now instead of just copying it. So, you can read as SLOOWWWWWWWWWWW as you want, or as FASSSSSSSSSTTTT as you want. You just gotta "do it", and practice, practice, practice. God, as in Jesus our Christ, Bless you.

Kent Said:

What is a good College Placement Review Site?

We Answered:

testpreview.com

Lorraine Said:

How is Reading First working in your elementary school and how long has it been in place?

We Answered:

Did you know that there are investigations to why Reading First is being marketed to schools?

"Inspector General's Report Jeopardizes Reading First Program"

""WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Education Office of the Inspector General's (IG) report on Reading First outlines unethical actions by several individuals who violated the intent and spirit of the Reading First statute in an ongoing and systematic manner. These actions have damaged the integrity of the department. It is to its credit that they have issued this report. Now it is time to implement its findings.

The IG's report directly quotes individual communications to establish that there was a plan to direct the outcomes of independent panels, stack those panels with those who already had formed a bias, and promote specific reading programs while eliminating others. Specifically the report finds that the department:

-- Developed an application package that obscured the requirements of the statute

-- Took action with respect to the expert review panel process that was contrary to the balanced panel composition envisioned by Congress

-- Intervened to release an assessment review document without the permission of the entity that contracted for its development

-- Intervened to influence a state's selection of reading programs and

-- Intervened to influence reading programs being used by local education agencies after the application process was complete. "
(rest of news release here: http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atroci… )

Susan Ohanian -- http://susanohanian.org/ has a website that is mainly articles upon articles about atrocities taking place in education. Go to her site. There is a "search site" text box on the right hand side of the page and type in "Reading First" and hit Search

Here is a editorial about the program from a very prominent literacy instructor

http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.…