Reading comprehension strategies for grown-ups

Reclaiming my focus by returning to my English teacher roots

When I say “my brain is broken” (which I’ve been saying a lot lately), what I mean is:

• I’m struggling to make simple decisions.

• I wanted to listen to you, but everything you just said went in one ear and out the other.

• I try to read, but the words swim in front of my eyes.

• I can’t access deeper thinking the way I’m used to.

• I’m staring at my phone too much because it’s the only thing I feel like my brain can do right now.

I’ve been through various “broken brain” periods, usually related to over exhaustion, mental health dips, burn out, hormones, or all of the above—and I’ve learned to ride the wave instead of fighting against it. However, there comes a time when I start to feel like myself again, and my brain requires some gentle rebooting. Putting my phone in the other room is a good start, but when it comes to getting back into books (a core piece of my being and my work), I need more intentional tools to boost my brain back into action.

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I taught 9th and 10th grade English for five years, and my students filled the entire spectrum of reading levels. In working towards deeper reading and critical analysis, we had to scaffold core comprehension skills.

With my scattered focus and limited attention span these days, I figured it was time to pull out some of the key strategies I used in the classroom, with a more mature twist.

In order to make these strategies work for my brain, I need to keep them low key, fun, and easy. I’m not about to give myself homework on top of everything else I have going on! The goal here is to engage in a little bit of metacognition in order to regain focus and stamina in my reading life.

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Reading Short Texts

An eleven page short story might not seem intimidating to you, but to a 9th grader who hates reading, it’s a seemingly eternal task. To ease my students into longer texts, I started with poetry. I know—poetry can be scary, too! But not to my students. Exploring endless possibilities for meaning and emotion in a small word count gave them a boost of confidence so long as I didn’t crush their interpretations.

I could use a dose of confidence myself, plus reading a 400 page novel feels like too much for me right now, so I’m reading poetry. I’m about halfway through Instructions for Traveling West by

Joy Sullivan

, reading about one section per night. I’m working my way up to full novels by listening to audiobooks and rereading a childhood favorite, but I’m not pressuring myself to tackle any long texts for awhile. (Luckily, our

Novel Pairings

selections for April were short plays!)

Making Inferences

To move from reading comprehension to analysis, a reader must learn to make inferences, or guesses, about what will happen next, how a character feels, or how a story might end. For many adult readers, this process happens without our realizing it. We automatically fill in the blanks and interpret a text in order to draw our own conclusions, but a young reader often needs to practice this process before integrating it into their automatic reading experience. I used various activities in the classroom to achieve this purpose, but they all boil down to pausing, asking, and being bold. Pause your reading, ask yourself a question (like: what do I think will happen next?), and make a guess, even if it might be wrong.

My students needed bookmarks, posters, and verbal reminders to engage in this process, but I just need to slow down and pay attention to my automatic inferences. Sometimes Often, this looks like talking to myself. While I was listening to James by Percival Everett, I had a hunch about where he was taking the relationship between Jim and Huck. “Is he really going there?” I said out loud to myself, my toddler, and the dog. He did go there, but even if I would have been wrong, the intentional pause helped me soak in the details I’d already gathered and listen more closely for more clues to support my inference.

Mind Map Annotations

I sat through way too many district curriculum meetings about mind maps, like they were a magical key to unlocking our students’ comprehension and critical thinking skills. Sure, for some visual learners a mind map helped cement certain concepts or plot points—but overall, maps weren’t going to be the quick fix the district wanted them to be.

As a visual learner myself, I do, however, enjoy connecting characters, quotes, and themes with mind mapping—but you could just call it taking notes!

On a blank page in the front of my current read, I write down main character names, themes, and sometimes motifs. When I start making connections between literary devices or plot points, I try to group my notes by theme in order to visualize the threads coming together. Sometimes I’ll transfer my front cover notes to a notebook page where I can create something resembling a bubble map. When I’m finished reading, I can look at my “mind map” to help me summarize, analyze, or discuss the novel (especially for Novel Pairings episodes).

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These three comprehension strategies are working well for me right now because they don’t feel like work. I’m savoring my nightly poetry, reveling in my correct guess about James, and having fun with pens, highlighters, and handwriting in my books. Like my students, I hope to use these tools and one day realize that reading feels easier. I know it will happen—I’ve seen it before.

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To find out more about my current reads, favorite things, and life updates follow me on Instagram. If you’re interested in reading classic literature with accessible guidance and a cozy community, check out the Novel Pairings podcast and Patreon.