The 4 Reading Comprehension Strategies You Need To Know with Ciera Harris [episode 89]

Kelsey Sorenson [00:00:00]:

 

You are listening to episode number 89 of Wife, Teacher, Mommy the Podcast. The Four Reading Comprehension Strategies you need to know with Sierra Harris. We’re talking about the difference between reading comprehension skills versus strategies, how to get kids thinking about their thinking as they read using these four strategies, and how it all applies to the science of reading. On today’s episode hey, teacher is all you gotta do someone’s gonna take care of you whether it’s the time or resources you have. Why? Teacher mommy. They have got your back. They’ll bring the galaxy on. They’ll bring the galaxy between you and to enter family and the place to be welcome to Wife Teacher Mommy the podcast.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:01:06]:

 

I’m Kelsey Sorensen, a former elementary teacher and current homeschool mom. And even though I’ve been a resource creator since 2014, I’ve realized that printables alone aren’t all you need in order to thrive as a teacher or homeschool parent. That’s why I also created this show and got certified as a life coach to help you finally kick burn out to the curb and feel confident with whatever challenges come your way. With the right mindset, strategies and new teaching inspiration, you’re going to be well on your way to your best teacher life. Now let’s go. As I’m coming here today, we are knee deep in the pre party at Educate and Rejuvenate, which has been so much fun. So many teachers and homeschool parents have already joined us inside the Educate and Rejuvenate Facebook group. I went live last week.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:01:55]:

 

We went over the event and everything. We’ve been posting giveaways, tons of giveaways, where you’re just following presenters on their podcasts, on Instagram, on everything, so you can connect with all of these amazing presenters and be interested to win some pretty fascinating prizes. Like our teacher planner, the physical teacher planner that we’ve launched are giving away teacher bags, laminators, all kinds of fun prizes, tons of giveaways. It’s been a lot of fun and just a way to connect ahead of the event. So if you’ve been waiting to buy a ticket, you’re like, oh, it’s the 27th, that’s a ways away. Well, now it’s only a week away for one. And if you purchase your ticket now, then you’re going to be able to join in. At least now during the pre party, it’s going to be a lot of fun and to give you a sneak peek at what’s to come educate and Rejuvenate, we really want you there.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:02:38]:

 

There’s so many incredible speakers. We’ve got Joe Dombrowski and Christina Kuzmich who are keynotes at the event. We’ve got yoga, meditation, we’ve got a step, it workout, we’ve got live coaching, we’ve got live panels with teachers, we’ve got pre recorded sessions. We have ten days to watch on your own time, we get replays of all the lives. If you’re not able to be there live, that is a question that’s come up. Yes, we will get the replays and there’s just so much in this event and to see just one of those keynotes would cost more than this ticket usually. And you’re getting all of this just for 1999. It is such a good deal.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:03:11]:

 

We even provide a certificate that you may be able to use for PD credit, just verify that it will be accepted by your district. But to give you an awesome sneak peek of what’s to happen at this event, or one of the sessions at least. I brought in Sierra Harris, one of our amazing presenters onto the show today and she is talking all about reading comprehension strategies. And we’re giving you a little sneak peek of it today. Kind of like what she’s going to be talking about, but she’s going to be diving even deeper into it during the event. So if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to also go to educatemate.com so you can grab your ticket and join us live next week. It’s going to be fun. Okay, so a little bit about Sierra.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:03:48]:

 

She is a former elementary school teacher turn TeacherPreneur. She has spent the last decade perfecting her reading instruction to help other teachers do the same. She understands the ins and outs of reading skills and strategies, creating flawless lesson plans, and figuring out how to best serve early readers. And now she’s here to share all of that insight with you. So if you’re an elementary teacher who knows they want more out of their reading instruction, you’ve found the right gal to help. After teaching in the classroom for twelve years and working as an instructional coach, she felt her calling was even bigger and decided to leave brick and mortar buildings to help teachers across the country. She’s traveled around presenting at reading conferences such as the National SDE Conference in Las Vegas, created her own course on helping teachers to understand reading comprehension, and designed her own reading curriculum that follows an extensive formula to help students rock at reading. When she’s not nose deep in her computer, she’s at home with her three minor for children, husband who she adores, and she’s an avid Notre Dame fan and lover of earrings.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:04:46]:

 

Now doesn’t she sound pretty awesome? I can’t wait for you to hear from her today. So let’s go. Okay. Hey, Sierra. Welcome to wife. Teacher mommy, the podcast. I’m so happy to have you here today. Thank you so much.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:05:00]:

 

I’m so glad to be here as well. I appreciate it. Yeah, I’m really excited to have you here. You are one of our incredible educate and rejuvenate speakers and we are going to have an amazing conversation all about reading comprehension, which I’m really excited about. Okay, so can you tell us about yourself? Like your teaching experience, what you do now, and just something fun about yourself? Yeah, of course. So, my name is Sierra Harris. I’m the author behind Sierra Harris teaching. I’m from Indiana and I taught in second grade and third grade.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:05:31]:

 

I actually have kind of a unique situation. My school was only a second and third grade school. The way the district had everything organized, it was K one in one building, two, three in another four, five, six, and then middle and high. So it was everyone transitioned no matter what grade they were in. It was really cool. So I got to loop with my students, but I taught second and third grade for eleven years, and then I moved on to being a K Four instructional coach for two years. And then about that time was when I decided that I feel like I could make a bigger impact on education, actually being outside of the four walls of the brick and mortar classroom. So I left the classroom and I left being a coach.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:06:12]:

 

And now I work on supporting teachers through professional development, creating resources and curriculum full time over at Sierra’s Teaching. So it’s a great gig. I love what I do. I love being able to connect really closely with educators all around the country and even around the world, which is amazing. But yeah, I have three kids of my own. They just ended since we’re recording this now in summertime, they just ended their fourth grade years and second grade. So I’ve got fifth graders and third grader, which is insane. It’s so crazy how fast they grow, isn’t it? Just like, what is going on? That is the understatement of a lifetime like, I thought when they were little.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:06:55]:

 

And I really cannot even tell you where the years have gone. Like, oh my gosh. So we’re a huge Notre Dame family. We love all things football and baseball, and we love our crazy husky named Saber. He is such a crazy dog and we absolutely love him. And that’s me in a nutshell. I love it. I love how you taught in a second and third grade school.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:07:20]:

 

That just really sticks out to me because I never heard of that before you told me, and I’m just like, wow, that’s super cool. So today we are talking about reading comprehension. What would you say is like a broad overview of reading comprehension? Yeah, that’s a great question. So many teachers have or believe that comprehension is like the ability to answer questions about a text, right? That’s how they gauge it. And unfortunately, that’s how standardized testing makes us gauge comprehension. Or it’s also the ability to use a skill such as main idea. But true comprehension is actually the ability to think. Like if you put it in a math equation, right, comprehension equals thinking is the basic way I can describe it.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:08:07]:

 

But it’s making meaning of a text and then taking that understanding or taking those conclusions that you’ve drawn and applying them to the outside world, applying them to your own life, connecting that understanding or the meaning that you’ve taken from that text and making it your own in some way shape or form. That is the true definition of critical thinking and deep comprehension, which that is the ultimate goal of where we want our students to be. Yeah, I love how you mentioned this and it kind of makes me think of it. It’s just like comprehension is you being able to actually think about what you’re reading. Right? It’s like you’re not just reading it and decoding, but you’re able to think about it and apply it. Yeah, I think that application there is the big missing piece. I can read a story and I can regurgitate anything. And I hate using that word so much, but it’s true.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:09:01]:

 

What does it mean? I can tell you the character’s name, I can tell you where they lived, I can tell you what they looked like, I can tell you what they did, the beginning, middle, and it none of that matters unless I cannot apply the meaning and the and the context. And like I said, the conclusions, everything that I’ve drawn from all of that, what actually am I taking away from this and applying it to what matters in my own life? So I know that sounds really deep and philosophical, but that’s really what comprehension is. It’s not the representation, it’s the application and the breakdown of the understanding and applying it to the world. And I think it’s really important to think about it in that deeper philosophical way because so often in life and even what I talk about on the podcast is like, we’re just go, go, go, doing all the things, but we don’t step back and think of why are we doing this? And with comprehension, that’s actually important to think about is why are we doing this? Why are we reading this book? Is it just so we can and obviously when they’re younger, it is just to learn how to decode it first. But as they grow, we want to also have them be able to learn from the text and think about it as well. So that’s so good. Okay, so there are a couple of different ways we generally teach about comprehension, but what is the difference between a reading comprehension skill versus a reading comprehension strategy? Yeah, so this is one of my hills that I like to stand and die on, right? They tell you to pick your battles. This is my battle.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:10:30]:

 

So I can talk about this until I am blue in the face. So there is a really big difference between what a reading skill is and what a reading strategy is. And when teachers don’t know the difference, it actually impacts their instruction. So understanding the difference is key to making sure that you are teaching what you need to teach and how you need to teach it in the right way. So I’ll break it down, but I like to use and I like to say that I made up these terms that came from my brain, but they probably didn’t. So I won’t say that, like on record. So I like to use the terms text centric and student centric, okay? And I use those to help explain the difference between skills and strategy. So we’ll start with skills.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:11:17]:

 

So, reading skills are associated very much with the ability required to answer comprehension questions. They are very automatic. They are assessed by a very specific type of question after we read. They’re repetitive, they involve lots of practice to be able to do them. They involve teachers getting feedback. Students typically use reading skills without even knowing it. And they’re always practiced within the same manner across multiple situations. So you may be thinking, okay, well then what are some of these skills? There are things like teaching, main idea, teaching cause and effect, text structure, character plot, setting problems.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:11:57]:

 

Like, I could go on and on. There’s so many different skills. And they do need taught. That’s the thing, they do need taught. However, I go back to the terms that I just mentioned. Those are very text centric. So it has nothing to do with me as a reader at all. The main idea means has nothing to do with my schema or my background knowledge.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:12:19]:

 

The text structure has nothing to do with my ability to connect to that text and what I take away from it. Right? It has everything to do with the story and the text itself and nothing to do with me. And like you mentioned, that’s still important, right? We still teach those. And I see them behind you on your adorable organizers. Yeah, they absolutely are necessary. However, they are in my opinion, and I think research does show they are less important than teaching strategies. And so I’ll go into what the strategies are. Strategies are where students are actively thinking about the ideas in the text.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:13:01]:

 

So strategies are not about answers, but they’re about the actions that the readers take to help remember the story. They’re used intentionally to help meet goals. They are not learned by repetition at all, but instead they are learned through modeling. Teacher modeling is the most effective way for students to learn how to use strategies on their own when they are working independently. In order to actually use strategies effectively, they must be used in comparison or in cohesion with a complex text. Otherwise students are just pretending to use a strategy. And I’ll go more into that in just a second. And strategies are also very effortful.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:13:43]:

 

They’re very deliberate and they’re very deliberate and they create active involvement in reading. So again, going back to those two terms, strategies are very student centric. So when we think of things like visualizing, asking questions, determining importance, using metacognition, schema, background knowledge, making connections, those all involve me as the reader. They cannot be done unless I am actively using them and that I am accessing me in my brain in some way, right? I can’t visualize unless I use my Schema. I can’t determine importance unless I use my Schema. I cannot make connections unless I use my Schema. If you want students to use Schema, which with the science of reading wave and movement that’s happening right now, we are finally identifying and proving that Schema is like the most important tool that students have in their bag at all times. The number one thing.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:14:46]:

 

And if we want students to use Schema, then we need them to also use metacognitive strategies, which are all of the things that I just mentioned. So in order for comprehension so I go back to the definition we talked about a little bit ago. In order for comprehension to take place, and we want that deep, complex thinking and those conclusions to be drawn, then we have to keep the conversation student centric, right? We don’t want it to just be all about text. We want it to be about the reader as well. So that’s where strategies come in to play. I told you I’d come back to that complex text thing. I think this is really important. If you really want students to truly think deeply and to visualize and to ask questions, there needs to be a complex text deep enough for those things to actually happen.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:15:30]:

 

So if I’m reading The Cat in the Hat probably going to have to have my students work hard in practice strategies because it’s not complex enough. So that’s where these more critical, deeper picture books come in and really analyzing and finding the right kind of text online to use to truly have kids practice strategies in order for them to be able to then use them independently when they come across parts of a text or text that are complex enough for them to use them. I hope that makes sense. That totally makes sense. Such a good point that there needs to be a text that they’re able to do all of those things with. Hey, teachers. If you are always on the hunt for engaging math games, purposeful practice, and ways to motivate your students so they can actually enjoy math, you will definitely want to check out Digitalmathgames.com. This site offers a growing library of online, ad free games for kids in grades three through six that are self checking, so there’s no prep or grading for you.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:16:30]:

 

If you are excited about the possibilities, head on over to Digitalmathgames.com to get started with a 14 day free trial. That’s right, you and your students can test it out for free for two weeks. Just go to Digitalmathgames.com to get started. I’m Angela Watson, creator of the 40 hours teacher workweek program. We’re kicking off the next cohort of 40 Hours this summer, and I want you to join us. Over fifty five thousand k twelve educators have already used the 40 Hours program to maximize their contractual hours and stop working endlessly on nights and weekends. Visit fortyhtw.com to learn more, including how to attend our free online summit on July 9 and 10th, where you can learn time saving tips from other classroom teachers. That’s 40 htw.com.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:17:23]:

 

You kind of started talking about this already, like the different strategies that we want to teach kids. But can you tell us a little bit about which ones do you think are the most important and why? Yeah, I think that is a question that a lot of teachers have. It’s really hard, honestly, to say which are the most important because it depends on the text and it depends on what’s being needed in order for comprehension to take place. So with a lot of the science of reading research that’s out there now, a lot of teachers are finding out that there’s almost like picture, like a circle graph or a pie chart right there’s different pieces that are analyzed in order for comprehension to take place. One of them is like, the reader. What does the reader bring to the table with their schema, their abilities, their cultural background, all of those things. Then you’ve got the text, the complexity of the text. Then you also have the task, what are you asking them to do? So with all of those pieces, each one of those things changes.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:18:25]:

 

And so in order to say what is the most important strategy to teach? Well, it depends on all three of those pieces and what all three of them connect together. So I know that’s kind of a roundabout answer, but it’s important to really remember that all of those are needed and need to be analyzed in order to know what strategies are you wanting your students to do in that situation and for that text. But I will give you an actual answer, I promise. No, but it totally makes sense too. You need to tailor it, right? Absolutely. So if I had to pick, I’ll give you my top four. So my top four would be schema number one. Of course, like we just mentioned, metacognition would be right behind it, visualization and asking questions.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:19:10]:

 

So we all know schema is background knowledge, and it is, again, the one thing that you can guarantee every student is bringing to the table. Now, it may mean they have a little amount of schema. They may have no schema, they may have a lot of schema depending on, again, the conversation, the text, et cetera. But everyone has something, and that something is what you have to build off of. If you go into neuroscience and talking about how the brain works right in those neurons and dendrites, they have to have something to connect to. So in order for learning to stay in the brain and for that memory to happen and for comprehension to take place, those connections have to happen. So schema is like the number one thing you have to talk about when you’re wanting that deeper comprehension to happen. So when I talk about metacognition, really, all of these strategies are metacognitive strategies.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:20:00]:

 

But metacognition itself is literally teaching your students to monitor their own thinking, right? Teachers become frustrated so often when students are just reading and they’re not catching their mistakes, so they’re not figuring out why they don’t understand. Like, why don’t you remember this? Why do you not understand this? Well, have you actually taught them how to monitor their own thinking? And that’s hard to do, but it is so needed. So metacognition is one of those strategies that has to be explicitly taught to students. The other two are more common visualization and asking questions. Of course. I think it’s a quote from Albert Einstein that I love to say, if you can’t see it, you can’t understand it. And I know there are exceptions to those rules. I know there are students who physically and mentally cannot visualize.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:20:49]:

 

Like their brains just don’t allow it. But there are ways around that. But we have to make sure our students can see and to be able to understand it, they have to visualize it, to understand it and then of course, asking questions, right? It helps showcase misunderstandings, it helps build curiosity, it helps the students interact with the text on a very deep level. So those would be my four schema metacognition, visualization and asking questions. Those are all such important strategies. I agree. I would probably pick those same four myself. But I love you made this comment about metacognition and it was like they kind of all fall under this.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:21:25]:

 

They need to monitor their thinking and think about what they’re thinking as they’re reading. And that’s kind of the big picture behind all of this, is that they’re able to kind of see what’s going on in their brain as they’re reading and then what to do with it next. So I love this and this all ties into what you’ll be teaching all of us at Educate and Rejuvenate. I’m very excited for your session. Can you tell us a little bit more about it? Yeah, of course. So my session is titled maximizing Comprehension through Reading Strategies, which is a mouthful in and of itself, but we’re going to be talking and kind of going a lot deeper into almost everything we’ve really touched on. So we’re going to talk more about the difference between reading skills and strategies and really understanding all of those bullet points that I went through so quickly. We’re going to take a deeper dive into understanding a few of the strategies.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:22:13]:

 

We’re going to look at things like visualization and metacognition. And I mean, really, this is kind of like a teaser. Basically everything we’ve talked about is just like a little teaser of my session. One of the things we’re going to look at are all of the areas of impact of comprehension. So looking at if you’re looking at a student, student A, for example, what are all of the different things that could potentially impact their ability to comprehend. So we do, of course, talk about things like background knowledge, but we also talk about things like memory, and we talk about their cultural background, we talk about their access to instruction. And so we pinpoint, like, I think, nine or ten different areas to analyze and to make sure that you as a teacher are looking at all of these areas to see, like, okay, well, they’re not comprehending. They’re just not thinking right.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:23:02]:

 

They’re just not reading well. Well, no, there’s so much more that goes into that. So we really break that down, which I think is one of my favorite parts of the session. I’m so excited for it. And what are you most looking forward to about the event as a whole? Oh, my gosh. Well, it’s not every day, right, that a group of educators and presenters, such as the ones that we have, which is just mind blowing to me, all of the people who are coming together, but to support the teacher community, I think those three words right there, we’re supporting the teacher community now more than ever. With what’s happening in politics, in the world, in the science of reading wave, we need to be coming together now more than ever. So the lineup of sessions is mind blowing.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:23:43]:

 

It is extremely affordable for everyone and anyone, and the attendance should just absolutely be through the roof for the value that’s happening at this conference. Yes, and we’re really excited. We’re already getting, like, so many people are grabbing their tickets, and we’ve got less than a month until the event now. And historically, last year, most people joined near the end of the event, like, closer to it. It’s just that, like, oh, yeah, I’m going to grab a ticket, but I just haven’t yet. So if you’re one of those people, grab your ticket because the pre party starts right away. Lots of giveaways and stuff. We’re opening the Facebook group June 12, so right around the corner, and I’m not even sure when we’re airing this, it’s probably going to need to be in just a few days.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:24:27]:

 

By the time you’re listening, if you’re listening live, or you might be listening and like, wait, it’s already started. Don’t worry, you can still join anytime before the 27th. But the sooner you join, the sooner you get to join the fun. Okay. Do you have any last word of advice for teachers as they’re finishing up the school year or as they’re getting into their summer? At this point, they might already be done. Yeah, my own kids, we’re done here in Indiana, so I know, but we’re always one of the first wave because we go back so early in the end of the summer. But my advice, honestly, is to have fun. You have had these students in your life now for 170 days.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:25:02]:

 

That is a long time. And if you’ve looped with them or if you’ve had something like you’ve been with the part of these families for even longer. Enjoy spending time with them, laugh, play, go outside and make memories. The hard part is over. Enjoy being with these little ones because they’re only little for a very short amount of time. I think we’re kind of around about we talked about this in the very beginning with my own kids, but they’re only little for so long and you’ve been with them more than their own parents this year. So enjoy, have fun and make memories. I love that.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:25:32]:

 

Okay, and then where can our listeners connect with you online if they want to learn more from you? Of course, you can go to Crhasteaching.com and from there you can really find me on all the other places, all of the other places that I’m at. So there you can find my YouTube channel, you can find my resource shop, my social media channels, but really, if you use the handle at Sierra’s Teaching on any social media, you’ll find me. I’m there. Amazing. And yeah, be sure to check out her YouTube channel because she interviewed me not too long ago on there and we talked more about the event. So if you want to hear us talk about it, that’s a great place to go. Well, thank you so much for your time today and I’m so excited to get this out here on the podcast and I’m sure everybody listening is going to learn so much from what you’ve had to share. So thank you again.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:26:20]:

 

Thank you so much for having me and I cannot wait for the conference. If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. And if you’re ready to take the next step, come grab your ticket to join me at Educate Amber Juvenate, the education event of the year on June 27 and 28th, 2023. This year we have two incredible live keynotes joe Jamrowski, aka Mr. D, and bestselling author and video creator, Christina Kismich. We have over 60 incredible speakers speaking on topics such as math, language arts, reading, social, emotional learning, classroom management, homeschooling, and tackling burnout. We start the day with a workout together each morning. We have panels with the presenters and you’ll even get to join live coaching with me and even raise your hand if you would like to be coached.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:27:10]:

 

Plus, we give away tons of prizes throughout the event too. It is the best PD you could ever attend. And all of this is happening from the comfort of your own home. It’s just $19 for a ticket. And past attendees have said that this is what finally lit a fire under them to enjoy teaching again and that it was well worth every penny. Go to Educatemrejuanate.com to learn more about the 2023 event, or if you’re listening to this later, that link will show you what’s up next. As we will continue to do events like this, I hope to see. You at, educate and rejuvenate.

 

Kelsey Sorenson [00:27:48]:

 

You will break the gap for me. Together you will break the gap for me.