13d • General discussion
“Read It Again” Isn’t Always the Answer
“Go back and read it again." Does this strategy really help our struggling readers?
Sometimes, rereading helps when the cognitive space for decoding is getting in the way of comprehension. When it’s primarily a decoding difficulty, then reading again makes perfect sense, which is why this strategy is commonly done with developing readers.
But sometimes, we're asking students to do the same thing twice and expecting a different result.
If a student didn't understand the text because they lacked background knowledge, misunderstood key vocabulary, or couldn't make sense of the relationships between ideas, then reading it again won't magically fix the problem.
Remember that secondary content has sophisticated concepts and language, so strategies that work well with younger readers won’t always be enough with our adolescents.
The goal isn't to get students to spend MORE time with the text. Instead, we want to to remove the barriers that are preventing comprehension.
When we identify the barrier, we can choose an intervention that actually helps.
Lab Takeaway: More reading isn't always better reading. Better support leads to better comprehension.
What's one strategy you've used that helped students understand a difficult text better than simply telling them to reread it?
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“Read It Again” Isn’t Always the Answer
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