Comprehension and Fluency

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Comprehension and Fluency

• A house without books is like a room without
  windows.
• -Horace Mann

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Is Reading Still Important in the Video Age?

• The more you read, the more you know.
• The more you know, the smarter you grow.
• The smarter you are, the longer you stay in
  school.
• The longer you stay in school, the more diplomas
  you earn and the longer you are employed thus the
  more money you earn in a lifetime.
• The more diplomas you earn, the higher your
  childrens grades will be in school.
• The more diplomas you earn, the longer you live.
• The opposite would also be true
• The less you read, the less you know.
• The less you know, the sooner you drop out of
  school.
• The sooner you drop out, the sooner and longer
  you are poor.
• The sooner you drop out, the greater your chances
  of going to jail.

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Some ways to have good conversations with your
child

• Encourage him to talk about what he is reading at
  school as well as at home
• Also ask about the writing he is doing at school
  and/or at home
• Share stories about your childhood and stories
  about other family members
• Play word games.
• Talk with your child about the television
  programs he views
• Ask your child his opinion about a variety of
  public issues
• Encourage your child to make up stories to tell
  you
• After your child tells you a story, ask him how
  he would change something in the story to make it
  different
• Talk with your child about how the day went for
  him.
• The possibilities are endless!

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Reading At Home

• Hear the flow of language
• Hear words that may be new to them and thus help
  to expand their vocabulary
• Get a chance to talk to you about the story that
  they may not be able to read by themselves
• Expand their knowledge of the world
• Simply enjoy hearing you read.

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Reading and Comprehension

• Reading refers to the ability to comprehend or
  make meaning from written text.
• What does it mean to comprehend?

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Definition

• Reading comprehension is the construction of
  the meaning of a written communication through a
  reciprocal, holistic interchange of ideas between
  the interpreter and the message.
• Harris and Hodges

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Why is background knowledge key?
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Background Knowledge - What is it?

• Mike Piazza and Robin Ventura singled to start
  the eighth inning. After a Braves pitching
  change to bring in Mike Remlinger, Melving
  Mora-first of a series of pinch hitters- came to
  the plate for Benny Agbaynani. Mora bunted,
  moving Piazza and Ventura over.

• Kallis and Rhodes put on 84 but, with the ball
  turning, Mark Waugh could not hit with impunity
  and his eight overs cost only 37. The runs still
  had to be scored at more than seven an over, with
  McGrath still to return and Warne having two
  overs left, when Rhodes pulled Reiffel to Beven
  at deep square leg.

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Making Connections

• Text to Self
• Text to Text
• Text to World

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Show Your Child Your Connections
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Three-Level Taxonomy of Comprehension

• Literal Comprehension
• Lowest level
• Requires the reader to be able to retell of
  recall the facts
• Inferential Comprehension
• Refers to the ability of a reader to take in
  information that is implied within a text
• Requires the orchestration and manipulation of
  information
• Critical Comprehension
• Highest level in the taxonomy
• Involves making critical judgments about the
  information presented in the text

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Narrative Retelling

• Setting When and where does the story take
  place?
• Characters Who are the people in the story? Can
  you describe them?
• Plot What is the story about?
• Events What happened in the story? First, next,
  after that How and why?
• Problem What was the problem in the story?
• Solution Was the problem solved? How?
• Theme What do you think __ learned in the
  story?
• Why do you think author wrote the story?
• Connections Does this story remind you of any
  other stories or a personal experience?

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Fluency Instruction

• Fluency is
• Fluency is important because
• Reading fluency can be developed

• the ability to read a text accurately and
  quickly
• it frees students to understand what they read
• by modeling fluent reading
• by having students engage in repeated oral
  reading

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• More fluent readers focus their attention on
  making connections among the ideas in a text and
  between these ideas and their background
  knowledge. Therefore, they are able to focus on
  comprehension.

• Less fluent readers must focus their attention
  primarily on decoding individual words.
  Therefore, they have little attention left for
  comprehending the text.

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Independent level text Relatively easy text
for the reader, with no more than
approximately 1 in 20 words difficult for the
reader (95 )

• Instructional level text
• Challenging but manageable text for the
  reader, with no more than approximately 1 in 10
  words difficult for the reader (90 success)

• Frustrated level text
• Difficult text for the reader, with more
  than 1 in 10 words difficult for the reader
  (less than 90 success)

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How can I help my child become a more fluent
reader?

• To understand a line or phrase that is difficult
• To get ready to talk about the book
• To follow a thread throughout the book
• To support a theory or prediction
• To study the authors craft
• To think through an opinion about an issue in the
  text
• To think about how a word relates to others in
  the same genre

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parenting (pâr??n-ting) , n.1. The most
difficult and most important job you will ever
have.2. And, potentially, the most rewarding.
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A Village

• We have to work together in order for our
  children to grow and succeed so that they may
  become college and career ready.