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February 27, 2013 Betsy Madison Betsy.madison@grrec.ky.gov Betsymadison.com Reading Comprehension North Todd Elementary

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What can we do? Reading must be authentic (related to what you will do tomorrow) Reading must be purposeful (you must be responsible for something in class) Comprehension strategies must be woven into content

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Literacy Strategies for Comprehension Determine Importance Question Connect to Schema (Prior Knowledge) Synthesize Visualize Monitor Infer

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Gradual Release of Responsibility I do it. We do it. Yall do it. You do it.

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Connect to Schema (prior knowledge) Every child comes to school with a frame made of their experiences since birth. Some students have a frame that looks like garden lattice. Some students have a skinny little frame.

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Using Schema All day long, we throw dirt clods at their frames.

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New Knowledge has to have Prior Knowledge to stick to. Which frame will more dirt clods stick to?

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The Role of WORDS in Schema By age 3, kids from well off families have a working vocabulary of 1116 words. Kids from working class families have 749 words. Kids from welfare have a mere 525 words. Word poverty leads to idea poverty. You have to know stuff to read stuff. (New Knowledge has to have Old Knowledge to stick to.)

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The Power of Reading to Build Vocabulary Reading 14 minutes a day means reading 1,000,000 words a year. Preschool and childrens books expose students to more challenging vocabulary than prime-time television. For vocabulary development, children should have text that is 3 years above their age/grade level.

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The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for. Ludwig Wittgenstein What can you do, at NTES, to combat WORD POVERTY?

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Intentionally Activating Schema Text-to-Self Connections Students compare what they are reading to their own prior knowledge & experiences Students can better understand character, setting, events, etc of a story because theyve had a similar experience These connections can be made by young students. Engaging: I like learning when its about ME

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Text-to-Text Connections Students compare what they are reading to something theyve already read. Encourage connections across genres (article to story, story to poem) Helps students understand the concept of character, setting Helps students learn to make predictions, anticipate problems and solutions These connections can be made by young students

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Text-to-World Connections Students compare what they are reading to a Real World Event May require a little more teacher direction with young students Helps students better understand both the Real World Event and the text

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Schema Thinking/Discussion Stems That reminds me of Im remembering I have a connection to I have schema for I can relate to I already know

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Visualize Creating a mental image Making a picture in your head MODEL, MODEL, MODEL Ask students to draw the picture they see in their head Ask students to write about the picture they see in their head

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Visualizing Thinking Stems Im picturing I can imagine I can feel I can see I can smell I can taste I can touch I can hear My mental images include

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Questioning Students ask questions, while reading, If they are curious about something in the text If they want to predict what will happen If they want to make something more clear Asking the right questions allows good readers to focus on the most important information in a text.

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Questioning Thinking Stems I wonder What if? Why? I dont understand It confused me when How could?

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Talk Time If you have to talk, you have to think. The importance of dialogic talk By the age of 4, the child of professional parents in the US will have had nearly twice as many words addressed to it as the working-class child, and over four times as many as a child on welfare. For the middle-class child, encouragement from parents vastly outweighs discouragement; but for the child on welfare the climate of adult reaction is an overwhelmingly discouraging one. While talk is essential for intellectual and social development, for some children, the talk which they engage in at school is nothing less than a lifeline. (Robin Alexander, 2004)

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Where did we practice? What are you going to try?

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Resources Hello Literacy blog (www.helloliteracy.blogspot.com)www.helloliteracy.blogspot.com Reading Resource.net (http://www.readingresource.net/strategiesforreadingcomprehensio n.html)http://www.readingresource.net/strategiesforreadingcomprehensio n.html Florida Center for Reading Research (www.fcrr.org)www.fcrr.org Reading to Learn (nancy.huston@grrec.ky.gov)nancy.huston@grrec.ky.gov www.julieballew.com