Improving Reading Comprehension in the Content Areas using TWA

Interpreting and applying knowledge from complex text presented in content area classes such as science, social studies, and elective classes is often referred to as the , “quiet crisis” in American education (Gunning, 2003, p.7). The US department of education identified reading comprehension as a major challenge in educating students with disabilities. They systematically reviewed interventions to support students in improving in their reading comprehension skills and concluded that when teachers "give students opportunities to ask and answer questions consistently while reading,” can significantly improve reading comprehension in the content areas.

When students with disabilities develop a routine of connecting knowledge, making inferences, and asking questions during reading, significantly increases their understanding of what they read. Required text in middle and high school content areas become increasingly complex as students progress from grade level to grade level. Think before reading, think while reading, think after reading (TWA), is an effective strategy for special educators and teachers who support students with disabilities in improving their reading comprehension in the content areas. TWA is a part of my Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) repertoire which I often use to help students meet IEP goals in reading comprehension and written expression. This strategy can be easily integrated into intensive intervention plans, lessons, classroom routines or study strategies.  

You can access the graphic organizer I created for the TWA strategy here.

The nine-step procedural facilitative framework for promoting text engagement before, during and after reading consist of the following:

To stimulate student’s prior knowledge, prior to reading, students are asked to identify:

1. The purpose for reading

2. Three things that were already known about the topic

3. What they wanted or needed to learn

To connect student’s prior knowledge to the text and expand their understanding while reading they will:

1. Monitor their reading speed

2. Link what they already know to what you are reading

3. Reread anything they find confusing

After reading the student will:

1. Identify the main idea of each paragraph

2. Identify the critical supporting details

3. Create a written summary

Implementation: I never “teach” SDI to individual students in the general education classroom setting. I believe it is best to pull students out of class or have them meet you in your classroom or the library at a specific time. Secondary students who are struggling with reading comprehension often experience shame, which was my experience as a struggling reader so be discrete! Use the following guide to teach this strategy to your student.

Lesson 1: provides students with a context and a rationale for learning the nine reading comprehension strategies and explains how students can use the intervention in the content areas. Help students understand what taking charge and being strategic means when reading with a goal of understanding. In explaining how the TWA strategy works, introduce the strategy as a whole and then the before, during, and after pieces before getting buy in from your student to learn and use TWA in class.

Lesson 2: Student will begin by telling you or write down what they remember of the nine reading comprehension strategies, as having them know them as well as use them is part of the teaching-learning process. Modeling of the TWA strategy is the focus of the second lesson and modeling can continue for as many sessions as you believe is necessary to provide the students with a firm foundation for moving forward.

Lesson 3: Use the infamous, (I do-We-do-You do) framework to focus on guided practice and making the TWA process more student-centered. Explicitly teach and model the main idea strategy for each paragraph. and then model the summary development process before teaching students to write summaries to state what they learned from reading. Have students use the TWA checklist to determine if they completed all parts.

Lesson 4: Independent practice and monitoring of their use of the reading comprehension strategies. Students move systematically through the before, during, and after steps, reinforcing them as they demonstrate on the TWA checklist what strategies are being used.  

Lesson 5: Fade out the check list or graphic organizer. Provide guidance on how to complete a written summary that includes a main idea and critical supporting details.

Evaluating. This intervention would be an effective progress monitoring tool, then consider conducting an oral retell after each lesson so that growth over the course of the teaching process can be gauged as well. And from the perspective of ensuring that the lessons were implemented as intended, consider using the checklist in Table X to determine whether TWA was implemented as intended. The checklist helps you determine the completeness of the modeling and guided practice phases of TWA. 

For more resources, practices, and strategies to support your student with disabilities, join our professional learning community, The Guru Collective click here for more information.