7 Keys to Comprehension by Susan Zimmermann

by Susan Zimmermann

It's If children don't understand what they read, they will never embrace reading. And that limits what they can learn while in school. This fact frightens parents, worries teachers, and ultimately hurts children.7 Keys to Comprehension is the result of cutting-edge research. It gives parents and teachers—those who aren't already using this valuable program—practical, thoughtful advice about the seven simple thinking strategies that proficient readers Connecting reading to their background knowledge Creating sensory images Asking questions Drawing inferences Determining what's important Synthesizing ideas Solving problemsEasily understood, easily applied, and proven successful, this essential educational tool helps parents and teachers to turn reading into a fun and rewarding adventure.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Teachers, Parenting, School

Paperback

First published July 22, 2003

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! Easy to understand and very helpful. Reading is not simply mastering phonics and sight words. It is creating meaning and interacting with the text. Children do not automatically learn how to do that. Consequently, some children are fluent readers but lack comprehension. This book is written for parents and teachers. I love that the authors include specific ways to teach your child each skill and book suggestions.

The keys are:
1. Create a picture or a movie of what you read in your mind
2. Gain background knowledge. The best way to do this is through personal experience znd connection.
3. Ask questions while you read
4. Draw inferences. If you don't understand something look for clues in the sentences before and after or look at the illustrations.
5. Determine what pieces of information are the most improtant
6. Synthesize or determine the overall meaning and significance
7. Know what to do when you don't understand what you read-reread, read ahead, or look for more information from other sources

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in the hopes that it would help me help my dyslexic child in her reading. There have been times when she has been unable to tell me anything about what she read, even after reading it aloud fluently. Not one thing. We are now working on implementing the strategies outlined in the book, such as forming questions as she reads, stopping to go back when she realizes her "mind movie" went out of focus, and stopping to look up or ask about words she doesn't know or understand. Unfortunately, because of her learning difference, she seems to have become complacent with not comprehending the majority of what she reads. It's her "normal," so getting her out of that and getting her to read more slowly and deeply is a challenge.

[I Contain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that reminds us of the components needed to create a successful reader as well as insight into helping these skills become tangible for our young readers.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note to self: Take away- highlight action words when reading with Luke. The book is probably best suited to higher functioning autistic kids.

[Amber Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy read

This was an easy to understand book for parents on how to help their children understand what they read and how to love to read.

[Anna rzk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good strategies ,recommend to ELA teachers

[Caroline Shelatz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really appreciated the information in this book and look forward to using it in the future.

[refine here · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is full of tips for teachers and parent who keen to help their kids improve reading comprehension. however i find this book is good for adult too. basically this book emphasize the importance of being an active reader. it suggested to activate our analysis, our visual imagination, asking questions, draw conclusion and relate what we read with our own personal referenced like things we read in the past, movie we watched, places we went, food we ate etc. this book is nicely organized, there is similar section in each chapter that give us a nice structure to go straight to the point of reading. and we can easily go back to read the rest in detail if we need too. every chapter have section on how we can help preschool readers, emerging readers and advancing readers. the section i like the most is crafting session where it give us some activities sample we can do at home or class room. it also has section where it gives us sample of questions that can formulate the skill explained for that particular chpter. in the last chapter there is this section with snoopy comic strip : I READ IT, BUT I DON'T GET iT! basically it says once we lost connection with what we read that means we need to reconfigure back. what are those indication : when we stop having conversation with the text we read, we stop asking question, draw conclusion or predict what might happens. our camera switch off no more visual imagination working. we start to think other things that are not related to to the text etc. oh well! i like this book! i don't mind come back and rereading it again and again ...

[Nan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ever since Stephen Covey published The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, everyone everywhere has been looking for the 7 somethings to success. The result is usually a book that costs a lot and says very little. This book is no exception. Instead of stating 7 different paths to comprehension, the book states 1 thing over and over and over again -- get involved with your child's learning and model good reading. Its reading lists are great. Its approach is superficial. It assumes a certain "normalness". Its seven keys probably won't unlock comprehension for a child who is learning disabled.

[Carolyn Wilhelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is for the adult person who reads aloud to children.

I enjoyed wonderful memories of reading to my children as I read this book and realized how reading aloud helps teach the seven simple thinking strategies that proficient readers use. We develop reading compression for children when we select a broad range of books for a read-aloud time, and discuss the books before, during, and after reading. Reading straight through a book will not help the child engage and discover the meaning of the text. It is tempting to do that when time is short, but when there is the time it is best to discuss the pictures and text.

[Brynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an absolutely excellent book for understanding the basics of reading. Geared towards parents more than teachers, this title still covers the information in a clear, concise manner with specific examples. It also avoids being wordy or using complicated language. The authors make an effort to ensure that most readers will walk away with further knowledge of how kids begin to really read (meaning: comprehend) and what small, manageable things every parent can do to encourage that growth. This is a book I will refer back to frequently.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a class on how to help students be better readers. I knew a lot of the information already, but it did contain good tips and ideas as well as an extensive list of material to help children work on each key. I only gave it four stars because of my background. If I was a parent reading it to help my child, it would have been a 5 star book because it was written more for parents without an education background than for teachers. I highly recommend to anyone who wants to help their children become good readers!

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This went along with our professional development at work. It presents some good ideas and would be a good overview for someone just beginning to teach reading. There are better choices that outline comprehension strategies to teach however.
Choose Debbie Miller's--Reading with Meaning or Stephanie Harvey's--Strategies that work.

I found this book to be more of the same.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I would like to make copies of the "crafting session" notes, as well as the book list. Good tips, great examples. This is mostly common sense for good readers, but good readers' children need guidance too. I am sure I can apply lessons from this book to my work at school and reading at home with Nicco.

[Angie Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to anyone teaching children to read. It gives simple explanations for a extremely complex skill. The authors give recommendations and ideas on how to help increase areas needed to improve reading skills. I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to help improve reading comprehension in those they are working with.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems like a good pace to start in learning about reading comprehension strategies. I would whole-heartedly recommend it to parents. As a teacher, I love it's clarity. I am interested to compare it with recent research on reading comprehension to see how closely if matches research-proven, high-impact activities and methods in teaching comprehension.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the easiest to read professional book on teaching reading comprehension strategies (maybe because it's pitched to parents rather than to teachers?) I highly recommend it, especially to new elementary teachers.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best for helping children comprehend and thoroughly enjoy reading! It's a must for teachers and parents. It has the potential to change how you as an adult read and certainly how you share reading with the children in your life. I keep coming back to it again and again!

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for both beginning teachers and parents. The authors give some clear directions and ideas for how to teach reading strategies. The authors stress the importance of comprehension as a major necessity for readers of all levels.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Im reading this to help one of my boys with his comprehension. Excellent thought here on HOW to develop a reader and YES it can be taught. I think it has strengthened my win reading and I'm already using it with the boys. Definitely recommend.

[Detroitangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this twice for a book study through my childrens' school. The teachers adopted these tools and have had a great response.
It is very easy to follow and gives great references for activities.

[Michael Brockley · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 7 Keys to Comprehension, Susan Zimmerman and Chryse Hutchins have written a practical how-to for teachers and parents that provides not only tips on how to use the seven research-based reading comprehension strategies, but also a chapter devoted to repairing comprehension breakdowns.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for work, but its great!! easy to read and helpful on how to help kids understand what they read.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top notch reading for both parents and teachers supporting readers in using thinking strategies.

[Trista · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book that outlines what students need to be taught to become more proficient readers.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great companion book to Mosaic of Thought.

[Kirsten]

So far it's going real well, an easy read that has some great tips for teaching children to read, and enjoy it.

[Jeannette]

great tips for reading with your children, getting your kids to read and understand.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book. Broekn down wonderfully. This book is a great tool for not just language arts teachers but a great book for any subject. I can use a lot of these keys in the science classroom as well.

[Carrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seems a little like commen sense.