The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text

by Nancy Hennessy M.Ed., Louisa Cook Moats (Foreword)

Comprehension is a primary ingredient of reading success—but most educators aren't taught how to deliver structured comprehension instruction in their classrooms. K–8 teachers will find the guidance they need in this groundbreaking professional resource from Nancy Hennessy, former IDA President and an expert on reading comprehension. Meticulously researched and masterfully organized, this book offers a clear blueprint for understanding the complexities of reading comprehension and delivering high-quality, evidence-based instruction that helps students construct meaning from challenging texts. Aligned with the science of reading and IDA's Structured Literacy approach, this book is a must for in-service educators and an ideal supplement to pair with core literacy textbooks. Today's teachers will get the essential knowledge and practical tools they need to help every student become a proficient reader—and build a strong foundation for school success. EDUCATORS WILL:

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Professional Development

304 pages, Paperback

Published August 24, 2020

Reviews

[Konrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grounded in research, brimming with clear pathways for classroom implementation. Hennessy is squarely on my Mount Rushmore of SOR heroes.

[Maria Torres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books read for my masters degree count 😤

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went ahead and rounded this book up, however, it's not quite a four (very close). There are A LOT of sciencey terms in here, however, if more educators knew the science of how humans learn to read, maybe we wouldn't have as many struggling readers in our public education system.

This book gives great strategies on how to help students in regard to each strand of Scarborough's Rope. While it contains an overwhelming amount of information, and ultimately completing a blueprint each time I choose a text for my students seems tedious, after completing one for the class I was taking, I found it extremely helpful.

My takeaway is that I'll be using many of the strategies mentioned in this book, as well as sharing them with colleagues. Every teacher is essentially a reading teacher if he or she takes the time to learn the science of reading and use that knowledge to help students, despite the grade level or content taught.

[James Rees · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic teaching resource, but one of the dryest books I've ever read. Not very effective at drumming up excitement about what it's preaching

[Anne Nestor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Resource and very informative. A lot to think about! The reason I put 4 stars is because it is a lot of information and the format of the book is a bit overwhelming with very small text. If you choose to read, I highly recommend doing it as a book study or part of professional development group or cohort where you are discussing as you go as it is a lot take in.

[Audrey Goninan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone thinking that the science of reading is only phonics - read this book! Hennessy has developed a model of comprehension instruction that incorporates the research on essential components of language comprehension tied with evidence-based practices. I only gave it 4 stars because the content was heavy and made my head hurt at times.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5-pretty dense but overall good read. There were some real aha moments.

[Justus · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is easily the worst written book I've read in a long time.

This isn't a case of "it's too complicated and I'm too dumb". If you look at my many Goodreads review, aside from all the genre trash, you can see I occasionally read esoteric stuff like Justice and the Politics of Difference or Social Contract Theory for a Diverse World: Beyond Tolerance or even weird fiction-in-translation like The Taiga Syndrome or So Long a Letter. So I'm reasonably confident that I'm not too dim to understand this.

It's just the author is bad at writing.

I am willing to grant, begrudgingly, that there are some interesting things in here...eventually. But the author (and her editors?) don't seem to understand how to sell a book. What is the "blueprint"? Why should I care? What is this book even about?

It isn't until you are 1/5th of the way in that the author even tries to answer that question!

What is the blueprint for reading comprehension instruction? In the broadest sense, it serves as a master plan or a guide for action. More specifically, it is an evidence-based framework for delivering instruction that facilitates the student’s ability to extract and construct meaning from text. It is not a unit or lesson plan; rather, it is intended to organize and scaffold the teacher’s preparation of varied texts for varied purposes. The framework can be used flexibly for reading one passage or multiple texts. Although all components are considered critical to comprehension, the teacher’s instructional focus is determined by student needs. The blueprint calls for the use of evidence-based strategies and activities but allows for the teacher to choose those that are most appropriate to his or her students and the educational context. It also acknowledges the metacognitive nature of teaching by prompting educators to ask and respond to a series of questions related to the design of instruction—questions that address both the process and product demands of comprehension.

What was all that preceding stuff even about? I highly recommend every single person skip it and just go straight to "Section II: The Blueprint".

This is one of the worst examples of "academic" writing I can recall reading. What do I mean by "academic" writing. I don't jargon or complex arguments. I mean this weird inability to state things directly and always feel to the need to refer to someone else rather than risk saying something yourself. It is full of circumlocutions and hedging and...what are you even trying to say in this passage?

For instance, the author is too insecure to simply say "you need to build knowledge and not just focus on decoding skills". Instead she quotes Tim Shanahan (2017) who says that. The author can't just say "when you read a text you need come away from it with something". She quotes Shanahan (2018) who says that.

How many times does the author "the informed educator", like some matra? (55 times.)

It is a shame because I think there is actually stuff that could be salvaged. If you actually survive until chapter 4 (approximately 1/3rd of the way into the book) the author (finally) starts introducing practical things, like the Word Meaning Map and scripts for "Check Your Understanding".

One hopes that other authors (or editors) are able to shape all of this into something with way less academicese and way more real world usefulness.

[Andy]

DNF. Good review of Science of Reading at the beginning. But then when it comes to specific techniques for teaching, the author sometimes resorts to hand-waving along the lines of "There is little doubt..." I suppose this is a fair reflection of the difference between what is known about learning to read vs. what is known about teaching to read. I think the Blueprint is a practical step in the right direction. But at this point it seems more science-informed than evidence-based.

[Kelsey Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book helps practitioners to better understand the language comprehension skills that are necessary for reading comprehension.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough, complete with a scope and sequence and suggested activities for each part of a comprehensive reading curriculum. Of course, Hennessy's thoroughness also results in a very dense text, which makes it difficult to parse at times. I'm lucky to be very familiar with most of the terminology and concepts she covers, but others who are not as fortunate may find this resource to be a bit overwhelming. Still, it's worth taking the time to dissect. I see myself using this over the summer to enhance my reading instruction for next year's students.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up to use as the basis for professional development off of the recommendation of the state subcommittee on ELA. It was incredible; a lot of information in an easily comprehensible and usable format. Appendices include lesson/unit planning templates, visuals of the main learning points, and a book study guide. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to improve their reading comprehension instruction.

[Jessica Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took LETRS and have a much better understanding of decoding and word recognition. But I felt like comprehension and language skills did not receive the attention I needed to address my classroom concerns. This book has touched on many things in more depth that I have had before. Now to prepare units and lessons for the upcoming school year and hopefully teaching kids to be skilled readers, not merely decoders.

[Colleen Aben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid resource with a lot of suggestions. In my opinion there are a lot of layers to it. In order to find what I'm looking for, I'm going to have to re-read and really dig into the book. I didn't feel like everything was as straightforward and deep as I was hoping for in terms of writing lessons, but still useful.

[Katelynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a work book club. I was hoping for a more specific “blueprint” with how to effectively teach the science of reading with fidelity, particularly to struggling readers, and I feel that it missed that mark for me. There were some helpful strategies and organizers, but beyond that it wasn’t anything new and exciting.

[Turquoise Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one - simple plain language on topics that we have all heard of for reading instruction but connects each chapter to the reading rope and includes support for interventions , and ELL's but mainly on how to pitch high with practical quick turnaround practices.

[Leigh Martella · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most important books about teaching reading that I've read. It's dense but there are many great resources (including those in the book and on the website) helping unpack the ideas in the text and how to apply them in practice.

[Alexi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll keep this textbook as an excellent reference for the best-practices for teaching literacy. However, it is mostly theoretical and how a teacher could actually tailor every lesson to every student is missing.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The anticipation of reading this wasn’t worth it. I wish there was more explanation of application. I feel like I don’t know how to incorporate this. I was underwhelmed.

[Heather Roche · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great resource for building educator knowledge of the critical components for successful comprehension. Highly recommended!

[Merica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could read this book again and again! I thought I knew a lot about comprehension and Scarborough's Rope, but the more I read, the more I learn.

[Katie Proctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great! So much information based on research and the science of reading. Will be using it a bunch to plan for next year!

[Kim Shank · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you teach intermediate or secondary, I highly recommend this book when planning for comprehension instruction.

[Kimberly Beasley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent comprehensive explanation of the science of reading. It’s meaty. I feel like it will take more than one read to fully grasp the entirety of it.

[Kristen Iworsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is dense. I’ll definitely read it again because I know I didn’t grasp everything.

[Angela Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great information on the science or reading and Scarborough's rope. There are activities I bookmarked to implement in my classroom next year. I just wish there were more ideas.

[Lindsey McDermott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like this book was written in unnecessary complicated language. I think I knew most of the information as well. I suppose I was fortunate to have had quality instruction on the critical components of comprehension before reading it. I feel this is an area many teacher candidates are well-versed in. Overall, the vocabulary suggestions were very helpful. I also liked the templates provided. We did this as a book study, and I don’t think any of us veteran educators learned much that was new…more or less…comprehension is complicated. All of the strands of the Reading Rope matter. Background knowledge and vocab are key. (Saved you reading the book.)

[Ann Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

For understanding what research says about the various strands of the top part of Scarborough’s rope, language comprehension - I think this is a fantastic resource. But it is DENSE! I think some will be disappointed it doesn’t have more practical application, but I think the better way to use it would be to be to examine your own curriculum with the blueprint as a guide for best practice. Sine I’ve been operating in the K-2 world of foundational skills intervention the past couple years, this was a good focus on current research in comprehension. By no means a breezy read though! 😅

[Susie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just completed this book for my CALP program. It’s a heavy-lifter, but chalk full of fantastic information. Comprehension is not just one skill, but rather a host of knowledge, abilities, and skills that must be tapped into, developed, and explicitly taught. Highly recommend as a book study with other educational leaders interested in developing and refining their instruction.

[Jean Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consider this a TEXTbook! It’s not an easy read. If you are looking for something more accessible, first read Know Better, Do Better: Comprehension by the Liebens. For this book, though, I recommend reading Section 3 about implementation and all the appendices first and then reading the entire book front to back (one chapter at a time with time for reflection after each chapter).