Self-Monitoring for Comprehension
Pat Johnson · 2023
This chapter looks at the framework with Sam, a fifth-grade boy who had limited comprehension abilities. It presents several lessons on teaching students self-monitoring and comprehension strategies. The chapter finally gives suggestions for guiding older readers who struggle with comprehension through a novel unit. Another of Sam&s;s issues, and by far the most debilitating, was his lack of self-monitoring for comprehension. He needed help picking books based on his comprehension, rather than just choosing books based on how many words he could call. Compared to the September observations, our data by March showed that Sam had made considerable progress in his ability to self-monitor for comprehension, and in building a system for constructing meaning as he read. When a teacher encounters a child who reads by calling the words with little comprehension, she must teach in ways that foster the student&s;s acquisition of comprehension strategies.