To Understand by Ellin Keene, Chapter 1

To Understand: New Horizons in Reading Comprehension is Ellin Keene’s latest book on the subject of reading instruction with the goal of deeper understanding. Chapter 1 questions what it actually means to understand. Keene revisits a conversation with Jamicka, a student in the class Keene has visited, and is taken by the young girl’s comment: "But, none a y’all ever say what makes sense mean.” So begins Keene’s journey to actually define comprehension beyond the strategies she and Zimmerman outlined in Mosaic of Thought. She questions if it is enough to expect students to retell, answer questions, and learn new vocabulary. The underlying theme of her new book searches for the answer to Jamicka’s question and a definition of comprehension which nurtures and challenges intellectual development. She asserts that only through building intellectual muscle and truly understanding a concept are we able to remember it, revise it, and reapply it later—the keys to lifelong learning! We must begin instruction with an idea that is intriguing, experience it intellectually, and reapply it in new contexts to build intellectual muscle. Keene refers to decades of research to support her claim that students will learn best when concepts are introduced a few at a time, important to the learner, taught in depth, taught over a long period of time, and applied in a variety of texts and contexts. Constant intellectual discussion in the classroom, both about content and how we learn content, is essential if we are to provide the answers to Jamicka’s question. Don’t you agree that this all sounds very familiar to the push for essential questions embedded in our curriculum to make learning more meaningful for our students? Stay tuned for Chapter 2.