Reading Comprehension Workshop

Teaching Non-fiction Reading Strategies

As a reader, how do I distinguish what is important from what is interesting? What from my background knowledge helps me as I learn something new? What is the author’s purpose: to inform, persuade or entertain? These are just some of the questions young readers are learning to answer in classrooms across Northeast Nebraska. Chryse Hutchins, co-author of The 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It! demonstrated classroom lessons at Wakefield Elementary on April 8^th. Wakefield teachers Lynette Haisch, Jaime Manz and Hillary Snyder have been teaching students how to create pictures in their mind while they read, to make connections to what they know, and how to identify key ideas while reading.

Twenty-five educators from Niobrara, Omaha Nation, Pender, South Sioux City, Wakefield, Winnebago and Wayne State College are a part of Project LIFE: Literacy Is For Everyone. Amy Hill, Staff Development Consultant at Educational Service Unit #1 received funding through a competitive grant from the Nebraska Improving Teacher Quality: State Grants Program. Teachers in grades 4-8th are working together to increase their content knowledge in the areas of reading comprehension, questioning and using non-fiction texts. They are reading a variety of professional resources, observing classrooms, examining student work, creating and sharing lesson plans, and discussing the best strategies to use with a variety of learners.

Chryse Hutchins is a national and international reading consultant, who has been a staff developer for Denver’s Public Education and Business Coalition for 14 years. She has also been an adjunct professor of literacy at the University of Denver. She regularly works in the classroom with students and teachers demonstrating reading strategies.

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