If students have good decoding skills but struggle with comprehension, what should the teacher do?

When students demonstrate strong decoding skills but experience difficulty with comprehension, utilizing graphic organizers is highly effective. Graphic organizers help to visually structure information, making it easier for students to see relationships between concepts, main ideas, and supporting details. This visual representation can aid in processing and retaining information, thus enhancing comprehension.

For example, when students read a text and fill out a graphic organizer with key points, they can better understand the overall message by breaking down complex information into manageable parts. Organizers such as story maps, Venn diagrams, or cause-and-effect charts provide a scaffold that supports students in organizing their thoughts and improving their engagement with the text.

While silent reading, timed exercises, or additional homework might have their places in a reading curriculum, they do not specifically target the comprehension issue. Silent reading may not provide the necessary support for understanding, timed reading may create pressure without improving comprehension, and additional homework could lead to frustration or disengagement rather than fostering comprehension skills. By modeling and incorporating graphic organizers, teachers can effectively address the comprehension challenges faced by these students.