Comprehension Rating

Upper elementary and above

  • Comprehension
  • Focus on meaning
  • Monitor comprehension
  • Metacognitive skills

Strategy steps:

Step 1:

    1. Teacher models comprehension monitoring while reading aloud to students.
      a. For example: I don’t understand this paragraph, so I’ll read on or This paragraph doesn’t make sense. I need to read it again.

Step 2:

    1. Students are given single sentences to read and rate for comprehension.
      1. Some sentences make sense.
      2. Some sentences do not make sense.
        1. They contain nonsense words.
        2. They contain faulty logic.
      3. Students work independently or with partners.
        1. Students rate their comprehension of each sentence.
          1. Students put a (+) in front of the sentence if they understand it.
          2. Students put a (-) in front of the sentence if they don’t understand it.
    2. When students finish rating each sentence, they discuss the reasons for their ratings.
    3. When students are successful rating sentences, give them paragraphs to read and rate for comprehension.
      1. Some paragraphs make sense; some don’t make sense because they contain some nonsense words or faulty logic.
      2. Students work independently or with partners and rate the paragraphs in the same manner they used to rate sentences.
    4. When students finish, they discuss the reasons for their ratings.

Step 3:

  1. Students use a 3-point comprehension rating task using sentences, paragraphs, and then longer passages.
  2. The ratings for the 3-point comprehension rating task are:
    1. I understand well. (I have a clear picture in my head and could explain it to someone else.)
    2. I understand a little. (I have an incomplete picture in my head and could not explain it to someone else.)
    3. I don’t understand.

Step 4:

When students understand the first 3 steps, teach them how to use fix-up or repair strategies.

  1. Teacher presents mini-lessons focused on each repair strategy.
    1. Word-level repair strategies
      • Read around the word–maybe student can figure it out from context clues.
      • Use context clues for help in decoding or predicting what a word means.
      • Look for structural clues within words.
      • Sound out words.
      • Use a dictionary.
      • Ask for help.
    2. Idea-level repair strategies
      • Read on to make it clear.
      • Reread carefully to make it clearer.
      • Look again at the title, pictures, headings, and graphics.
      • Ask yourself questions.
      • Put ideas into your own words as you go along.
      • Picture the ideas in your head while you read.
      • Relate ideas to your personal experiences.
      • Ask someone to clarify things.
  2. Give students a list of the repair strategies.
    1. Teacher models each one and provides guided practice and independent practice for the students.
    2. Students are encouraged to use strategies when they experience comprehension difficulty during reading.
  3. Students make notes or mark places in the text where they used repair strategies.
    1. Students later explain to teacher which strategy they used.
    2. If student cannot do this independently, teacher works with him/her individually, providing guidance on which repair strategy would be most effective.