What are the two major theories of comprehension?

1. What are the two major theories of comprehension? Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 11 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc. Benedictine University

2. Comprehension Goals… The goal of comprehension: • Is not just arriving at the rightanswer • It is twofold, incorporating • The right answer and… • An explanation of what the student is to do to arrive at the answer

3. Theories of Comprehension • Schema Theory • Comprehension is not merely getting meaning from text • Comprehension involves bringing meaning totext,based on our schema(relevant background knowledge/ past experiences) • Comprehension depends on our schema for world knowledge and our schema for text • Situation Model • Readers create in their minds (verbal or visual) representations of what they have read

4. What Influences Comprehension? Adapted from Reading Diagnosis for Teachers: An Instructional Approach by Barr et. al. Match between the knowledge and the language of the reader and the author Ability of the reader to integrate information across the text Organization of text by the author or use of structure by the reader Ability of the reader to respond personally Benedictine University

5. What are the causes of comprehension difficulty? Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 11 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc. Benedictine University

6. Effective Readers • Read with a purpose • Read actively • Attempt to connect ideas in sentences together – Rather than just decoding the words • Ask why and how questions to create cause and effect relationships • Use a variety of strategies • Use background knowledge to build meaning

7. Struggling Readers • Lack basic decoding skills • Have a limited vocabulary • Overuse background knowledge • Fail to read for meaning • Lack reading strategies • Do not use strategies appropriately • Read texts that are inappropriate for their reading level • May be instructed using inappropriate teaching techniques • May be subjected to inappropriate instructional settings

8. Directed Reading Activity(DRA) Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 11 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc. Benedictine University

9. Directed Reading Activity Web Source: http://www.nea.org/tools/18345.htm DRA (Betts, 1946) is a strategy that provides students with instructional support before, during, and after reading The teacher takes an active role in preparing students to read the text by pre-teaching important vocabulary, eliciting prior knowledge, teaching students how to use a specific reading skill, and providing a purpose for reading Benedictine University

10. Directed Reading Activity • In preparation for a Directed Reading Activity (DRA), consider: • What is schema? • How do you teach comprehension to students? • What does it mean to make a connection to a story? • DRA’s support teachers in: • Challenging students to read for deeper and more comprehensive meaning in text Benedictine University

11. What strategies can build comprehension? Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 11 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc. Benedictine University

12. Metacognition • Metacognition is: • Knowledge about when and how to use particular strategies for learning or for problem solving • Metacognition enables students to take control of their learning • Strategic readers implement metacognition skills by: • Being aware of a variety of strategies to help aid their understanding of text • Knowing when and how to use the strategies Web Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacognition

13. Metacognitive Awareness • Below average readers: • Can perform similar to above average readers when taught specific strategies to aid in their learning • However, after only two weeks, the below average learner will often fail to use the strategy again • This suggests re-teaching at defined intervals • Strategies are teachable and learnable • Students must be taught to generalize them across a variety of contexts (how and why they work) • Teachers must teach strategies systematically and scaffold students learning

14. Metacognitive Awareness • Low achieving readers are often not cognizant of their thought processes • Metacognition involves: • Knowing Oneself as a Learner • Regulating • Monitoring • Correcting

15. Steps in a Strategy Lesson Introduce the strategy Demonstrate and model the strategy Guided practice Independent practice and application Assessment and re-teaching Ongoing reinforcement and implementation Benedictine University

16. Types of Reading Strategies Preparational Strategies Organizational Strategies Elaboration Strategies Benedictine University

17. Preparational Strategies • Activating prior knowledge • Previewing • Predicting • Setting a goal/purpose Get Ready…

18. Organizational Strategies • Deriving main ideas • Organizing details • Summarizing • Creating graphic organizers Get SEt…

19. Elaboration Strategies Go… • Inferences • Skilled readers are better at making inferences • This involves additional processing and a fuller representation of the meaning of the text, leading to better retention of the materials • Techniques designed to improve the inferring ability of low-achieving readers must compensate for their overreliance on prior knowledge, inadequate use of text and lack of flexibility in reasoning about what is being read • Prior Knowledge Prediction Strategy • Prior knowledge prediction strategy steps • Create questions, pre-reading discussion, silent reading, post-reading discussion, verify inferences Benedictine University

20. Elaboration Strategies Go… • Responsive Elaboration • Is a teacher prompt made in response to a student’s erroneous answer • The focus is on the process – not the answer • QAR – Question-Answer Relationships • Teaches students the 4 major types of questions • It says…,I say…,and so… • Students make inferences by looking at what the text says (it says), what they have to say about it (I say), and what happens when you put it all together (and so) • Imaging Benedictine University

21. What instructional procedures help increase student comprehension? Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 6 – Barr, R. et. al., (2007) Reading Diagnosis for Teachers: An Instructional Approach. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc. Benedictine University

22. Types of Instructional Procedures • Interactive Procedures • Interactive procedures view the teacher as the “guide” and the readers control and monitor their own reading • Reorganizing Material Procedures • Reorganizing procedures focus on students’ abilities to interpret and evaluate the information in the text Benedictine University

23. Interactive Procedures • Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA) • Know-Want- Learn (KWL) • Generating Interaction between Schemata and Text (GIST) • Reciprocal Teaching/Modeling • Questioning the Author

24. Reorganizational Procedures • Question-Answer Relationships (QAR) • Guided Reading Procedure • Text Structure Instruction • Sentence Level Comprehension • Highlighting Anaphoric Relations • Focusing on Connective Terms • Sentence Combining Benedictine University

25. What is the Framework for Teaching Content Area Reading? Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 12 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc. Benedictine University

26. The Quiet Crisis! “The educational careers of 25 to 40 percent of American children are imperiled because they do not read well enough, quickly enough, or easily enough to ensure comprehension in their content courses in middle and secondary school.” - The National Research Council Benedictine University

27. Enablers • Content area teachers can become enablerswhen they rely too heavily upon… • Summarizing text • Using labs • Using simulations • Using audio-visual aids • INSTEAD,teachers should focus upon: • Encouraging students to READ their text • Teaching students techniques to overcome the challenges of reading specific content by effectively incorporating learning methods and technologies • Using labs, simulations, and audio-visual aids to support, not replace, the text Benedictine University

28. Content Area Reading • Content area reading involves using many of the reading strategies addressed during Session 3 • As experts in their specialized areas, content area teachers must: • Teach students to transfer the comprehension skills they already possess to the content area texts • Teach students the strategies that are particularly helpful for reading their specific content area texts • For example: • In social science, many textbooks are set up using “main idea-detail” text structure • Teaching students how to utilize knowledge of the text structure can help students more effectively comprehend the text they are reading Benedictine University

29. Framework for Teaching Content Area Reading • Step 1: Establishing Key Ideas • Choosing two – to – four key concepts helps focus a lesson and allows the teacher to guide students in their reading • Step 2: Preparing for Reading • Activate schema and build background knowledge • Establish Key Vocabulary (5-7 words) • Build Reasoning Skills and Strategies • Emphasize strategies needed for understanding • Establish a Purpose • Motivate Students Benedictine University

30. Framework for Teaching Content Area Reading • Step 3: Guided Reading • Silent reading with guiding questions, study guide, etc. • Step 4: Discussing the Reading • Step 5: Rereading • Expand, clarify and organize information • Step 6: Extending and Applying • Write a report or essay, conduct an experiment, create a one-sentence summary, additional reading, etc. Benedictine University

31. What Instructional Techniques Aid Learning in the Content Areas? Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 12 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc. Benedictine University

32. Before Reading Techniques Beforereading techniquesprovide an overview, build background knowledge and vocabulary, set goals, and establish strategies for reading • Examplesinclude: [To learn more about the topics below, click on the orangetitle links provided] • Anticipation Guide • Used to disprove erroneous beliefs. It is useful to have students jot down why their beliefs are correct or incorrect based on text statements (see page 416) • Frayer Model • Develops concepts through discovering relevant attributes, considering irrelevant attributes and noting examples and non-examples (refer to page 417) Benedictine University

33. During Reading Techniques Duringreading techniquesassist students in distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant information, and between important and unimportant details. During reading techniques organize information, make inferences, visualize settings, generate questions, summarize, and integrate Examples include: [To learn more about the topics below, click on the orangetitle links provided] • Frame Matrix • Categorizes information and demonstrates the relationships between key ideas • Strategy/Study Guides • Helps students organize information from the text. • Questions or other activities that help students become independent readers. (see page 420) • Pattern Guides • Uses text structure to organize notes • Glossing • A reading road map • Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension Thinksheets • Designed to promote a transaction between reading and writing Benedictine University

34. Glossing Specifics A “gloss” contains “margin notes” (on separate sheet of paper aligned with text) meant to give the reader an easy-to-read overview of the text Key characteristics: • Highlights important information • Paraphrases difficult segments • Gives the meaning of essential vocabulary • Highlights pertinent photos, charts and drawings • Provides an easy-to-read summary of the important information Benedictine University

35. Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension Thinksheets • Thinksheetsguide students through text by providing specific questions meant to be answered while reading the text • The questions break up text into manageable chunks • Students put all the information together and write an extended response as the final step of a thinksheet • Thinksheetsbegin as 5-10 minute exercises and gradually become longer • In addition, the amount of teacher assistance provided by the thinksheetsis gradually reduced • See sample on page 423-424 in Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties Benedictine University

36. After Reading Techniques Afterreading techniques focus students on integrating the information they have just read with knowledge they already possess Examples include: • Reflection • Whole class or small group discussion guided by a series of questions or the pre-reading/during reading guide or strategy • Graphic Post-organizer • See samples on page 427 • Extend and Apply Knowledge • Experiments • Surveys • Observations • Read trade books/periodicals • Watch interviews Benedictine University

37. How Do You Imbed Collaborative Approaches Into Content Area Instruction? Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 12 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc. Benedictine University

38. Collaborative Approaches Collaborative approaches have proven to be extremely powerful in improving comprehension of low-achieving readers Examples include: • ReQuest • The student and teacher ask each other questions about every sentence modeling higher level thinking • Questioning lasts for about 10 minutes • Students then predict what the rest of the selection will be about • Student completes the reading on his/her own • Review examples discussed in Session 3 • Reciprocal Teaching (page 432-433) • Question the Author (pages 433-437) Benedictine University

39. How Can Accessibility of Textbooks in the Content Area be Ensured? Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 15 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc. Benedictine University

40. Textbooks in the Content Areas • The amount students learn depends on the quality and appropriateness of their textbooks • Many content area texts are written a year or more above grade level Benedictine University

41. Textbook Accommodations • Adapt key chapters of texts • Eliminate nonessential details • Expand on key concepts • Signal main ideas • Simplify language (fewer pronouns, easier structure, easier vocabulary) • Give lots of examples • Audio versions of texts • From publisher • Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic • Low level content/classic literature texts • Gunning – pages 438, 441 • Use adapted and abridged classics Benedictine University

42. Check the Readability! • To ensure that textbooks and trade books are accessible for students, teachers should be aware of the readability of the text • Readability is the ease with which written material can be understood • Most readability formulas only take into account the sentence length and difficulty of vocabulary • Difficulty of vocabulary can be determined by: • Checking words on word lists • Counting syllables • Review the different readability formulas on pages 539-541 • Subjective factors also affect the readability of information • Graphics, page layout, writing style, density of concepts Benedictine University

43. More Information Focusing on Content Area Comprehension Instruction Benedictine University

44. Want More Information About Content Area Comprehension Instruction? • Check out these texts for more information: • Nonfiction Matters: Reading, Writing, and Research in Grades 3-8 • Stephanie Harvey • Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12 • Cris Tovani • Teaching Reading In Social Studies, Science and Math • Laura Robb Benedictine University

45. EDUC 603:Estimation of Readability Written Assignment Due Week 4 Benedictine University

46. Estimation of Readability EDUC 603: Estimation of Readability – Assignment #4 (Syllabus – page 3) • Choose a trade book and a content area book from the grade level of your choice • Use the Fry readability formula (Gunning, page 540) and the subjective readability formula (Gunning, page 542) to estimate the readability level of the texts • Compile your results and reflect on the appropriateness of using these books at the assigned grade level • See the rubric for this assignment in the Rubric Folder on-line • Estimation of Readability – Written Assignment is due at the end of week 4 Benedictine University