Comprehension Strategies K5

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ComprehensionStrategiesK-5

• Jill Sunwold
• Literacy Facilitator
• Mountain View Elementary,
• Quincy School District
• Do you know that great readers think
• and read at the same time?
• (better yet, do your students know?!)

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3-D Comp

• Comprehension is three dimensional
• Purpose Why do readers read?
• Process What mental activities must the reader
  engage in?
• Consequence What is the reader learning or
  experiencing as a result of reading? Sweet and
  Snow

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Proficient Readers Research

• Activating relevant, prior knowledge (schema)
  before, during, and after reading. (Anderson and
  Pearson 1984)
• Creating visual and other sensory images from
  text during and after reading. (Pressley 1976)
• Drawing inferences from text to form conclusions,
  make critical judgments and unique
  interpretations. (Hansen 1981)
• Asking questions of themselves, the authors, and
  the text. (Raphael 1984)
• Determining the most important ideas and themes
  in a text. (Palinscar Brown 1984)
• Synthesizing what has been read.
  (Brown,DayJones1983)

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Before Reading Strategies

• Purpose Setting
• Text Walks
• Text Format/Features
• Predicting
• Activating Prior Knowledge

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Setting a Purpose

• Purpose setting helps readers focus by allowing
  opportunities to discover that reading serves
  many purposes
• for pleasure
• for specific information
• to learn how to do something
• to satisfy curiosity

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Setting a Purpose

• What is important?
• Books contain many interesting things from
  illustrations, interesting words, funny
  characters to interesting facts.
• We set a purpose to narrow a students focus from
  a book full of sea creatures to specifically
  looking for sharks.
• Teachers may set the purpose but also allow our
  student to set their own after sufficient
  modeling.
• In setting the purpose, teachers need to be
  concise and model the reasoning behind it.

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Purpose Setting

• Steve Moline writes in his book, I See What you
  Mean,
• If we teach children that all reading is
  reading for story we may overlook many key
  strategies that we employ when reading
  selectively. Some of these strategies include
  skimming, accessing the test through index, using
  headings and signposts to the information we want
  or just strolling through pictures in order to
  orientate ourselves in the text.

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Text Walks

• Text walks are another tool used before reading
  to aide in predicting and inferring.
• Purpose of Text Walks
• To give students familiarity with what they are
  about to read, along with the language and
  vocabulary they may encounter.
• Students turn through the pages making
  predictions and inferences based on pictures,
  narratives and text format.
• Students predict key words they think might be
  found in a passage based upon title or pictures.
  (A-Z Organizer)

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Text Format

• Nonfiction is often organized in terms of
• Description
• Cause and Effect
• Comparison
• Time Order
• Problem Resolution

Graphic organizers support organizing these ideas.
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Text Features

• Text Features also help children make decisions
  about what is important. Authors often signal us
  with
• Headings
• Fonts
• Graphic illustrations
• Summary statements
• Marginal notes
• Cue words (first, next, in conclusion, most
  important)
• When children learn these strategies their
  reading
• becomes focused and efficient.

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Predicting Helps

• There are many different helps students can use
  to aide in prediction
• Personal Experience
• World Knowledge
• Genre Knowledge
• Story Sequence
• Illustrations
• Cover Features
• Character and Setting Knowledge
• Text Features
• Prediction is a piece of the puzzle for inference

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Predicting

• Pressley (2002) suggest predicting as one of
  five major comprehension strategies.
• Predicting helps readers connect what they are
  reading with what they already know. (Text to
  Self)
• Predicting helps bring meaning to text in order
  to get meaning from text.
• Teacher asks students to discuss possibilities
  for content based on title, author, cover picture

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Predicting

• In choosing text for younger students it is
  helpful to start with books that lend themselves
  to to clear-cut predictions that can be confirmed
  or contradicted.
• Anchor Charts
• Teacher writes down student predictions noting
  initials or name beside prediction.
• Teaching the skill of rereading, the students
  predictions can be C confirmed or checked for
  contradicted.
• With the use of two column notes the students can
  make further predictions.

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Predicting with Fiction

• Looking at the predictable characteristics or
  organization of fiction is helpful in making
  predictions.
• Beginning, Middle, End
• Character, Setting, Problem, Solution
• Throughout a text, readers should continually
  generate new predictions.

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Predicting with Non-Fiction

• Looking at the predictable characteristics or
  organization of non-fiction is helpful in making
  predictions in specific topics.
• Main ideas
• Teaching information
• What do you expect to learn?
• Table of contents
• Headings
• Index

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Activating Prior Knowledge

• Proficient readers construct meaning using prior
  knowledge (schema) before, during, after
  reading Anderson Pearson (1984)
• The teachers goal is to build a framework of
  thinking. Asking children to recall words or or
  point out the picture keeps their connection text
  based and gives others a point of reference as we
  listen and learn from their thinking. Miller
  (2002)

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During Reading Strategies

• Thinking Through the Text Together
• Anchor Charts
• Schema
• Inference
• Connections
• Questioning
• QtA Questioning the Author
• Visualization
• Reciprocal Teaching
• Monitoring

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Thinking Through the Text Together

• Thinking through the text (Anderson et.al. 1992)
  is asking our students to share connections
  (mental images, inferences, questions) in order
  to become aware of what is going on inside of
  their heads.
• TTT gives students a framework for thinking as
  well a a common language for talking about books,
  allowing students opportunities to construct
  meaning, reflection and insight.
• The teacher must instill a common language that
  can be used throughout the year.

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Anchor Charts

• Debbie Miller encourages the creation of anchor
  charts during and after lessons in order for
  children (and teachers!) to remember specific
  strategies or concepts.
• Anchor Charts
• make thinking permanent and visible
• allowing connections from one strategy to another
• clarify a point
• build on earlier learning
• remember a specific lesson

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Schema Anchor Charts

• In Debbie Millers Reading with Meaning, she
  displays three charts in her classroom to enhance
  becoming familiar or building schema with the
• Author Becoming familiar with different authors
  
• Text Types Different types of text
• Text Characteristics Different characteristics
  and features unique to Poetry, Narrative and
  Expository Text
• Students add to these charts as they encounter
  new information.

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Building Schema

• Thinking about what you already know is using
  your schema. Schema can be explained to students
  stating
• Schema is what is already in your head about
  that particular thing, or
• the places youve been,
• the things youve done, and
• books you have read.

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Text to Self Connections

• Text to Self is using ones schema to make
  connections from our reading to ourselves.
• Anchor charts
• Debbie Miller encourages a charting of student
  connections along with noting the students name
  to show importance of thoughts and to help
  students figure out which kinds of connections
  help us most.
• Following day reread story and revisit chart
  marking 1 beside responses that helped build
  connections, 2 beside comments that didnt.

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Text to Text Connections

• Making connections from one book to another can
  help students understand the new story and make
  predictions about what may happen based on what
  is known from another story.

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Text to World Connections

• Young students can grapple with complex issues at
  times with clearer heads than some adults!
• Searching for the just right book to go along
  with the just right local situation will help in
  this endeavor.

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Inferring

• Inferring is related to predicting. The reader
  uses background knowledge to make
  decisions/predictions.
• Prediction is a smart guess.
• Inference is an assumption, a supplying of
  information that is not explicitly stated.
  Reading between the lines.

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Inference

• There are many helps students can use to aid in
  inferring
• Personal experience
• World knowledge
• Illustrations
• Title
• Characters
• Themes
• Events

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Word Level Inference

• What components or skills would need to be in a
  lesson in order to convey inference?
• Rereading
• Paying attention to the words
• Looking closely at pictures
• Using schema
• Taking the time to allow students to process
• Thinking aloudmodel, model, model

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Questioning

• Questions help children activate what they
  already know.
• Questions can open the mental file and add
  information, revise or even delete
• Hearing others questions often generates your own
  information

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Questioning

• Readers ask questions for many reasons
• Clarify meaning
• Speculation about text
• To determine the authors style, intent, content,
  or format
• Focus attention
• Locate a specific answer

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QuestioningBefore, During and After

• We must model when to ask questions about the
  authors goals, intent and meaningso our students
  becoming proficient questioners.
• Anchor Charts
• Noting questions that students have generated
  before, during and after reading the text.

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QuestioningBefore, During and After

• Questioning Webs
• Useful in poetry and nonfiction text.
• Partner Talk with Anchor Charts
• Teacher lists questions students would like to
  talk about regarding a text. Names are noted
  beside question, Partners get One , two, three,
  get eye to eye, knee to knee for discussions.
• As a class choose one burning question to
  answer on the next read.

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QuestioningBefore, During and After

• Narrative and Expository Comprehension Cards
• Students respond orally to cue cards used before,
  during, and after read alouds, in reading group,
  and with independent or partner reads.

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QuestioningBefore, During and After

• Concept Ladders
• An advanced organizer to help students develop
  questions that will guide understanding of the
  text.
• Students develop questions for each rung of the
  ladder based on background knowledge and common
  reading experience around a concept.
• These questions establish a purpose for reading.

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WASL Stems

• Using a common language with our students can
  only benefit their verbalization of comprehension

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Questioning the Author

• QtA assists students in building understanding
  through
• text interaction
• queries
• discussion
• Students and teacher collaboratively construct
  ideas through the segmentation of text.
• Students take on text little by little, idea by
  idea, in order to understand what ideas are there
  and how they connect. Beck, McKeown, Hamilton
  Kucan 2003

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QtA Queries

• Queries are
• General probes used to initiate discussion used
  during initial read
• Prompting of students to consider meaning and
  develop ideas. Teachers response always turns
  responsibility toward thinking to the students
• Open-ended What is the author telling us?
  Why did he say that?
• Used with expository or narrative text
• Teacher controlled with selected points of
  questioning

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Queries

• Three Types of Queries
• Initiating Query
• Follow-up Query
• Narrative Query
• Traditional questioning
• Retrieve or report information and state ideas
  from the text.
• Assign material to be read and then pose
  questions to evaluate comprehension after the
  fact.
• Beck, McKeown, Hamilton Kucan 2003

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QtA Key Components

• Segmenting Text
• Determining where to stop reading to initiate and
  develop discussion toward constructing meaning.
• Teachers Role
• Helping students develop ideas rather than
  managing thinking and explaining ideas
• Student Contribution
• Collaborating with one another to construct ideas

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Reciprocal Teaching

• Brown and Palincsar (1984) developed this
  instructional strategy to teach poor
  comprehenders how to approach text the way
  successful readers do.
• This strategy involves
• Dividing text into smaller chunks
• Works well with Expository Text Brown and
  Palincsar (1984)

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Reciprocal Teaching

• Reciprocal Teaching provides practice in four
  comprehension strategies
• Questioning the teacher poses questions that
  direct students attention to the main idea of the
  text. These may include higher level inferential
  and evaluative questions.
• Student answers help monitor comprehension

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Reciprocal Teaching

• Clarifying students can identify anything that
  puzzles them and the group can work to clarify
  these issues. Clarifications can be anything
  from unfamiliar vocabulary to concepts.
• In clarifying students gain control of monitoring
  their comprehension.

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Reciprocal Teaching

• Summarizing Students are required to synthesize
  information and determine what is important to
  remember.

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Reciprocal Teaching

• Predicting Students and teachers can predict
  what the next portion of text will be about based
  on what has been read. The teacher can also lead
  with the visual clues provided on the pages.
• This process encourages students to review what
  they have learned and use it as a springboard to
  what will happen next, thus setting a purpose for
  reading.

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Visualization

• Proficient readers create visual and other
  sensory images from text during and after
  reading. (Pressley 1976)

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Visualizing

• When children visualize they make picture in
  their heads of what they have experiences with in
  the world.
• Mental imaging involves
• Sights
• Sounds
• Smells
• Tastes
• Physical sensations
• Emotionsall evoked by the reading.

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Visualization

• Drawing to aide comprehension students draw what
  they see in their minds. By giving students a
  goal, they can listen in a way that will help
  them meet that goal.
• Have text available to reread several times and
  use prompts.

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Monitoring

• Monitoring is when the reader actively considers
  the meaning of what has been read.
• When something doesnt make sense, the reader
  recognizes it and revises thinking by using a
  fix-up strategy to get back on track.

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After Reading Strategies

• Question-Answer Relationship (QAR)
• Summarizing/Synthesis
• Literature Responses (four types)
• Research Charts
• Retelling
• Evaluating

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Question-Answer Relationship

• Part of children becoming proficient questioners
  involves helping them learn to consider where the
  answers to different questions might be found
  focusing on four different sources of
  information
• Right There
• Think and Search
• On My Own
• Author and Me
• Anchor Charts
• An alternative for record keeping with coding of
  the text
• RT, TS, O, AM

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Summarizing/Synthesizing

• Keene and Zimmermans Mosaic of Thought make the
  distinction between these two skills
• Summary is a succinct retelling of key points in
  the text.
• Synthesis is a more personal composite of what
  the piece is about-a description of the gist of
  the piece.
• Developing competencies in both is a goal.

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Definition of Synthesis

• Simple elements of thoughts transformed into a
  complex wholelike throwing a rock into a pond
  first there is a splash, and the waves ripple
  out, making little waves get bigger and bigger.
• Your thinking evolves as you encounter new
  information, and the meaning gets bigger and
  bigger. (Debbie Miller, 2002)
• Colored circles example of student talk
• Synthesis is your experience tied to the text.

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Practice of Synthesis

• Take TIME
• While reading STOP, allow students to get, eye
  to eye, knee to knee and synthesize.
• Synthesis happens throughout a story-allow
  students to convey with pictures, words stopping
  3-4 times as you read.
• Chart the thoughts of the group.
• Allow independent reading and synthesis time.

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Fictional Summary

• Summary aides in retelling. Here are the big
  concepts to focus on
• Tell whats important
• In a way that makes sense
• Without telling too much
• Model using familiar picture books, fairy tales,
  and fables
• Students know how story is organized with
  setting, character, problem, resolution
• Can move from literal (fable) to inferential
  (moral)

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Non-fiction Summary

• Framework remains the same as fictional, but a
  different focus
• Focus on what is learned, not story elements
• Students can take notes or draw pictures of
  important words or parts
• Share what has been learned orally or with
  writing/pictures.

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Practice of Summary

• Take TIME
• Ask children reading same text to compare their
  thinking.
• Allow students to advertise a book by
  synthesizing it aloud to the class
• Allow students to act out synthesis by creating
  scenes/event with blocks, Legos, Beanie Babies

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Encouraging Types of Literature Response

• A response is any kind of thinking or activity
  that involves taking a closer look at, or
  rethinking about the text.
• Fours Types
• Visual
• Written
• Dramatic
• Oral

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Four Types of Response

• Visual Response gives students opportunity to
  communicate their thinking at any stage of
  knowing symbolically by
• Drawing
• Painting
• Modeling
• Sculpting
• Visualizing
• Retelling with props

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Fours Types of Response

• Written response compels students to revisit text
  about personal connections. It can include
• Creating maps/graphic organizers for retelling
• Jotting down questions
• Listing important ideas
• Writing evaluations and critiques

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Four Types of Response

• Dramatic response allows younger students to
  share without writing and older students to
  create from written script and includes
• Reenacting scenes or characters
• Puppetry

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Four Types of Response

• Oral response involves any kind of talk about the
  text. It allows children to
• Articulate impressions
• Clarify what they have understood
• Interact with others thoughts

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Retelling

• In order to recreate a story, a flurry of
  comprehension must first take place
• Which parts of the story are important enough to
  retell?
• Retelling forces focus and sorting of what their
  purpose in reading was.
• Careful listening must take place in order to
  retell in logical sequence.
• Children must monitor their comprehension in
  order that important parts are not skipped,
  repeated or misunderstood.
• These skills are especially important in
  non-fiction as
• they aid in understanding.

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Visual Retells

• Revisit a piece of test through
• Drawing
• Painting
• Coloring
• Sculpting
• Captions or narratives may be added in partners
  or teams.
• Retelling Web

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Dramatic Retells

• Dramatic Retells
• Characters (puppets)
• Personalities-As you model the use of props,
  think aloud what characters or personalities
  would say.
• Settings (props)
• Problem solution sequence (self-stick Velcro or
  magnetic strips)
• Reenactments are typically brief without a great
  deal of planning!

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Evaluating

• Evaluating involves
• Critiquing
• Establishing opinions
• Considering the authors intent and viewpoint
• Preparing to use and apply new information gained
  from the reading (Owocki 2003)
• To be used with Narrative and Expository text.

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SUCCESS

• It takes time to become proficient at
  comprehension. Not one of these strategies will
  be easily accomplished by all of the students in
  your classroom.
• Remember to introduce and master one skill at a
  time and most important
• MODEL,MODEL,MODEL,MODEL