Which strategy best helps students monitor their own comprehension while reading?

Teaching students to use graphic organizers to track key ideas best supports their ability to monitor their own comprehension while reading. Graphic organizers allow students to visually map out the relationships between ideas, themes, and details presented in the text. This strategy facilitates active engagement with the material, enabling students to identify what they understand, where they may have gaps, and how new information connects with what they already know.

When students can visually represent their thoughts and the structure of the content, they are better equipped to assess their understanding in real-time. This process encourages self-reflection and promotes deeper cognitive processing, which is vital for developing comprehension skills. By actively organizing information, students can identify main ideas, supporting details, and any misunderstandings as they read, allowing them to adjust their reading strategies as needed.

In contrast, reading as quickly as possible might hinder comprehension monitoring, as speed can compromise understanding. Memorizing vocabulary prior to reading is useful for building background knowledge but does not provide a direct method for students to engage with the text itself. Responding to questions after reading can reinforce comprehension but does not provide immediate feedback or monitoring while they are actively reading. Using graphic organizers stands out as a proactive approach that encourages ongoing interaction with the text.