So, the spur to my blogging career – rereading research articles on a topic I’ve already researched inspired me to write about the research in order to better retain the information as well as hold myself accountable for what I’ve read and written.

The first topic is “improving middle school reading comprehension.”

Did you know that a Google search of that topic will bring you 848,000 results?

Obviously, I have not read them all, but I have read many in my pursuit to improve comprehension skills in my own classroom.

4 Tips for Improving Middle School Reading Comprehension

Initially, my research led me to a Concordia University post “4 Tips for Improving Middle School Reading Comprehension” stating the importance of injecting fun and creativity whenever possible into the school day.  Their claim is “just about any book or reading material comprehension exercise can be made into a game.”

Some of the ways they present to make reading comprehension enjoyable:

1. Creative quizzes and worksheets
2. Post-it note page markers
3. Mind-map it
4. The “Who Am I” game

The importance of these enjoyable experiences lies in The National Reading Panel belief that “comprehension is an active process.”  If students are not engaged in the material, they are unlikely to absorb the necessary information.

Middle School High Five: Strategies Can Triumph

Next, I found the “Middle School High Five: Strategies Can Triumph” outlining a plan focused on reading comprehension with hopes of bringing consistency and curriculum alignment across all disciplines.

The plan gets its name from their district’s teachers choosing the five most effective reading strategies they have used and individually implementing one strategy each week.  By multiple teachers using the same strategy at the same intervals, students receive consistent practice.  The chosen strategies came in these steps:

1. Read around the text – students looking at all text features associated with the passage
2. KIM vocabulary – students find unfamiliar words, define them, create a picture to help memory, and compose a sentence using the word
3. Two-column notes – recording passage main ideas on the left side and in the right column recording subtopics and supporting details
4. Reciprocal teaching – students discuss reading in cooperative groups or in a dialogue with the teacher
5. VIPs and Sum It Up – effective summary writing and modeling good summary writing

In closing, the study stated mixed receptions among teachers for various reasons, but their assessment results did show growth.

What does this mean for me?

While I did not read all 800,000+ results, many of them had the same findings – choose high-interest topics and incorporate some type of cross-curricular emphasis on reading.

This is not surprising.  Many educators know this already; however, as humans, we are always searching for a way to be better as well as an easy fix.  Unfortunately, there will be no silver bullet to this issue.

Collectively, we all will have to address the issue.  And, it starts with ME.

I must find high-interest materials to engage my students, and I must model the behaviors and skills I expect my students to use early and often during the school year.

I have had experienced teachers try to tell me, “But the passages on the state tests won’t be interesting to students.  We have to get them ready for that.”

While that’s true, if I can’t get students interested in the 150, 160, 170 days before state tests… they will NEVER perform on the day of state testing.

What does this mean for you?

I wish there was an easy fix.  Anyone who says there is an easy fix is lying.

But, that does not mean you can quit.

Continue building relationships with your students.  Learn what they like.  Learn what matters to them.

Incorporate those interests into your reading materials.