Make It Make Sense: Fostering Children of Color from Minoritized Communities’ Comprehension Through Student-Generated Decodable Readers

Abstract

When young children of Color from minoritized communities read decodable readers mandated by their school districts, children approach reading the texts with the expectation that the texts will make sense. While decodable readers allow children to apply their knowledge of phonics skills in context to support their word recognition, they tend to lack meaning and are not written in typical oral speech patterns. Therefore, many children may benefit from engaging in weekly instruction using student-generated decodable readers (SGDRs) that not only support their decoding development but support their reading comprehension as well. The author includes illustrative examples of how first and second-graders created SGDRs to support their decoding and, simultaneously, their comprehension development.