A second-grade teacher notices a student cannot answer basic comprehension questions after reading a grade-level text. Which strategy would most effectively promote the student's comprehension, assuming decoding is not the issue?

• A. having the student skim and scan for specific words in the question and the text to look for the answers
• B. teaching the student to use a graphic organizer to extract meaning from texts
• C. providing a lower-level text that is more easily comprehensible
• D. encouraging the student to reread the text a second time before attempting to answer the questions

Answer: (B)

Focusing on meaning-making with a visual structure helps students connect ideas from the text. A graphic organizer gives a clear plan for pulling out what the text is about: the main idea, key details, characters and setting, or the sequence of events and relationships (like cause and effect). When decoding isn’t the problem, organizing this information concretely supports deeper understanding and makes it easier to answer questions with evidence from the text. A story map or main idea/details chart lets the student see how ideas fit together, which builds lasting comprehension.

Skimming and scanning for specific words tends to prioritize finding exact terms over understanding overall meaning. A lower-level text would reduce difficulty but doesn’t build the strategies to comprehend grade-level fiction or nonfiction. Rereading can help, but without a plan to extract meaning, it may just repeat the same gaps.