COMPREHENSIONCOMPREHENSION

Text Comprehension Instruction

Developed by Jo Miller King and Kathy Casey

Workshop Goals

To relate comprehension strategies to the Delaware State Standards and the National Reading Panel

To review research about proficient reading strategies

To review and develop activities for teaching good reader strategies

TTAPATTAPATurn To A Partner And . . .Turn To A Partner And . . .

Use this activity often in your classroom to encourage your children to talk to each other.

This activity enables you to control the talking while still allowing children to develop thinking/comprehension.

The person doing the

talking is doing the learning.

Traditional Comprehension Skills

Finding the Main IdeaIdentifying DetailsDetecting the SequenceDrawing ConclusionsDetermining Cause and EffectComparing and Contrasting

Skills - Strategies

Research suggests that teaching skills in isolation does not transferto reading comprehension.

Reading is

constructing

meaning from

print.

Historical View of Reading

Traditional Views New Definition ofReading

Research Base Behaviorism Constructivism

Goals of Reading Mastery of isolated factsand skills

Constructing meaningand self-regulatinglearning

Reading As A Process Mechanically decodingwords; memorizing byrote

An interaction among thereader, the text, and thecontext

Role of the Learner Passive; vessel receivingknowledge from externalsources

Active; strategic reader,effective strategy user,cognitive apprentice

Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development

ActualDevelopment

Zone ofProximal

Development(ZPD)

PotentialDevelopment

Zone of Proximal Development is the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance.

Wooten, D. (2000, pp. 19). Valued Voice: An interdisciplinary approach teaching and learning. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

More Ways to Strengthen Reading Comprehension

Good readers have several strategies in common. They make connections between prior knowledge and the

text. They ask questions. They visualize. They draw inferences. They determine important ideas. They synthesize information. They “repair” understanding.

These strategies can be taught. The teacher must gradually release the responsibility of the strategy to the student, much in the same way a young child learns to ride a bike from his/her parents.

Pearson, Roehler, Dole and Duffy propose:

These strategies become the kindergarten through twelfth-grade reading comprehension curriculum

A lengthy list of discrete reading skills does not add up to proficient reading

Teachers understand the cognitive processes used most frequently by proficient readers and they provide explicit, in-depth instruction focused over a long period of time on these strategies

Teachers use authentic and challenging texts (high quality children’s literature and will-written nonfiction) to help students move along the continuum from novice to proficient reader

(Keene, E. & Zimmermann, S. (1997) Mosaic of Thought. Portsmouth: Heinemann.)

Cognitive Strategy Instruction

When readers are given cognitive strategy

instruction, they make significant gains on

measures of reading comprehension over

students trained with conventional

instructional procedures.

(Pressley, et al., 1989)

National Reading Panel Full Report, 1999

Five Premises Basic to Reading Comprehension

Reader constructs meaning by making connections between new information and what is already known

Prior knowledge plays an important role in learning

reading and writing are connected learning is a socially interactive processcomprehension is dependent on

METACOGNITION

Metacognition is thinking about

what you are thinking.

Reading comprehension is thinking

about what you are thinking while

you are reading.

The Human Graph

What I Know About Schema TheoryNothingA LittleDon’t Know What I KnowSome A Lot

Schema Theory

PATTERNS

Science

Literacy

Art

Music

Nature

plants

graphics

reading

writing

language

The questions that p___________ face as they raise ch__________ from in________ to adult life are not easy

to an__________. Both fa________ and m________ can become concerned when health problems such as

co________ arise any time after the e________ stage to later in life. Experts recommend that young

ch________ should have plenty of s________ and nutritious food for healthy growth. B________ and

g________ should not share the same b________ or even sleep in the same r________. They may be afraid of

the d________.

Poultrymen

chickens

incubation

answer

farmers

merchants

coccidiosis

egg

chicks

sunshine

banties

geese

barnyard

roost

dark

Comprehension is not something that just

happens.

Comprehension needs to be taught.

SAIL Article

How to Teach Comprehension Strategies?

Teacher Modeling Explain the strategy Demonstrate how to apply the strategy successfully Think aloud to model the mental process when readingGuided Practice After modeling, give students more responsibility for task completion Scaffold students’ attempts with feedback and support Students share their thinking process with each other during paired reading

and discussion groupsIndependent Practice Students try to apply strategy on their own Students receive regular feedback from teacher and other studentsApplication of the Strategy in Real Reading Situations Students apply an understood strategy to a new genre or format Students demonstrate the effective use of a strategy in a more difficult text

Students need to practice the strategy at the

listening level before applying the strategy at the

reading level.

THINK ALOUDSFor Teaching Good Reader Comprehension Strategies

ConnectThis reminds me of . . . I remember something like this that happened to me when . . . Predict/AnticipateI wonder if . . . I wonder who . . . I think I know what is coming next . . . I think we will learn how . . . Question/MonitorI wonder what is means when . . . I don’t understand . . . I am going to reread that because it didn’t make sense . . .

THINK ALOUDS (Continued)

Imagine/InferEven though it isn’t in the picture I can see that . . . Mmm, I can almost taste the . . . I can picture the . . . Summarize/ConcludeThe most important thing I have learned so far is . . . It didn’t say why she did that but I bet . . .So far I have learned that . . . Evaluate/ApplyMy favorite part in this chapter was. . . I really like how the author . . . What I don’t like about this part is . . . It was interesting to learn that . . .

How to Teach Comprehension Strategies?

Teacher Modeling Explain the strategy Demonstrate how to apply the strategy successfully Think aloud to model the mental process when readingGuided Practice After modeling, give students more responsibility for task completion Scaffold students’ attempts with feedback and support Students share their thinking process with each other during paired reading

and discussion groupsIndependent Practice Students try to apply strategy on their own Students receive regular feedback from teacher and other studentsApplication of the Strategy in Real Reading Situations Students apply an understood strategy to a new genre or format Students demonstrate the effective use of a strategy in a more difficult text

JIGSAW

How to Teach With Comprehension Strategies in Mind?

#1 - Lesson: Visualizing From a Vivid Piece of Text

#2 - Lesson: Schema - It Reminds Me Of

#3 - Lesson: Connections

#4 - Lesson: Inferring

Comprehension Instruction in a Balanced Literacy Program

Read AloudComprehension strategies are explicitly modeled

Guided ReadingComprehension strategies are explicitly taught with lots of guided

practice

Shared Reading/Literature CirclesComprehension strategies are modeled and some guided practice is

provided.

Independent ReadingComprehension strategies are independently practiced and applied.

The LessonResearch Suggests a New Format

Reading

assignment given

Independent reading

Discussion to see if students learned main concepts, what they “should have” learned.

Traditional Format New Format

Prereading activities

Discussion, Predictions, Questioning, Brainstorming, Setting Purpose

Guided Reading

Activities to clarify,

reinforce, extend know-

ledge

Guided Reading Instructional Plan

BeforeRivetK-W-LWebbingPredictions Word Prediction Prove It Anticipation GuideResponse LogPreviewingI wonder

DuringStory SectionsEverybody Read to… (ERT)Genre StudyText-Related TopicsPaired ReadingCooroperative RdngLiterature CirclesStop and RetellPost-It ReflectionsReciporcal Teaching

AfterCompare/ContrastRetellingSketch-to-StretchSkits, Puppets, and Readers TheaterChoral ReadingResponse LogsSequelTwo Word ActivityAlphaboxes

JIGSAW

#1 Alphaboxes

#2 My Turn Your Turn

#3 Read, Cover, Remember, Tell

#4 Word Prediction

Methodology of the National Reading PanelCategories of Comprehension and Instruction

Comprehension Monitoring Cooperative Learning Graphic Organizers Active Listening Mental Imagery Mnemonics Multiple Strategies Prior Knowledge Question Answering Question Generation Story Structure Summarization Vocabulary-Comprehension Relationship

www.readinglady.com

A source for reading lessonsHandout contains comprehension

strategy lessons from the “reading lady”

Simple lessons that you can do right away in your classroom

ENJOY!!!

THE PEOPLE SEARCH

A Post-Strategy for

Reading Comprehension