TCH 264: Comprehension and Guided ReadingMarch 31, 2014

Today’s Class

Reading Workshop• Discuss Guided Reading • Plan a Guided Reading Lesson •Writer’s Workshop• Review 6-Traits•Write using “Show Don’t Tell”• Describe Voice in Writing•Write using Voice

Mindful Comprehension Instruction

• Comprehension is difficult to measure because people understand texts differently• Focus less on “if” a student comprehended a text

and more on “how” she comprehended it.• Focus on efforts to build students’ metacognitive

awareness—their awareness of the strategies they use to think about texts

• Be wary of teaching comprehension strategies in lock-step or uniform ways• Flexibility• Intentionality

Explicit and Strategic InstructionExplicit Instruction• Demonstration (modeling) • Guided Practice• Independent PracticeStrategic Instruction• Explains what to do• Shows how to do it• Explains when to use the strategy and when it might be useful

(When and Why we’re doing it)Inferring Word Meaning (#9, 2:00)Questioning and Discussion (#5, to 10:00)

Say Something

Guided Reading-What does it look like in classrooms you’ve observed?

Read-AloudThink Aloud

Shared Reading

Guided ReadingIndependent Reading

What is Guided Reading

Guided Reading occurs when a teacher guides a small group of children (3-5) in using word identification or comprehension strategies• Students are grouped based on needs • Groups change based on their needs

• Teachers select a strategy to focus onhttp://www.sanjuan.edu/webpages/gguthrie/balanced_literacy.cfm?subpage=116133

What are the skills we can teach in Guided Reading?

Materials• Leveled Books• Class sets of Children’s Literature• Big Books• Children’s Magazines or Newspapers• Charts (Poems or Plays)• Selections of science or social studies materials (maps,

charts, graphs)• Sentence Strips• White Boards• Word Cards/Flash Cards• Post-its, Highligters

What Happens During Guided Reading

• Reader’s Workshop• About 15 minutes• Other students are working independently or with other adults

in the classroom• Guide Students through Pre-reading strategies• Introduce words• Model the Reading Strategy• Read (Whisper Reading or Taking Turns)• Avoid the Round Robin or Popcorn Reading

• Discussion about the book• During Reading the teacher can guide students in using the strategy• Ask questions to check for understanding

What it looks like…

1st grade (#9, 13:00)5th gradeKindergarten (14:48)DiscussionNon-fiction TextInference LessonMaterials, Pre-reading, During Reading, What Comprehension

Skills are the teachers working on, Noticing and Naming the comprehension strategies (Academic Language), Modeling Think-aloud

Before ReadingTeacher will:• Motivate students through activities that may

increase their interest (book talks, dramatic readings, or displays of art related to the text), making the text relevant to students in some way.• Activate students' background knowledge related to

the content of the text by discussing what students will read and what they already know about its topic• Discuss the organization of the text

Before Reading

Students will:• Establish a purpose for reading.• Identify and discuss difficult words, phrases, and concepts in

the text.• Preview the text (by surveying the title, illustrations, and

unusual text structures) to make predictions about its content.

• Think, talk, and write about the topic of the text.

During Reading• Remind students to use comprehension strategies as they

read and to monitor their understanding.• Ask questions that keep students on track and focus their

attention on main ideas and important points in the text.• Focus attention on parts in a text that require students to

make inferences.• Have students to summarize key sections or events.• Encourage students to return to any predictions they

have made before reading to see if they are confirmed by the text.

After Reading

Teachers-• Guide discussion of the reading.• Ask students to recall and tell in their own words important

parts of the text.• Offer students opportunities to respond to the reading in

various ways, including through writing, dramatic play, music, readers' theatre, videos, debate, or pantomime.

After Reading

Students-• Evaluate and discuss the ideas encountered in the text.• Apply and extend these ideas to other texts and real life

situations.• Summarize what was read by retelling the main ideas.• Discuss ideas for further reading.

Questions

Thin Questions:• Where?• When?• Who?• How many?

Thick Questions:• What if…?• How did…?• What would happen

if…?• How would you feel

if…?• Why do you think…?

Reader Response….schools shouldn’t be about handing down a collection of static truths to the next generation but about responding to the needs and interests

of the students themselves -Alfie Kohn

Transactional Theory- the act of reading involves a transaction between the reader and the text. Each "transaction" is a unique experience in which the reader and text continuously act and are acted upon by each other.A written work does not have the same meaning for every readerEach reader brings individual background knowledge, beliefs,

and context to a reading

From the work of Louise Rosenblatt

Reader Response & Close ReadingThink about your literature circles, how did comprehension fit into that? What worked, what would you want to include when doing this with students?

Reader Response Close Reading

6+1 Writing Traits

A writing assessment framework developed by Northwest Regional Education Laboratory

Purpose:• Develop common language to communicate

about writing• Develop a common vision of what effective

writing looks like

Assessing Voice

What is Voice? How do we recognize it? How do we teach it?• Mentor Texts• Model telling a story• Turn and TalkExampleshttp://apps.educationnorthwest.org/traits/scoring_examples.php?search=1&t=3&s=5&g=0

Characteristics of Strong Voice in Writing

• Shows emotion• You hear the character or writer’s personality• Sounds like spoken language• Choice of words sounds natural and matches the

character/writer• Connects with the audience• Figurative language (hyperbole, metaphor, simile,

onomatopoeia) • Can take a number of angles: Humorous, Sarcastic, Serious,

Mysterious• Sentence variety and structure• Action verbs

Show Don‘t Tellhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU#aid=P98JF3Zp1FQ 1. Word Choice2. Action3. Figurative Language4. Sensory Details5. Let Reader Feel the Emotion (Invites

a Deeper Understanding)6. Interaction between characters

I clasp the flask between my hands even thought the warmth from the tea has long since leached into the frozen air. My muscles are clenched tight against the cold. If a pack of wild dogs were to appear at this moment, the odds of scaling a tree before they attacked are not in my favor. I should get up, move around, and work the stiffness from my limbs. But instead, I sit, as motionless as the rock beneath me, while the dawn begins to lighten the woods. I can’t fight the sun. I can only watch helplessly as it drags me into a day that I've been dreading for months.

Katniss was awake before sunrise. She was so nervous about this day she had difficulty moving.

We Do It1. Select a noun2. Brainstorm using the GO (You

can select any noun you want)3. Write 3- showing sentences and

end with the telling sentence

Lion

You do it

• My room was messy.• I am not a morning person.• It’s a bad hair day• I saw the car accident • The room was crowded

-or-• Revise a place writing• Revise a character• Revise your POV writing to show

your emotion

Henjun, K. & O’Hagan, L. (n.d.) Show what your mind sees. The Writing Fix. Retrieved from http://writingfix.com/Chapter_Book_Prompts/Twits3.htm

Next Class

Readers’ Workshop• Read Wiki Article: Show Me: Principles for

Assessing Visual Literacy• Visual Elements Reading Strategies

Writer’s Workshop: • Visual Elements in our Writing• Draft something in your notebook (See previous

slide for Show Don’t Tell writing ideas