Differentiating Instruction for Vocabulary and Comprehension

Michael C. McKenna

Sharon Walpole

Agenda

Who needs this type of instruction? What data must be gathered? What planning decisions must be

made? What are some tricks of the trade?

We are combining ideas from

Chapters 6 and 7

Remember our plan

What are we trying to teach? These children are performing at benchmark. They will work to build their vocabularies and

comprehension proficiency. The texts may include core selections used in

FORI, the day’s read-aloud, or sets of trade books that are not phonics-controlled.

How will we know when we’ve accomplished our goal? Our goal will never be achieved. We must continue to build

vocabulary and comprehension. Temporary and targeted instruction in the other areas

allows new children to enter this group.

In our tiered system, who is likely to need

this type of differentiated instruction?

What data can we use to identify the children?

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In Kindergarten, all DIBELS subtests at low risk

In First Grade, all DIBELS subtests at low risk

We KNOW: These children are at benchmark in alphabet skills, but can still build their vocabulary and comprehension.

We NEED to know: What specific texts, when read aloud to them, will best advance their vocabulary and comprehension.

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DIBELS Second-Grade ORF low risk orDIBELS Third-Grade ORF is low risk

We KNOW: These children are fluent.

We NEED to know: What specific texts will best advance their vocabulary and comprehension.

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Let’s find out

Even though all are at benchmark, it is still important to consider text difficulty; think about texts that provide a reasonable challenge and maximize interest and engagement.

This is true both for texts that your second and third graders will read in small groups and that your kindergartners and first graders will hear.

Optimal text selection for this group will require some trial and error; be flexible.

What about comprehension?

Do not attempt to identify comprehension deficits.

Using multiple challenging texts will provide many opportunities to reinforce strategy instruction.

Children will differ in their ability to apply these strategies, but assessing this ability is not necessary.

What about vocabulary?

Do not attempt to pretest word meanings. Stick to Tier 2 words (and content area

words for nonfiction texts) that are useful for comprehending the text. Do not worry that you may be introducing a word for some and reviewing it for others.

Now you’re ready!

We recommend that there be only one group, even though their reading levels may vary slightly.

This will allow you to spend more time with strugglers in other groups.

Find your texts Do not use phonics-controlled texts. You could use core selections, class read-

alouds, or sets of trade books. In any case, you are looking for texts that

are interesting and engaging, are rich in content, and represent both fiction and nonfiction.

Now choose your strategies For this group, word recognition needs are not an

issue. (The second and third graders can read the the texts you will be using, and you will read them to the kindergartners and first graders.)

Planning should focus entirely on vocabulary and comprehension.

You will need to strike a balance between these areas and vary the instructional techniques you use.

Think about vocabulary methods

Read pages 91-102. You will need to be selective since you will not have time to apply all of these approaches in a single session. Vary them across the three weeks.

Remember that your choices will depend in part on the text you will use and whether it will be read aloud to the children. Some methods will be more appropriate than others for certain texts.

Tier Two Words

Concept of Definition

Semantic Feature Analysis

Concept Sorting

TextsWordsScript

Texts Words Word Maps

TextsRelated WordsFeature Chart

TextsWord Cards

Key SBRR Approaches

Technique Target Words When

Tier Two Words High utility After reading

Concept of Definition

One central concept

Before or after reading

Feature Analysis Compare and contrast

After reading

Concept Sorting Compare and contrast

After reading

Teaching Tier Two Words1. We are going to learn the word _____.

Say the word _____.2. In our story, the author used the word

______ to mean ______.3. The word _____ means ______.4. (Provide other examples.)5. (Children provide examples.)6. Remember that our word is _____.

Concept of Definition

Concept

Category

Example ExampleExample

DescriptionDescription

Feature AnalysisCategory Feature

1Feature

2Feature

3Feature

4

Member 1

Member

2

Member

3

Now think about comprehension methods Read pages 110-123. You will need to be

selective since you will not have time to apply all of these approaches in a single session. Vary them across the three weeks.

Remember that your texts provide opportunities to build comprehension skills and strategies. This means that many of the instructional approaches should work.

QARs Story Mapping

Text Structur

e

Direct Explan-ation

Summar-ization

TextsQAR ChartQuestions

StoriesMap

Info TextsGraphic organizers

TextsStrategy descriptions

TextsSummary procedure

Key SBRR Approaches

QAR ChartRight There

The answer to the question can be found in one sentence in the text.

Think and SearchThe answer to the question can be found by combining information across sentences.

Author and YouThe answer to the question combines information from the text and from your experience.

On Your OwnThe theme is in the text, but the answer comes from your experience.

Story MappingSetting Characters

Problem

Resolution

Theme

Text Structure Instruction

Compare

Contrast

Contrast

Text Structure Instruction

Text Structure Instruction

Event 1 Event 2Cause EffectProblem Solution

Direct ExplanationPredicting Good readers predict before and during

reading. Here I see a picture of a ____. I know that _____. Because of both what I see and what I know, I predict that this story will be about _____.

Monitoring, questioning,

and repredicting

I predicted that ____. So far, that might be right because the text says _____.

I predicted that _____. That must not be true because the text says _____. My new prediction is _____.

Direct ExplanationVisualizing Good readers make pictures in their minds

to help them understand. I know that this story takes place _____. I know that setting would have _____. The author uses the words _____ and _____. In my mind, I am visualizing _____.

Inferring The author tells us that this character is _____. Because of my own experience, I know that _____. Therefore, I think the character is _____.

Direct ExplanationUsing fix-up strategies

Wait. I thought that the text said _____. Here it says that _____. That doesn’t make sense to me. I need to read ahead and see if the author tells me how both _____ and _____ could be true.

Finding the main idea

The author has given me a whole lot of facts about _____ and about _____. Some of them are the same and some are different. I think that the main idea here is that ____ are similar to ____ in some ways, and different in other ways.

Direct ExplanationRetelling a story

I can use what I know about stories to retell this one very simply. I don’t tell everything. I think about what the author usually does in the beginning, the middle, and the end. This story is set ____. The main characters are _____. The problem in the story is _____. The characters solved the problem by _____.

Synthesizing When I want to think about two stories at once, I have to decide how they were alike and different. I first think about how they were alike. Our stories are alike because _____. Then I think about how they were different. Our stories were different because _____. Together, then, I can put information from the stories together to say _____.

Summarization1. Make sure you understand.2. Reread to check your understanding, marking

important parts.3. Rethink, making sure that you can say the main idea

of each paragraph. Write the main idea as a note to yourself.

4. Write your summary, checking to make sure that you have avoided lists, included or created topic sentences, gotten rid of unnecessary details, and combined paragraphs. Check your summary, and edit it so that it sounds natural.

Gather or make all of your materials Texts, pictures, word cards, blank story maps,

graphic organizers, QAR chart, questions, notebooks – everything you need.

Texts could be selections from the previous year’s core anthology if multiple copies are available.

They could also include texts used in recent whole-class read-alouds.

Remember that our goal is that you plan for three weeks at a time.

A typical group*2 minutes Introduce text (preteach content area

words if the text is nonfiction)

2 minutes Review a comprehension strategy

7 minutes Grades 2-3: Whisper read

Grades K-1: Read aloud to them

4 minutes Introduce/review vocabulary words. Return to key points in text to focus on comprehension strategy

*Minute allocations are simply an example based on a 15-minute session.

Try it out!

Remember that we are hoping for a cycle, with teacher reflection. Your goal is to move these children into more challenging texts.

You may need to repeat a particular lesson for two days. That’s fine. You also may need to step in with echo or choral reading in grades two and three. That’s fine too.

At the end of the three weeks, you can use data collected as part of the instruction to inform your next moves.