Critical Comprehension [Grades K-6]

Because high-level comprehension cannot be divorced from wide-ranging texts

To be literate is to think through multiple perspectives, exploring diverse texts, and using the power of story to give students the life skills to discuss just about anything with critical curiosity. Critical Comprehension transforms this vital work into an accessible, three-step lesson process.

Using picture books, multimodal texts, and thoughtfully framed questions, each differentiated lesson expands students’ understanding of a text through:

• First read: the “movie read”, during which the text is read without interruption


• Second read: The teacher poses questions that probe deeper meanings through interaction with the text to summarize, name and highlight issues, analyze and infer, to make more informed decisions about what to believe and what to question.


• Third read: Harnessing students’ curiosities, the class revisits the text to talk back to theme, symbols, central idea, or social, cultural, historical influences at work on author and audience

Popular media, classic novels, breaking news — the world’s content is ready for students to absorb. But are we ready to help them read it well? Equipped with this resource, the answer is, Yes, we are.

I so wish I could have read this book years ago when making my first (clumsy) attempts at helping my second and third graders think more critically about the endless stream of texts they consume each and every day. I could have been so much more effective. Katie Kelly, Lester Laminack, and Vivian Vasquez have provided a treasure trove of detailed lessons and resources designed to help justice-minded teachers not only understand the need for literacy learning rooted in efforts to address issues of injustice, but better understand what it might look like in their own classrooms. My hope now is that teachers are brave enough to do the work that needs to be done!