Comprehension First: Inquiry into Big Ideas Using Important Questions
In Comprehension First, Claudia Cornett has synthesized research and professional wisdom to explain why children should be respected as meaning generators. Her definition of literacy challenges educators to focus on the big picture, the human need to create meaning from and in diverse communication forms. Cornett describes abundant instructional strategies to show teachers how to emphasize meaning-making while teaching students to purposefully decode symbols in 21st century print, digital, and multimedia texts. It makes sense to teach even our youngest students to ask important questions that lead to 'big ideas' derived from texts--the process Cornett calls 'Comprehension Problem Solving.' I have been communicating this message in various abbreviated 'sound-byte' formats and forums for many years. I am overjoyed that there's now a book dedicated to treating the concept of 'comprehension' in depth, at length, and in a scholarly fashion. --Brian Cambourne, Associate Professor and a Principal Fellow at the faculty of education at the University of Wollongong, Australia