Profiles in Comprehension

Abstract

When children are asked questions that invite them to react and respond thoughtfully to what they have read, teachers can gain a great deal of insight into the thinking habits of their students. Discussions of ideas offer teachers valuable opportunities to observe their students' thinking habits and skills, the breadth and precision of their background knowledge, and the ways that they use that background as they read. Based on an analysis of thousands of student responses to higher level questions, the authors identified eight distinct profiles of thinking, each of which reflects one or more errors in logic or some significant distortion in the reader's view of the nature of reading. The authors then suggest how instructional needs revealed by this analysis can be matched to specific teaching strategies. By removing obstacles to clear and thoughtful response to text, teachers can offer their students more opportunities for engaged and rewarding reading.