Teaching Students a New Reading Comprehension Strategy: SCAN and RUN

Reading comprehension refers to the ability to understand information presented in written form. While this process usually entails understanding textbook assignments， reading comprehension skills also may affect one’s interpretation of directions on exams， labs and homework assignments and completion of job applications or questionnaires. Therefore， ensuring reading success is one of the most critical issues facing the education today. The goal of reading success is to facilitate the development of a variety of skills among children so that they can read widely and deeply， communicate effectively in spoken and written forms， be good listeners and have substantial and growing knowledge of the world. Achievement of this goal， however， poses certain challenges to both teachers and students. Many teachers have identified a need to find effective approaches to modifying their curriculum and instruction in their classrooms to meet diverse students’ needs. This need is particularly acute in reading for general education teachers at the middle and secondary level.

As students make the transition from elementary to middle and secondary schools， the academic demands for performing successfully in content coursebook increases dramatically， particularly in the area of reading. Most middle and secondary content coursework requires a relatively large amount of reading， because textbooks and supplementary materials are the major sources of information. In expository materials， the vocabulary and structure of the text is often more difficult to understand than that found in narrative material， and the content is frequently beyond the reader’s experience. Numerous studies on the ability of middle and secondary students with reading difficulties demonstrate that these students not only have deficits in basic skills， but also lack the framework they need to apply their skills or abilities to select appropriate reading strategies. Students in these studies demonstrated ineffective and inefficient strategies on tasks in which the reading materials were on or above the students’ reading level. On the other hand， good readers exhibit strong use of strategies in order to understand what they read and remember， and to express content information. Therefore， it is important and necessary to teach students reading strategies in order to become more successful independent readers. According to Ellis and Lenz， “ A strategy is an individual’s approach to a task. It includes how a student thinks and acts when planning， executing， and evaluating one’s performance on a task and its outcomes.”

What follows is a program of instructional practice that was developed for assisting middle and secondary general educators to promote greater reading comprehension development and success in a wider range of students. We call it SCAN and RUN. Our goals were （a） to teach students with and without reading disabilities the SCAN and RUN strategy in general education classrooms， （b） to ensure that students could use the strategy automatically whenever they were required to read expository text independently for their content area classes， and （c） to ensure students could answer questions from the text and use the information gained from the text to participate in class discussions.

The SCAN and RUN mnemonic consists of seven cues for strategies that assist students with actively planning and monitoring their comprehension before， during and after reading expository text. Before reading the text， the student uses the SCAN cues to assist with activating prior knowledge and previewing the selection for understanding. During the act of reading the student uses the RUN cues to monitor comprehension and further his or her understanding of the text selection. After reading the student extends his or her understanding of the text by answering questions at the end of the selection and participating in a class discussion.

teaching the SCAN and RUN mnemonic consists of the following four steps：

Step 1： Introducing， modeling， and memorizing the strategy. Whole-class instruction is used to introduce students to the goal of the SCAN and RUN strategy， teach the meaning of what a SCAN and RUN reader does， explain the reasons why students would use this strategy when reading， describe each cue and its meaning， and demonstrate how to use each SCAN and RUN cue when reading. These tasks were introduced to students in one subject-area course and required three to five 30-minute sessions on separate days.

In this step， the teacher explains each cue and its meaning. “ SCAN is the first four cues of the strategy. S is for the first step： Survey Headings and Turn Them Into Questions. First， I’m going to scan the entire selection and turn the title， headings， and subheadings into What， Why， or How questions that I will answer as I read. Then， the second cue： C， Capture the Captions and Visuals. Capture and read any captions and visuals to find out more about the selection. The third cue： A， Attack Boldface Words， by identifying and reading any highlighted words in the selection. If I can’t read or don’t understand any of the boldface words I will look them up in the text glossary or dictionary and find out how to pronounce the word and learn what it means. Now the fourth cue： N， Note and Read the Chapter Questions at the end of the chapter to help me focus on important questions to answer when I read the text selection.”

After previewing the chapter using the SCAN cues， the teacher then reads aloud the text selection using the final three RUN cues. For example， the teacher continues the thinking-aloud process by saying， “Now I’m going to read the selection using the RUN cues， and try to remember what I’ve learned from the SCAN cues to help me understand the meaning. First， each time I come to a sentence or section， which I don’t understand， I will use the cue R， Read and Adjust Speed， and I will slow my reading down. Also， when I come to a word I can’t pronounce I need to use the U cue： Using Sounding It Out Skills， looking for other clues in the sentence or breaking words into parts to help identify the unknown word. Next， I will use N， Notice and Check Parts I Don’t Understand and Reread or Read On. I will check the part I don’t understand in the text selection， deciding to reread that section again or skipping it and going back to it after I’m finished reading.”

In Step 2， teachers have students practice previewing a new chapter selection using the SCAN cues in cooperative learning groups. During the first 5 to 10 minutes of this activity， the students silently read a chapter selection from their text using each of the SCAN cues and became familiar with the organization and the main ideas. Students monitored their use of the SCAN cues by checking them off on their self-monitoring progress chart. After scanning the selection， the next 5 to 10 minutes of the activity was devoted to sharing information collected from the SCAN cues in cooperative groups. In this arrangement， students were assigned roles （e.g.facilitator， recorder， and timekeeper） and shared and discussed what they came up with for each cue.

In Step 3， teachers had students read the text selection silently， using the RUN cues and checking cues used on students’ self-monitoring progress charts. Once the chapter selection had been read by all members， groups cooperatively answered questions assigned at the end of the chapter selection. Groups were directed to determine what they believed to be the best answer for each question and note where information supporting each response is located in the text. During this time， teachers monitored and prompted groups to use their SCAN summary of main ideas， prior knowledge of the topic， and information gathered from reading the text using the RUN cues to answer questions. Answers were then recorded individually and attached to each student’s self-monitoring chart.

Step 4： Discussing the text material and chapter questions after reading. The discussion required 25 to 35 minutes. Its primary purpose was to get students to share， summarize， evaluate， and extend their textbook knowledge after reading and thinking about how strategies like SCAN and RUN assisted their comprehension. The discussion usually included （a） asking members of a group to share their answers and then inviting other groups to contribute other responses， （b） discussing disagreements and encouraging the class to discuss conflicting answers using both prior knowledge of the topic and text as evidence， （c） asking why some answers may be better than others， （d） making connections with previous chapters， and （e） reviewing why and how SCAN and RUN and other reading strategies are important tools to use for understanding text.

The SCAN and RUN reading strategy can assist general and special education teachers in their challenge to meet the needs of increasingly diverse students. By incorporating this strategy into their teaching， teachers can guide their students’ understanding， learning， and recall of content material. Strategy instruction depends on teachers engaging students as active participants in their own learning and development； building strong rationales for learning， modeling， and providing guided practice； collaborating and encouraging sharing with peers； facilitating group discussion； and monitoring student progress. Finally， for teachers scan and run is inexpensive， requires few materials and little training， and can be used with most expository texts. For middle and secondary students， SCAN and RUN is an easy-to-remember mnemonic strategy to improve their reading comprehension and， in the process， build their understanding of expository texts in many subject areas.

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