Research School Network: A book that changed the way I teach reading Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension: A handbook Jane Oakhill, Kate Cain and Carsten Elbro

This book is a really comprehensive guide to understanding the complexities of teaching children to read and to really understand the words on the page. One thing that it talks about are mental models and this has really changed how I approach reading with my class.

Mental Models

A mental model is a mental representation created from the information the children read. The book explains how the mental model needs to be activated prior to the children reading a piece of text. This mental model enables them to make sense of what they are reading and have a ​‘click of comprehension’. Children need a context to ​‘hang’ their information on so they can make meaning of the words on the page.

The mental model can be formed by the children reading the title and spending the time to make sense of this and to predict what they might read based on this or it can be a picture linked to the text. It is worth spending some time encouraging the children to build up knowledge linked to this model. For example, if the title is ​‘The Party’ then ask the children to write down all the words they know that are linked to this area. Not only will this help to create their model but it will allow you to see the breadth and depth of the child’s vocabulary knowledge.

Once the child has established this mental model, they are more likely to be able to make meaning from the rest of the text and achieve this ​‘click of comprehension’.

Activating a mental model can be done at any age as it can be teacher-led when the children are younger and throughout their time at school it can be developed and built on so that when children are in Y6 they have the strategy in their ​‘toolkit’ to use as and when they need it.

It could look like a mind map as below.

Or children could draw pictures or label pictures to help them build their depth of vocabulary around a subject.

You could use a picture stimulus like the one below and see what the children talk about from this.

For younger children, you could start by labelling the pictures and then using that as a starting point for discussions such as ​‘What else could we add to this?’ Another important feature of learning to comprehend is to activate the children’s prior knowledge and encourage them to use their own experiences as a reference point. In this instance, most children will be able to talk about a party they have had for themselves or they have gone to. You can then use this discussion to draw out the details to add to their mental model.

Finally, when you open the book or look at the text that is linked to the party, then the children will be ready to make meaning of the words on the page and they will achieve the click of comprehension far easier.