Sarah Lanier’s Blog Post #3: Routman Chapter 8: Teach Comprehension

I love the phrase from Routman in this chapter that, “If we want readers to be critical thinkers, inquirers, and problem solvers, we need to introduce them to challenging, interesting texts.”  How true is this for all students?  Even though I teach a Horizons class, it cannot be merely expected that when they walk through the threshold of my classroom that they will automatically be critical thinkers and problem solvers.  These skills, like comprehension, must be taught, modeled, and practiced.  One way in which to do this is to provide scaffolding for creating and understanding worthwhile texts that aid in fostering critical thinking skills and problem solving skills.  It is through reading comprehension of these types of texts that students can sharpen their skills in these areas.