Critical Comprehension [Grades K-6]: Lessons for Guiding Students to Deeper Meaning

Because high-level comprehension cannot be divorced from wide-ranging texts

To be literate is to think through multiple perspectives, exploring diverse texts, and using the power of story to give students the life skills to discuss just about anything with critical curiosity. Critical Comprehension transforms this vital work into an accessible, three-step lesson process.

Using picture books, multimodal texts, and thoughtfully framed questions, each differentiated lesson expands students’ understanding of a text through:

• First read: the “movie read”, during which the text is read without interruption
• Second read: The teacher poses questions that probe deeper meanings through interaction with the text to summarize, name and highlight issues, analyze and infer, to make more informed decisions about what to believe and what to question.
• Third read: Harnessing students’ curiosities, the class revisits the text to talk back to theme, symbols, central idea, or social, cultural, historical influences at work on author and audience

Popular media, classic novels, breaking news — the world’s content is ready for students to absorb. But are we ready to help them read it well? Equipped with this resource, the answer is, Yes, we are.

Katie Kelly is a Professor of Education and Coordinator of the Literacy Graduate Program at Furman University in Greenville, SC. As a former teacher and literacy coach, Katie’s teaching and research interests include engaging children in meaningful literacy experiences and practices to foster lifelong literacy, equity, and justice. She is widely published in several peer-reviewed journals including The Reading Teacher and Voices from the Middle. She has co-authored three other books: Reading To Make a Difference: Using Literature to Help Students Think Deeply Speak Freely and Take Action (Heinemann), From Pencils to Podcasts: Digital Tools to Transform K-12 Literacy Practices (Solution Tree) and Smuggling Writing: Strategies that Get Students to Write Every Day, in Every Content Area (3-12) (Corwin). She can be contacted on Twitter @ktkelly14 and by email katie.kelly@furman.edu.

Lester Laminack, Professor Emeritus, Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina is now a full-time writer and consultant working with schools throughout the United States and abroad. He is the author of over 25 books for teachers and children. His academic publications include Climb Inside a Poem (Heinemann) Cracking Open the Author’s Craft (Scholastic), Bullying Hurts: Teaching Kindness Through Read Aloud and Guided Conversations (Heinemann), The Writing Teacher’s Troubleshooting Guide (Heinemann), Writers ARE Readers: Flipping Reading Strategies into Writing Instruction (Heinemann), The Ultimate Read Aloud Collection Fiction and Nonfiction (Scholastic).

Lester is also the author of several children’s books including: The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins, Trevor’s Wiggly-Wobbly Tooth, Saturdays and Tea Cakes, Jake’s 100^th Day of School, Snow Day!, Three Hens and a Peacock  (2012 Children’s Choice K-2 Book of the Year Award), and The King of Bees all published by Peachtree Publishers. His new book, Three Hens, a Peacock, and the Enormous Egg is expected in February 2023, and A Cat Like That is expected in Summer 2024.

His newest work is Reading to Make a Difference (Heinemann) and The Ultimate Read Aloud Guide 2^nd. Edition (Scholastic) and The Ultimate Read Aloud Collection Fiction and Nonfiction (Scholastic).  Lester is available for professional development and school author visits. You can contact him via his website www.LesterLaminack.com and follow him on Facebook or on Twitter @Lester_Laminack

Vivian Vasquez is a Professor in the School of Education at American University in Washington, DC. She is a former pre-school and elementary school teacher. Her interests in creating spaces for critical literacies, in early years classrooms, began while she was a kindergarten teacher in the early 90s. She has published numerous articles and book chapters, and she has authored or co-authored fifteen other books including the award winning Negotiating Critical Literacies with Young Children. Vivian’s honors and awards include the Outstanding Elementary Educator in the English Language Arts Award, the NCTE Advancement of People of Color Award , the AERA Division B Outstanding Book of the Year Award and The James N. Britton Award. The NCTE Early Childhood Assembly honored her with a scholarship in her name - The Vivian Vasquez Teacher Scholarship. She can be reached at vvasque@american.edu.