7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It! [Paperback]

Susan Zimmermann (Author), Chryse Hutchins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2003

It's simple: If children don't understand what they read, they will never embrace reading. And that limits what they can learn while in school. This fact frightens parents, worries teachers, and ultimately hurts children.

7 Keys to Comprehension is the result of cutting-edge research. It gives parents and teachers—those who aren't already using this valuable program—practical, thoughtful advice about the seven simple thinking strategies that proficient readers use:

• Connecting reading to their background knowledge
• Creating sensory images
• Asking questions
• Drawing inferences
• Determining what's important
• Synthesizing ideas
• Solving problems

Easily understood, easily applied, and proven successful, this essential educational tool helps parents and teachers to turn reading into a fun and rewarding adventure.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

It's simple: If children don't understand what they read, they will never embrace reading. And that limits what they can learn while in school. This fact frightens parents, worries teachers, and ultimately hurts children.

7 Keys to Comprehension is the result of cutting-edge research. It gives parents and teachers?those who aren't already using this valuable program?practical, thoughtful advice about the seven simple thinking strategies that proficient readers use:

? Connecting reading to their background knowledge
? Creating sensory images
? Asking questions
? Drawing inferences
? Determining what's important
? Synthesizing ideas
? Solving problems

Easily understood, easily applied, and proven successful, this essential educational tool helps parents and teachers to turn reading into a fun and rewarding adventure.

About the Author

SUSAN ZIMMERMAN is the cofounder of Denver's Public Education and Business Coalition. She lives in Denver.

CHRYSE HUTCHINS is a reading consultant and a staff developer for Denver's Public Education and Business Coalition. She lives in Denver.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (July 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761515496
• ISBN-13: 978-0761515494
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

An internationally-known speaker and workshop leader, Susan Zimmermann is coauthor of the educational bestsellers Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition (2007) and 7 Keys to Comprehension (with Chryse Hutchins, 2003). She cofounded and served as the Executive Director of the Denver-based Public Education and Business Coalition, an organization that has spearheaded ground-breaking comprehension work. During her ten years there, she initiated numerous programs to improve the quality of public schools, including the Reading Project, which has been implemented in more than one hundred schools and provides the examples in Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition, and 7 Keys. As part of Heinemann Speakers, Susan also provides Professional development through Heinemann related to comprehension strategy teaching. Visit her Heinemann Speakers page for more information. Susan is also the author of Keeping Katherine (2005); Writing to Heal the Soul (2002), winner of the Colorado Book Award; and Grief Dancers (1996), finalist for the Colorado Book Award and winner of the Exceptional Parent symbol of excellence for its "profound contribution to human understanding and dignity." These wise and inspiring books grew out of Susan's personal experience of raising her profoundly handicapped daughter Katherine, who developed normally for her first year, but then experienced a devastating neurological disorder (Rett syndrome) that left her unable to walk, talk or feed herself. Currently a full-time speaker and writer, Susan has given hundreds of workshops, keynotes, and summer institutes in over 40 states, throughout Canada, and in Mexico on ways to deepen reading and writing experiences for adults and children. A lover of the wilderness and believer in the transformative power of the outdoors, she has been a trustee of the Colorado Outward Bound School and served as the board chair of The Women's Wilderness Institute, an organization that provides wilderness learning experiences for adolescent girls and women. Susan is a graduate of Yale Law School and mother of four. She lives in the foothills west of Denver. For more information on Susan Zimmermann visit her Web site at www.susanzimmermann.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

110 of 118 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST for Parents and Teachers, August 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It! (Paperback)

I devoured this book!! As a parent and a teacher, I know that this book is valuable for both groups. If children have the benefit of knowing how to think while they read, there can be no stopping them. All of us who love to read may not even realize what we are doing during this process but something wonderful happens when we are engaged with a book: To name and model the "7 Keys" for children is so important for their futures as good readers.

If kids don't "see" what they are reading; (visualize) how can they possibly find meaning? Don't assume that these keys happen naturally all of the time. It is so crucial that we as parents and educators guide our kids through this wonderful discovery process in order to help them "get it" and love it!!

I strongly recommend this book for anyone who cares about literacy and for those helping to develop a generation of life-long readers. If you care about children loving reading: BUY THIS BOOK. If you care about children doing well in school: BUY THIS BOOK. If you care about children doing well in life: BUY THIS BOOK. If you care about children passing standardized tests: BUY THIS BOOK. If you care about children at all, BUY THIS BOOK.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Pedagogy for the Home and for the Classroom, July 9, 2006

By 

Avi Shmidman (Alon Shvut, Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It! (Paperback)

Usually, after a kid has learned her phonics, she can sit down with a book and explore its inner world. Sometimes, however, one encounters a kid who can read perfectly fine, but who just doesn't get it; no matter how many times she is asked to "focus", she will finish the book with little more information than with which she started. If you are entrusted with the education of the latter type of child, than this book can provide valuable insight and direction.
Susan Zimmermann and Chryse Hutchins have successfully isolated the processes which are used (subconsciously) by natural readers in order to make the leap from phonics to understanding. Each one of these processes receives a full treatment, containing conceptual, demonstrative, and pedagogic angles.
Notably, the pedagogic sections present a dual outlook, first providing effective techniques for parent-child sessions, and afterward describing practical strategies for the classroom. To be sure, these two approaches are not exclusive; parents will find that the classroom strategies are often applicable for the home as well, and teachers will want to make use of the parent-child techniques when working one-on-one with students. Nevertheless, the successful simultaneous consideration of both frameworks clearly distinguishes the present volume from many of the other volumes of this genre.
Sprinkled with personal anecdotes of Susan's travels across the Canyonlands, through the streets of ancient Greece, and down the Delaware, all of which serve as illuminating metaphors for the various Keys to Comprehension, this book is truly a journey through inner minds and outer worlds.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT parent resource, March 17, 2007

By 

ardnam "ardnam" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It! (Paperback)

I purchased this book in the hopes of finding something "new" to instill in my classroom teaching. I feel this book is more beneficial for parents than teachers, but both groups will find this book useful. I suppose that since my graduate studies were in the field of literacy and reading, I have already been exposed to most of what is in the book. I love that the authors end chapters with a section called "Teachers and Parents Together" and I truly hope that all who read this book will endeavor to strengthen the home-school relationship. This book is not too academic for parents without a background in education; it is reader-friendly and organized in a manner that would allow the reader to read it for short spans of time if desired. The index is useful. So, while I did not quite get what I had hoped for, I also did not walk away with nothing. This book is a good resource. I am going to keep my copy and have it on hand for the parents of my students to borrow. This book is a very good value for its price.