I know I should read more, but I’m so busy, it takes time to read, and so much of what I try to read doesn’t really make that much sense to me …” Those can be the words of a third grader or, just as easily, the words of an adult. In our hurry-up world of bits and bytes, and the need for instant gratification, the sad and simple truth is that people don’t read as much as they used to and, more tragic, they understand what they read far less than in the past.

In this practical, hands-on Guide, the author, a Master Teacher with more than thirty-five years of practical success teaching both children and adults of all ages, shares her Ideas on teaching reading comprehension strategies! The underlying message she delivers is: Comprehensive Strategies are important because Reading is an Active, not a Passive, Process.

Reading can seem incredibly complicated. It involves not only making sense of the squiggles on a page – deciphering the alphabetic code and figuring out the words, but reading also entails giving meaning to, understanding, and thereby enjoying what we read.

Reading comprehension is absolutely critical to communication, whether it involves a doctor healing a patient, a lawyer presenting an argument in court, an astronaut needing to know how to repair a malfunction when he is thousands of miles above the earth, or, most important, enriching and widening the scope of your life! In fact, you cannot think of one area of learning or practice where understanding what you read is not absolutely essential.

The more you understand what you read, the less of a drudgery and the more of a joy it becomes. Reading is the key that unlocks the door to the universe.

Get ready to start a great adventure – and to grab hold of the key that will unlock the door to your universe!

Lorraine Gerstl is truly a woman for all seasons! She taught deaf children in her native South Africa before emigrating to the United States, where she raised her own children, then recommenced her teaching career at Briarcliff Academy / Robert Louis Stevenson before moving to Santa Catalina for nearly three decades as its beloved third-grade teacher. Since her “retirement” in 2017, she formed a partnership with Margie Lotz, a colleague from Santa Catalina: Omni Learning Center, which provides educational enrichment for homeschoolers. Lorraine has produced, directed, and acted in plays, musicals, variety shows, picked up a National Disney Teacher of the Year nomination, and traveled a good slice of the world in the process. An editor and internationally published writer, who won’t hesitate to stretch her students’ reach to the stars, she still revels in her favorite title – “Mom.”

76 Pages, Published by OMNI Learning Center Educational Guides,2020.

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OMNI Learning Center Educational Guides: Guide to Study for Success, Guide to Manners & Etiquette, Guide to Theater in the Classroom, Guide to Reading Comprehension Strategies.