In this blog post, the focus is on three essential components of effective reading instruction: comprehension, metacognition, and critical thinking. These skills are not only crucial for student success in the classroom but are also heavily emphasized on teacher certification exams for reading and English at the middle and high school levels.
Understanding Comprehension and Higher-Order Thinking
Comprehension goes far beyond decoding words on a page. Once students move past foundational skills like phonological awareness and phonics, they begin applying meaning-based strategies—predicting, summarizing, analyzing, and connecting outside knowledge to text. On your certification exam, terms like higher-order thinking, rigor, and critical thinking are always strong indicators of the correct answer when discussing reading comprehension.
Teaching Metacognition Through Modeling
Metacognition—thinking about one's thinking—is the engine behind deep comprehension. Students must learn how to monitor their understanding, question the text, self-correct, and clarify as they read. One of the best ways to teach this is through modeling your own thinking aloud: breaking down unknown words, rereading confusing text, and demonstrating how to use context clues. This shows students how expert readers process information.
🎥 Watch the full video for a complete breakdown and practical examples to support passing your exam 🎥