Finding meaning

My ideas about reading instruction often hone in on the great divide between decoding and comprehension. Decoding instruction involves teaching phonemic awareness to young students in pre-K through first grade, teaching letters and sounds to kindergarteners and more involved phonetic skills to first-third graders, as well as reading fluency. Comprehension instruction involves teaching concepts about print and facilitating discussions about books to pre-K through third graders.

For many reasons, decoding instruction seems to be more technical than comprehension instruction. Instructional materials tend to be more explicit about decoding instruction than comprehension instruction. At the same time, comprehension instruction requires teachers to have a lot of pedagogical tools and skills up their sleeves, including the ability to connect reading materials to students' background and interests, as well as continually assess students.

When dealing with the band of reading callled decoding, some teachers instruct not-so-inspired recitation lessons on phonics skills or lead choral reading of decontextualized words and sentences. And, unfortunately, a lot of comprehension instruction for munchkins turns into story time and coloring, rather than rigorous instruction tackling standards and important objectives that ALL students need to succeed across subject areas and throughout grade levels.

I'm passionate about understanding the implementation of policies related to decoding and comprehension so schools, teachers, and all students can find meaning. Yes, rhyming and the alphabet are the first steps, but there's a burning need for ambitious teaching of comprehension strategies and skills so children can read for meaning in school, at home, and in life.