There are five key elements to better reading comprehension:
1. Understanding the main idea and the details that support it. The main idea is a short summation of what the story is all about: “Wizarding student Harry Potter must defeat the evil Voldemort”; “Charlotte the spider uses her writing skills to keep her friend Wilbur the pig from the slaughterhouse.” The details could be the setting, the plot or the characters’ personality.
2. Understanding the theme. Students often have trouble telling the difference between the theme and the main idea. The theme is the universal message of the story and can repeat throughout different works of literature, but the main idea is unique to each story. For example, thousands of books center around the theme “You can’t escape your fate,” yet each of those stories has its own main idea – for example, Oedipus Rex, Macbeth and Madam Bovary.
3. Understanding the setting and the author’s background. The setting of a story refers to both the actual location of the book’s events and the time period in which they take place. Talking to your child about the setting will help him/her understand the book’s historical significance. Learning some basic information about the author’s life can give your child greater insight into understanding and appreciating the story, as well. Many works of fiction are either semi-autobiographical or reflect the writer’s personal philosophies.
4. Making inferences or drawing conclusions. We do this all the time in real life. We make inferences every time we make a snap judgment about someone based on where he comes from, what he says, how he looks or what his personality is like. When we use those traits to judge what kind of a friend, employee, spouse or political candidate that person might be, we’re drawing conclusions. Encourage your child to do the same thing with the characters in the literature s/he reads.
5. Relating the book’s theme to present-day life. Classical literature is timeless because its themes and characters are still relevant and relatable in today’s society – and will probably still be that way a thousand years from now. As your child reads, ask, “What lessons does the work teach that still hold true today?” Romeo and Juliet may have been written 500 years ago, but 21st-century couples still fall in love despite opposition from their families or society.
Vera Borukhov founder of Veracity Learning Inc., devoted to providing English and Entrepreneurial education to uncover your child’s genius. Contact Veracity to better your child’s school experience and give you peace of mind. 718-790-8911//www.veracityleraning.com
