Module 6 · How Do We Plan for Comprehension Instruction?

Start Here

Picture this.

Picture guiding a shared reading lesson, building momentum through a story. A student’s hand shoots up, their connection to the text spiraling into a long tale about their weekend. Another offers an answer, brimming with confidence, but it’s clear they’ve missed a foundational concept. Out of the corner of your eye, you catch a student whispering to their neighbor, pulling focus from the group. You pause to give instructions only to meet blank, uncertain stares. In that quiet moment, you decide: follow the tangent to honor their voice, reteach the concept, address the behavior, or clarify again?

Lee Shulman described teaching as “perhaps the most complex, most demanding, subtle, nuanced, and frightening activity that our species has ever invented.” He’s right. Every minute is packed with decisions: Should I push this question or pivot? Did that explanation land? This intricate balance of planning and reacting is why you can end a day feeling like you’ve run a marathon, only to realize it’s just Tuesday. If you’re exhausted, it’s because this work is exhausting.

You’ve lived a moment like the one above — every teacher has. Bring one to mind from this year. What was happening, and what did you decide in that quiet moment?

There’s no wrong answer here. Those moments are the work — and they’re where this module lives.

The Mindset

Cooks and chefs.

Great teaching lives in the space between a plan and a live response. This is where a strong curriculum becomes essential. It provides a structure that frees teachers from decision fatigue, allowing them to focus their expertise on subtle, real-time choices, such as chasing a student’s question that lights up the whole room.

Consider the difference between a cook and a chef.

A cook follows recipes step-by-step, executing the plan carefully even when they don’t fully understand why each step matters. And this is exactly what they should do — you can’t develop intuition without first building competence through structured practice.

A chef understands the principles behind the cooking. They know how heat transforms ingredients, why certain flavors balance, when to trust the process and when to improvise. They’ve cooked enough recipes to internalize the patterns, so they can taste and adjust based on what they’re observing.

But every chef started as a cook. You don’t begin with intuition — you build it through repeated experience.

This short video walks the whole idea — the messy moments, the space between, and the cook who becomes a chef.

Reflection is how we refine our mental models — and that sentence should sound familiar. The same reflection we need to grow as teachers is exactly what our students need to truly comprehend. This module is about the structured practice side of that bargain: the planning that holds a lesson steady so your judgment is free for the moments that matter.

The Series So Far

You’re not planning empty-handed.

Five modules ago, this series set out one learning goal: I am learning to plan and teach instructional strategies to improve reading comprehension for all learners. Everything since has been building the understanding that planning draws on:

1How do we define comprehension?The Simple View of Reading and Scarborough’s Rope — what comprehension is made of.

2How do skilled readers think?The mental model, the standard of coherence, and what strategic reading looks like from the inside.

3Why do complex texts matter?Text, task, and reader interacting — and how to get to know a text before you teach it.

4How do the reading standards work?The standards as a reader’s questions, working together to build meaning.

5How do we assess comprehension?Process and products — the windows that make invisible thinking visible.

This module is where that understanding goes to work. Not a new pile of knowledge — a place to put it: planning.

The Planning Lens

Target · Text · Task · Teach

Four questions carry the intellectual work of planning. They work at two scales — the unit you’re about to teach, and the lesson you’re teaching tomorrow. Same four questions. Two scales. Open each one to see both.

Unit preparation

What are we building toward?Identify the learning goals (standards and knowledge) and summative assessment that define the unit’s destination.

Daily planning

Where are we going today?Identify the learning target — this anchors the lesson to a clear objective that connects to the broader unit goals and summative assessment.

Unit preparation

What material are we working with?Examine the text sets, complexity levels, and vocabulary demands across the unit.

Daily planning

What are we using today?Identify where the text appears in the lesson and how central it is to the day’s work — not just isolated skills, but grounding instruction in the text students are actually reading.

Unit preparation

How does the work build across lessons?Trace the reading and writing skill progressions to understand how cognitive demands increase throughout the unit.

Daily planning

What’s the cognitive work today?Define what students will do with the text — reading, discussing, writing, or analyzing to deepen understanding and apply skills.

Unit preparation

How do we support it?Plan the routines, formative checkpoints, scaffolds, and differentiation structures that will support students across the unit.

Daily planning

How do I scaffold today?Plan your instructional moves — scaffolds, engagement strategies, and direct instruction needed to support all learners. Who reads the text? How do I support their thinking? How do I check and adjust?

You prepare at unit level. You plan at daily level. You teach with the 3 Decisions.

Notice where the Teach question landed at the daily level: Who reads the text? How do I support their thinking? How do I check and adjust? Those three questions are where planning hands off to teaching.

Open all four to continue.

The Teaching Lens

The 3 Decisions.

Target-Text-Task-Teach is the planning lens — it helps teachers see the lesson’s intentional design before they teach it. The 3 Decisions Framework is the teaching lens — it guides the real-time instructional moves teachers make while executing that design. Once teachers have prepared at unit level and planned at daily level, they’re ready to make real-time instructional decisions.

Every option inside the 3 Decisions sits on one arc: gradual release of responsibility — from the most support to student independence.

More supportLess support

This decision comes directly from examining the Text element. How familiar are students with this text? Is the vocabulary or sentence structure challenging? Do students have background knowledge on this topic?

Teacher reads, students follow→ Echo→ Cloze→ Choral→ Partner Reading→ Independent

Teacher (modeling fluent reading or introducing new content/topic)

Teacher reads, students follow: Teacher or other fluent reader reads while students follow along silently.
Echo: Fluent reader reads a section (sentence or paragraph), then students repeat reading the same section.
Cloze: Teacher reads aloud and pauses at key words for students to read together.

Partners (building fluency with support or revisiting familiar content)

Choral: Students read aloud simultaneously with teacher or fluent reader.
Partner Reading: Students read with a peer, taking turns and supporting each other.

Independent (students can access the text and are applying for practice or assessment)

Strategic Rereading: After working with the text across a few lessons, identify targeted sections for partner or independent rereading based on text-dependent questions.
Independent: Student reads independently without support.

Using audio text: Audio versions of texts can be a valuable tool at any point in instruction — for first reads, rereads, or to provide access. The key is active teacher facilitation: have students follow along in their text, and pause frequently to check understanding, ask questions, or discuss.

This decision flows from both Task and Teach. What will students do with the text today? How will students think about the content? Do students need support expressing their ideas in talking/writing?

A. Modeling/Demonstrating

Model a Think Aloud: Demonstrate your reasoning process out loud so students can see how you think through the text
Choral Reading: Read vocabulary, phrases, or text features together as a class
Activate Prior Knowledge: Reference anchor charts, timelines, or graphic organizers from previous lessons
Simplify Language: Give synonyms or rephrase the question in familiar terms
Give Page, Paragraph, or Sentence: Direct students to where to look in the text
Leverage Text Features: Highlight headings, captions, & bold words to help students

B. Guiding/Questioning

Use prompting: Add prompts like “Can you add onto that?” to push thinking deeper
Question Sequencing: Break complex questions into smaller, guiding steps
Give a Sentence Starter: Helps students get started with their response
Use a Sentence Frame: Provides the academic language structure they need
“Prove It”: Start with an answer, then have students find textual evidence to support it
Relate to Real World: Connect complex ideas to concrete moments students have lived
Redirect to Tools: Prompt students to use their tools (notes, graphic organizers, etc.)

C. Facilitating Collaboration

Turn and Talk: Students share quickly with a nearby partner
Think-Pair-Share: Think alone, discuss with a partner, then share out
Build-a-Response: Partner A gives the idea, Partner B adds the evidence
Use structured protocols: Inside-Outside Circle, Stand Up-Hand Up-Pair Up, etc. with clear roles and timing
Partner Paraphrase: One partner restates a complex sentence for the other
Expand Collaboration Gradually: Partner → small group → whole class with specific purposes at each stage
Allow Movement Choice: Give students agency over where they collaborate while maintaining structure

This decision operates across all four elements but lives most directly in Teach. This is formative assessment in action — Module 5, live in the room: checking understanding, naming what you see, and adjusting your moves mid-lesson to meet students where they are.

A. Check What They Know

Give Think Time: Allow silent processing before expecting an answer
Circulate and Monitor: Move around the room during partner work to listen and gather information about student understanding
Quick Checks: Use thumbs up/down, fist-to-five, or whiteboards to gauge comprehension
Quick Write & Share: Students jot an idea, then share with a partner
Stop and Jot: Students pause to write their thinking in response to text or a prompt

B. Name What You See

Name What You See: Explicitly state patterns you observe in student work or behavior to redirect or reinforce
Show Call: Use a student’s answer as a model for others to see

C. Adjust Your Moves

Stretch It: Ask students to provide more detail, evidence, or complexity beyond their first answer
No Opt Out: Every student is responsible for the answer, even if they need help getting there
Right is Right: Hold out for answers that are complete and precise, not just partially correct
Revoice to Confirm: Repeat what a student said in your own words to check if you understood their thinking correctly
Go back to Decision 1 or 2: Adjust who reads or how you support based on what you’re seeing

Remember

You can use strategies from multiple categories within ONE lesson! Your role as the teacher is to actively facilitate, adjust based on what you see, and choose the right strategy at the right moment.

Open all three decisions to continue.

Try It

Plan one lesson with the lens.

Think of a reading lesson you’ll actually teach in the next couple of weeks. Run it through the four questions at the daily level, then make your first two decisions. Short answers are fine — this is a sketch, not paperwork.

Target Where are we going today?

Text What are we using today — and how central is it to the day’s work?

Task What’s the cognitive work today — what will students do with the text?

Teach How do I scaffold today?

Now make your decisions.

Decision 1 — who reads the text?

Decision 2 — how will you support their thinking?

Decision 3 — how will you check and adjust? That one gets made live, in the room — but you can plan the windows you’ll look through.

Which quick check or window will tell you whether the thinking is happening?

The same lens travels.

The 3 Decisions aren’t just a planning tool — they’re a shared language for looking at instruction. The same one-page form works three ways: a self-assessment mirror for your own lessons, a coaching tool for conversations with coaches and specialists, and a walkthrough tool for administrators. Same lens at every level — so what gets planned, what gets coached, and what gets observed are finally the same thing.

Walkthrough Form: ELA/Social Studies Lesson, page one. Decision 1: Who is reading the text right now? A checkbox continuum from more support to less support: teacher reads, echo/choral, partner reading, strategic rereading, independent. Decision 2: How is the teacher supporting thinking? Checkbox columns for Modeling/Demonstrating, Guiding/Questioning, Facilitating Collaboration, and Independent Application, each listing observable moves. — The walkthrough form, page one — Decisions 1 and 2 as observable moves.

Walkthrough Form, page two. Decision 3: How is the teacher checking and adjusting? Formative assessment checkboxes such as circulating and listening, quick checks, naming patterns, adjusting support. Below, an Overall Instructional Strategy row with four snapshot categories: Teacher Modeling, Guided Thinking, Collaborative Thinking, Independent Application — noted as a snapshot of what is happening right now, not a sequence. — Page two — Decision 3, plus the snapshot row: Teacher Modeling → Guided Thinking → Collaborative Thinking → Independent Application. Gradual release, visible in any five minutes of a lesson.

Close the Series

Rate yourself again.

These are the same six statements you rated before Module 1. Rate yourself 1–4 on each: 1 Not yet · 2 Emerging · 3 Confident · 4 Soaring. If you kept your Module 1 summary, put the two side by side and look at the movement.

Rate all six statements to finish the series.

One last reflection, borrowed from the article that opened this module: as you reflect on your own practice, how can you begin to reframe the “mess” not as a failure of the plan, but as the very space where your inner chef is being forged?

You already taught well. Six modules later, you have the language for why — and a lens for planning it on purpose.

Go deeper

Optional resources for anyone who wants the source material behind this module.

Reading Comprehension Guide (full document)
Target-Text-Task-Teach: Unit and Daily Preparation (full document)
Three Decisions for Planning Reading Lessons (full document)
Walkthrough Form: ELA/Social Studies Lesson (printable)
“Messy Moments” — the full article

Picture this.

Cooks and chefs.

You’re not planning empty-handed.

Target · Text · Task · Teach

Unit preparation

Daily planning

Unit preparation

Daily planning

Unit preparation

Daily planning

Unit preparation

Daily planning

The 3 Decisions.

Plan one lesson with the lens.

Now make your decisions.

The same lens travels.

Rate yourself again.

Your responses from this module

Go deeper