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What Classroom Teachers Need to Know About Comprehension
Rebecca Derenge, Title I Reading Coordinator
Title I Directors Spring Meeting
March 10-13, 2009
Complexity of Comprehension
• 70 % of input to the human brain is visual
Nothing about reading is new… we simply hear it again to renew and replenish ourselves to go back out there and teach.
Content area teachers are uniquely qualified to teach students how to actively think about the texts in their classes.
• Analyze cause/effect of historical processes
• Visualize physical and chemical processes
• Interpret character motives and figurative language
How do you know you’re stuck?
• The voice inside the reader’s head isn’t interacting with the text.
• The reader’s mind begins to wander.• Clarifying questions asked by the reader are not
answered.• The reader reencounters a character and has no
recollection when that character was introduced.
Tovani, C. (2000) I Read It, But I Don’t Get It
National Reading Panel Report
• Comprehension Monitoring (Metacognition – Thinking about Thinking)
– Identify where difficulties occur
– Restate passages in their own words
– Look back or forward through text to clarify
Sequencing
The sequence of a passage tells what
comes first, next or last
Tells when something happens
Can order events or actions
Has a beginning, middle and end
Tells who, what when and where
Gives directions when telling how something is done.
Need to show, not just tell:
• Modeling
• Scaffolding– I do- you watch
– I do – you help
– You do – I help
– You do – I watch
Compare and Contrast
Tells how things are alike and different
Look for adjectives when comparing and contrasting
Words with er or more compare two things
Words with est or most compare more than two things
Words such as like or as are also used to c/c
Better and best compare good things
Worse and worst compare bad things
Fact and Opinion
A fact is something that is true.An opinion is what someone thinks or feels
Facts use words such as names, places and dates
Opinions use words such as think, feel, good and should to tell you how to think or feel
Facts and opinions can be used in one paragraph
Use facts to explain who, what, when, where and why
Opinions based on facts are more convincing
Cause and EffectA cause is why something happens or what makes something happen.An effect is what happens as a result of a cause
A cause tells why or gives a reason something happened
Words and phrases like so, because, since, on account of, as a result of and therefore, are often clues that a cause or effect is being stated
Cause and effect sentences involve an event and often go together
Cause and effect can have a problem then solves it by telling how it is worked out
Parents with professional jobs speak about Parents with professional jobs speak about 2100 words an hour to their toddlers, 2100 words an hour to their toddlers, those in poverty only about 600those in poverty only about 600
Through the CracksBy Carolyn Stollman
Third grade determines the lifelong reading level. It talks
about how these children who have fallen through the
cracks band together and then finally reach a classroom
where they feel they can learn.
Literary Elements
Literary elements are what make up a story. These elements include author, setting, character, mood, theme, style and illustrations.
The author is the person who wrote the story
The setting is where the story takes place
The character is the person the story is about
The mood is your feelings about the story
The theme is the purpose for writing the story
The style is how the author writes the story
The illustrations give pictures to support the story
National Reading Panel Report
• Story structure– Narrative
• Different Genre
– Expository• Texts• References• Trade books
Main Idea
The main idea of the passage is what the
passage is about
What is the main idea of the passage?
Signal words: mostly about, another title, best tells, best title, main theme, best describes, main purpose, most likely, best way, main lesson and sums up
Put in graphic organizer
ACHIEVEMENT GAP
PovertyRace
Expectations Teacher quality
Parenting Test bias
• In the end it is about LITERACY INSTRUCTION
Inferences
Inferences are based on information stated in the story or text as well as what is already known from personal experience which may relate to the passage being read.
Making inferences means making a guess
Signal words: infer, guess, probably, happened, clues, judging, conclusion, feel, think, believe, referring, describe, reason and determined.
Put in graphic organizer
National Reading Panel Report
• Question answering
(with immediate feedback)
– Gives a purpose for reading– Focuses attention– Helps students actively think as they read– Reviews content and relate to what they
already know (background knowledge)
National Reading Panel Report
• Question Generating (asking themselves questions as they reading)
– What if…
– I wonder…
HOW IMPORTANT IS BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE?
• Although Cretaceous and Tertiary deposition has buried older rocks in the area under a sedimentary blanket many thousands of feet thick, an outline of the earlier geologic history may be inferred from deep well records and from studies in the surrounding areas. In the half-billion years from the close of the Precambrian to the end of the Cretaceous, this region experienced none of the great folding and faulting so conspicuous in the Appalachians, the Oachitas, and parts of Europe and Asia.
» Evans & Belknap, Desolation River Guide
National Reading Panel Report
• Use of graphic organizers
National Reading Panel Report
• Cooperative learning
National Reading Panel Report
• Summarization
– Identify or generate the main idea
– Connect main or central ideas
– Eliminate unnecessary or redundant information
– Remember what they have read.
Bibliography
• Put Reading First. (Sept. 2001). http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipfor reading/publications/reading_first1text.html
• Report of the National Reading Panel. (Apr. 2000). http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp
Bibliography
• Tovani, C. (2000). I Read It, But I Don’t Get It. Stenhouse Publishers, Portland, ME.
• Zimmerman, S. & C. Hutchins. (2003). 7 Keys to Comprehension. Three Rivers Press, NY.
• Zwiers, J. (2004). Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades 6-12. International Reading Association, Newark, DE
Additional Resources
• Beck, et al. (1997). Questioning the Author. International Reading Association, Newark, Delaware.
• Block and Pressley. (2002). Comprehension Instruction. Guilford Press, NY.
• Ruddell and Unrau. (2004). Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. International Reading Association, Newark, Delaware.