Working with Text

Rethinking Reading Comprehension: Bringing Joy Back to Reading

When I was in elementary school, reading comprehension was one of my least favourite parts of the day. Typically, we’d be reading a class novel, and our comprehension work came in the form of a thick duotang filled with endless chapter questions. Most of them asked for random, surface-level facts, details that didn’t deepen our understanding or spark our thinking.

If you couldn’t answer a question, the teacher would remind you to “go back and find it in the book.” It wasn’t about thinking, it was about hunting for right answers. The process slowed down reading and, more importantly, drained the joy from it.

Fast forward to my first year of teaching, when I found myself unsure where to begin with reading and writing instruction. The teacher across the hall kindly handed me, ironically, stacks of comprehension booklets to go with our novel studies. So that’s what I did. It was all I knew.

Over time, though, as I grew in both confidence and experience, I began to search for something better. I wanted my students to love the books we were reading, to connect, question, and feel something, not just fill in blanks. Of course, comprehension still mattered, but I became convinced there had to be a more meaningful way to teach it.

That’s when I started exploring other approaches. I found open-ended graphic organizers that encouraged deeper thinking. I dove into the work of literacy experts like Faye Brownlie, Adrienne Gear, and Donalyn Miller, whose ideas reshaped my understanding of reading instruction. They reminded me that reading and writing are not worksheets, they are acts of creativity, curiosity, and connection.

When my teaching partner and I had the opportunity to design a school-wide literacy stations model, we wanted to make sure reading comprehension wasn’t reduced to another set of questions. We looked for ways to create a Working with Text station that was easy to differentiate, engaging, and tied directly to what we were already teaching in class.

We experimented; interactive notebooks (too much cutting and pasting!), digital tools, and countless templates. What worked best turned out to be simple, low-prep activities that built on what students were learning during whole-class lessons. For example, when we were teaching summarizing or finding the main idea and supporting details, students practiced those same skills during their literacy station time, but with texts at their own instructional level.

Our goal was to make comprehension practice feel like an extension of real reading, not an interruption to it. Once we had practiced an activity together, students could apply it independently, no matter what they were reading.

Because here’s the truth: reading comprehension doesn’t have to steal the joy of reading.
Students can jot down questions on sticky notes, highlight “show, don’t tell” moments, or find quotes that help them visualize the story, all while staying immersed in the text.

The purpose is the same: helping students think while they read. But the experience is entirely different. When comprehension becomes about curiosity instead of correctness, the joy of reading stays alive.

As teachers, we’re constantly balancing the “must-dos” of literacy instruction with our desire to help students fall in love with reading. The shift away from rote memorization work isn’t about abandoning rigour; it’s about reclaiming purpose. When students engage in authentic thinking; questioning, visualizing, connecting, and reflecting, they build the comprehension skills that truly matter.

In Making Time for It All, I talk about creating space for the kind of literacy learning that is comprehensive, high-quality, and joyful. That’s what rethinking comprehension is really about: making time for students to wonder, not just answer.

If you’re looking for ways to bring more meaning (and less paperwork) into your reading program, try replacing your next worksheet with a thinking prompt, a sticky note, or a short discussion that asks, “What made you think?” You might just find that comprehension and joy can grow side by side.

What are some of your favourite ways to support students reading comprehension?