Shared Readings: Modeling Comprehension, Vocabulary, Text, Structures, and Text Features for Older Readers

The overall concept of this article, of teaching children to learn how to comprehend what they are reading seems like it would be a very effective method it increasing students word understanding. I remember that when I was in school, I would get aggravated because my teacher would go through all the important titles, and go through the list of all the topics that were ‘important’. This might just be a personal observation, but I felt as though my teacher thought that I was not smart enough to know this information for myself.

It was not until recent years that I found all of this reinforced information to be helpful. To be a good student you have to know how the information that you are reading applies to your own life, and if there are sections which don’t make sence then through metacognition, it is essential that we go back and review those sections which were ‘skipped’ in our thinking process.

I never thought of myself as a very knowledgeable person in terms of word knowledge, and the understanding of word bases, but as I get older I think that the meanings of words are easier to accrue because of the knowledge that I have gained based upon the knowledge of base words, and their modifiers. According to the reading, students with knowledge in this area can develop a meaning for a new word based upon the knowledge that they already have. As I have learned, this is a useful tool to use as you read more complex texts.

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