Have you ever experienced this?
Your learner reads all the words in a story correctly, but when you ask, “What happened in the story?” you get a guess, a shrug, silence, or an honest, “I don’t know.”
And sometimes it doesn’t stop there. Some learners begin to shut down. They feel overwhelmed. Over time, they may even start to develop negative feelings toward reading.
I know this experience well.
When I was a kid, I was that kind of reader. I could get through the words on the page, but I didn't always understand what I was reading. Reading never felt enjoyable for me growing up, and I struggled to connect with books.
When I moved to the US and became a teacher, everything changed.
I was introduced to read-alouds and shared reading in a way that completely changed how I viewed literacy instruction. For the first time, I began to understand how important it was to support students not only in decoding words but also in actively thinking about and discussing what they read.
What made the biggest difference for my students was something simple but intentional: using before, during, and after reading questions and explicitly teaching comprehension strategies.
If we want learners to understand what they read, we need to support them by activating and building background knowledge, using metacognitive strategies such as questioning and monitoring comprehension, and engaging actively with the text as meaning is constructed.
Reading comprehension doesn’t just happen at the end of a story. It builds throughout the entire reading experience. This is where asking intentional questions before, during, and after reading plays a powerful role in supporting understanding.
Before-reading questions help learners:
- Get ready for the story
- Activate prior knowledge
- Make predictions about what the story might be about
- Build curiosity and engagement before reading begins
Instead of jumping straight into the text, we invite them to pause and think:
- What might this story be about?
- What do I already know that could help me understand it?
During-reading questions help learners:
- Stay engaged with what is happening
- Check for understanding in real time
- Make connections as new events unfold
This is where comprehension is built moment by moment. It is active meaning-making. Instead of just moving through the text, they are thinking:
- Does this make sense?
- Why did that happen?
- What might happen next?
After-reading questions help learners:
- Organize and deepen their understanding
- Retell what happened
- Reflect on characters, events, and lessons
- Connect the story to their own experiences
They begin to ask themselves:
- What was the story really about?
- What did I learn from it?
- How would I feel if I were in that situation?
The Science of Reading shows that comprehension is not just about decoding words. It requires:
- Language development
- Background knowledge
- Active thinking
- Conversation and discussion
Research consistently shows that when children are guided with purposeful questions before, during, and after reading, they understand stories more deeply and retain information longer.
When we support learners this way, we are doing more than teaching reading skills. We are helping them become active readers who think, wonder, and make meaning from what they read. For many children, this can be the difference between simply decoding words on a page and experiencing the joy of reading.
In Part 2, we will explore another missing piece: fluency and why it serves as the bridge between decoding and understanding.
Check out our Reading Comprehension Packs here.
0 comments