Identify comprehension gaps with these reading cards

October 3, 2022

Note for Teachers and Parents

Are your students easily confused when reading texts on their own? Boost every boy’s comprehension skills with these visually appealing A4 cards.

These cards make reading more interactive for boys. By ‘turning-and-talking‘, these cards get boys talking about what they are reading DURING reading! These cards are an excellent way to scaffold reading comprehension, but you can also use each one after reading (except the ‘prediction’ card).

Many teachers ask their students to read texts outside of school. Older students need scaffolding when reading texts independently, and that scaffolding should come in various forms – not just annotation. If you know your students (or son) are going to examine a difficult text ~ one that you anticipate will have elements of confusion ~ it’s best if you cover the text in class (rather than assign large parts as homework). (I advise parents to also read the text independently so that you can offer help if asked.)

These cards will help every reader in your classroom. Utilise them in the following ways: students reading silently, with a partner, with a small group, listening to the teacher read, or an audio recording.

When you approach a section of the text that you think will confuse students, pause and have the boys complete as many ‘turn-and-talk’ task cards as you’d like.

Here are some ideas on how to use this resource:

our digital copy means that you can project the questions on the screen
ask a student to come to the front and draw a card
ask a student to read a prompt off a card from his seat
use them in literature circles
do you use book clubs? these work well with this format
or have them flip through the cards with a partner

Another option is to scaffold boys’ independent reading experiences by assigning chapters. For example, I recently taught The Merchant of Venice. On the day the chapters were ‘due’, give each student a different card. Have the boys get into pairs or groups according to like numbers. They can discuss their answers as groups and then report to the class. This technique has proven successful as providing a safe place for students to identify and discuss areas of confusion with complex texts.

The versatility of these cards is that they all focus on essential reading comprehension skills that you can apply to both fiction and non-fiction texts! Use them with short stories, plays, articles, plays and novels.

When you use these turn-and-talk discussion task cards, you’ll get a better idea of what is confusing your students; therefore, you’ll be able to help the boys get back on track and comprehend the text more efficiently.

Reading comprehension strategies targeted in this product include predicting, connecting, summarizing, visualizing, inferring, questioning, analyzing, evaluating, and more.

This product contains 20 different discussion task cards, each of which targets a different reading comprehension strategy.

We trialled these with teachers and here’s some feedback:

“The comprehension task cards are very colourful and engaging, which appealed to the boys. The questions are very helpful in guiding discussions.” (Trish)

“My class has enjoyed using the cards in discussion groups. This has proven, at least for my students, to be a great motivator for reading and building upon their confidence.” (David)

Looking for a program to engage and further improve your learners’ literacy levels?

Literacy for Boys and Literacy for Kids have been adopted in over 50 schools around Australia, NZ, and the Asia Pacific. Contact us for a FREE trial in your school. See for yourself how our engaging programs are boosting literacy levels in the next generation!