Reading Task: Chapter 1, Mihipeka by Mihi Edwards -Vocabulary and Summary Tasks.

The vocabulary matching exercise, which is important in itself, is the time to mention visualisation skills. It's a time to teach how we must create images in our minds when we read a text. It's like creating a video in our heads as we read. The photos, some of which are of the author and her family, help us go back a hundred years to when Mihi was a young woman. It's easy to think that the world has always been how it is now. To comprehend this story we must create an image in our mind of isolated communities before the development of New Zealand's extensive roading network. Before we had large trucks delivering fresh goods from Auckland to Makatu daily, many coastal communities relied on goods arriving by sea in flat-bottomed scows. From this description, we can see why this is a complex comprehension skill. This skill is not automatic for weaker readers and must be taught if we hope to improve comprehension levels at Tamaki College.


Teachers must insist students do their own work with these summary tasks. Seat students in ability groups not in social groups. It is important for students to routinely read short sections of a text and to know that they are required to write a summary of the text they have read. It is equally important for teachers to give feedback based on the quality of a student’s summary. Teachers must also help each student in the comprehension process. Did they highlight the keywords accurately, did they say the keywords silently in their head, did they create sentences using most of the keywords before they wrote their summary? Teachers need to insist on the use of these skills

How Does Parliament Make Laws I Card 4

When students research a topic such as the workings of our democracy are often advised to let students access more than one source. Comparing texts, opinions and the author's purpose is part of the curriculum. Students with weak comprehension skills should not be forgotten when it comes to critical readings of a text but they also need texts which develop or strengthen their comprehension skills. Strengthen first, compare next.

Teaching Comprehension Skills in Curriculum Subjects, Part II

I've sent this rubric to HODs along with a survey on the teaching of comprehension skills. I want to use the rubric to observe classes and to give feedback to teachers on the usage of scaffolded reading tasks. Setting this up could be a major step for the college and may require considerable preparation. I based my rubric on one used at a similar school in South Auckland. I simplified it to focus on a single issue but hope it will inspire discussion around the issue of reading avoidance with staff and students alike.