Engaging the Reluctant Reader

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Engaging the Reluctant Reader

• Reading Comprehension
• Module
• by ReLeah A. Lent

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Reading Comprehension

• Introduction Making Personal Connections to
  Reading

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The Oruncle and Cravarian

• The oruncle was tubor and salinous, but alas, a
  cravarian mooked darfingly toward the oruncle, as
  he nerked and zombed along.
• Zeem! shouted the dinglor cravarian, who
  cambled through the kirn to porrek at the narfed
  oruncle.
• Ah, ah, fozed the oruncle. Menzy is neg.

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Why Read?

• What is the purpose for reading?
• Would you agree that it is simply to understand?

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What is Metacognition?

• Learning is often referred to as a cognitive
  event. It is that, but it is also a metacognitive
  event.
• Cognition refers to using the knowledge
  possessed metacognition refers to a persons
  awareness and understanding of that knowledge.
• Irvin, Buehl, Klemp, Reading and the High School
  Student Strategies to Enhance Literacy

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Comprehension is a Process

• Comprehension is a dynamic process, a transaction
  between the reader, the text, and the context.
• Louise Rosenblatt

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Strategies Used by Proficient Readers

• Proficient Readers
• Make connections between prior knowledge and
  the text
• Ask questions
• Visualize
• Draw inferences
• Determine important ideas
• Synthesize

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If time allows

• Discuss Appendices
• Make connections between prior knowledge and
  the text
• Ask questions
• Visualize
• Draw inferences
• Determine important ideas
• Synthesize

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Proficient Readers Make ConnectionsBetween Prior
Knowledge and the Text

• The principle that people learn by using what
  they know to construct new understandings can be
  paraphrased as all learning involves transfer
  from other experiences.
• National Research Foundation

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The Vietnam War

• By the end of 1965,more than 180,000 American
  combat troops were fighting in Vietnam. In 1966
  that number doubled. Since the American military
  was extremely strong, it marched into Vietnam
  with great confidence. America seemed
  omnipotent then, said Philip Caputo, one of the
  first marines to arrive. We saw ourselves as
  the champions of a cause that was destined to
  triumph.
• The American Republic Since 1877, published by
  Glencoe.

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Proficient Readers Ask Questions

• Readers who ask questions construct meaning,
  enhance understanding, find answers, solve
  problems, and clarify confusion.
• Harvey Goudvis

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Proficient Readers Visualize

• Why should readers visualize?
• Research has shown that readers who are able to
  construct mental images as they read are more
  fully engaged in the reading and thus experience
  increased comprehension.

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Visualization

• Allows readers to create mental images from
  words in the text
• Enhances meaning with mental imagery
• Links past experience to the words and ideas in
  the text
• Enables readers to place themselves in the
  story
• Strengthens a readers relationship to the text
• Stimulates imaginative thinking
• Heightens engagement with the text
• Brings joy to reading
• --Taken from Harvey and Goudvis, Strategies that
  Work

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Questions

• How old is the girl?
• What color is her hair?
• How large is the window in her bedroom?
• Is she in an upstairs bedroom or downstairs
  bedroom?
• Did you visualize the darkened room and the
  frightened occupant?

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Proficient Readers Draw Inferences

• When readers draw inferences, they read between
  the lines.
• They are able to come to conclusions without
  direct guidance from the author.
• Readers who draw inferences are independent
  readers.

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Drawing Inferences

• What can you infer about E.L Doctorows father?
• What can you infer about Doctorows evaluation
  of Edgar Allan Poes writing ability?
• What can you infer about Doctorows opinion of
  the second question?

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Ten Questions for E.L. Doctorow

• What do I call you? E.L?
• Well, my first name is Edgar. My father liked
  Edgar Allan Poes work very much. He liked a
  lot of bad writers. But Poe is our greatest bad
  writer, so thats my consolation.
• Are you surprised youre still writing great
  books in your mid-70s?
• How old are you?
• Um, 36.
• Ah, yes, well, thats a 36-year-old question.
• --taken from Time, March 6, 2006, Interview 10
  Questions for E.L. Doctorow

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Proficient Readers Determine What is Important in
Text

• Identifying important information is essential
  for comprehension. Proficient readers determine
  which ideas are important and which information
  is less important. If readers are unable to
  differentiate between the two, they will have
  difficulty understanding and remembering main
  ideas.

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Proficient Readers Synthesize Information

• Synthesizing involves combining new information
  with existing knowledge to form an original idea
  or interpretation.
• Synthesizing is a skill that allows readers to
  change their thinking.
• Harvey and Goudvis, Strategies that Work

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Thomas Jeffersons Ten Rules for the Good Life

• Never put off till tomorrow what you can do
  today.
• Never trouble another for what you can do
  yourself.
• Never spend your money before you have it.
• Never buy what you do not want because it is
  cheap it will never be dear to you.
• Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and
  cold.

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Thomas Jeffersons Ten Rules for the Good Life

• Never repent of having eaten too little.
• Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
• Dont let the evils which have never happened
  cost you pain.
• Always take things by their smooth handle.
• When angry, count to ten before you speak if
  very angry, count to one hundred.

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Comprehension Rules!

• Make lots of connections to yourself, other
  texts, or the outside world
• Predict what is coming next
• Ask questions as you read
• Visualize by forming pictures in your mind as you
  read
• Determine what is important from what is not
• Clarify the authors purpose
• Read between the lines

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Comprehension Rules!

• Stop when you encounter a new word and find the
  meaning
• Discuss what you are reading with someone else
• When the text is confusing, stop reading and ask
  for help or reread
• Think about how individual ideas fit together to
  create a whole
• Be creative as you read. How will you use the
  information?

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Comprehension Rules!

• Be aware of yourself as a reader. Know when you
  become frustrated or you get it!
• Find something to read that you enjoy.
• Read something each day.
• --developed by ReLeah Lent