Background Knowledge

One common problem for struggling readers is having difficulty with reading comprehension. There are many causes for students not comprehending what they have read including spending too much energy on decoding the text. An easy fix is to lower the difficulty of the reading material so that less energy is spent on word calling so that more attention can be given to comprehension. Another reason for lack of comprehension is that students do not have background knowledge on the topic. It is important to build background knowledge prior to starting a new story and continually activate student knowledge and connections while reading the text.
One way that you could activate background knowledge is to use a quick video of the topic from websites such as  http://www.youtube.com/ or share one of your personal experiences that relates to the text. Not only do videos increase students background knowledge but it gives them motivation for reading. For more information about background knowledge, read this article: http://www.bnkst.edu/literacyguide/back.html