Comprehension

1. Comprehension • The _____________ process involving the intentional interaction between reader and text to convey meaning.

2. Comprehension is... • The ____________ of reading • The content of meaning is influenced by the text and by the contribution of the reader's ______________(Anderson & Pearson, 1984).

3. Specific Comprehension Skills for the Early Primary Level • Three early primary-grade comprehension skills • Literal Comprehension • _____________ • Summarization

4. Literal Comprehension • Involves teaching students to retrieve information stated in a passage • Simplest written comprehension exercise • What is the difference between literal and nonliteral comprehension items? • Format p. 222

5. Sequencing • Requires ordering several events according to when they occur in a passage • e.g., A student reads a passage and then writes numbers in front of several phrases that describe events, writing 1 in front of the event that occurred first, 2 in front of the event that occurred next, etc. • Text p. 225

6. Summarization • Not only allows students to identify key ideas, but _____________________________________________________________________ • Summary condenses a passage into a few sentences • One-sentence summary: can be considered a main idea

7. Summarization: Teaching Procedure • Teacher tells students a rule for writing a main idea sentence (e.g., Name the person and tell the main thing the person did in all the sentences) • Students read the passage • Teacher asks the students to figure out a main idea sentence by naming the person and telling what the person did in all the sentences

8. Teacher calls on a student to say the sentences (teacher corrects the student by telling the correct answer) • Teacher repeats the same procedure with the remaining passage • Teacher has the students write the main idea sentence for each paragraph (difficult to spell words would be written on the board)

9. Commercial Basal Reading Programs • Mainly include narrative reading passages • Stories have text structure called story grammar • Structure revolves around conflicts or problems faced by characters in the story and their attempts to resolve the problem • Components of story grammar: • Conflict • Goal • Resolution of conflict • Plot • The character’s thoughts and feelings are common to many stories

10. Procedures for presenting components of story grammar • Progress from simple stories to more complex stories • Factors to consider: • Number of characters, plots, goals • Number of attempts by characters to achieve goals • Explicitness of story grammar components (main character, goals, conflict) • Length of the story • Readability of story (structure of sentences) • Amount of background knowledge required of students

11. Advanced Story-Reading Comprehension • Two procedures to teach advanced story comprehension • A ___________________ designed to help students summarize and clarify story grammar components during reading (p. 256) • A _______________ in which the teacher summarizes and points out how to anticipate questions to be asked.

12. Intermediate Grades • Major emphasis shifts from learning to read to reading to learn • Children begin reading _______________materials • Content-area textbooks or reference books designed to convey factual information or to explain what is difficult to understand

13. Why is comprehension of expository material difficult? • Very different from narrative material • New ______________ and use of typographic features and graphics • ______________ is difficult to understand and introduced at a high rate • Ease in understanding comes from prior knowledge that allows the student to build on previously introduced concepts

14. In narrative writing, students were carried through the material • In expository writing, there is no build up to the critical point • Instead, many equally important concepts are introduced • It may not be at an appropriate reading level for your students.

15. Four parts of content-area lesson • ________________ • ________________ • ________________ • _________________

16. Preparation • Read the material several times • Select ________________ • Develop ______________ • Rather than overviewing everything, identify the critical information and commit to teaching it. These are the main ideas. • Design (or adapt) a Chapter Test • Must match the critical content • Link between objectives and test items • Describe, identify, explain • Divide the chapter into _____________________

17. Prereading • Teach Difficult-to-Decode Words • Focus on phonic and structural analysis • Forest, renewable • Teach _____________________ • DI procedures • Concept map (graphic organizers): visual representation p. 271 • Feature Analysis • Concepts fall in 1 category (p. 287): have features or does not have features • Preview ________________ • Preview selection (title, headings, summary, questions at end)

18. Reading • ________________ • 1. Guiding quest ion: “Read to find out…” • 2. Read silently then orally • 3. Teacher asks questions • ____________________ • 4 strategies: question generating, summarizing, clarifying, predicting • __________________ • Coach & reader, correction procedures, paragraph shrinking • ________________ • Verbal rehearsal (SQ3R & written rehearsal (note taking)

19. Postreading Activities • ______________ • p.302 • Major concepts • Literal and inferential • Beyond yes and no responses • Well worded to promote ease of interpretation • ______________________ • 1. skim 2. list key points 3. combine related points into signal statements 4. cross out least important 5. reread 6. combine and cross out to condense points 7. number remaining points in logical order 8. write points into paragraph in numbered order • __________________________

20. National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum • http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_go.html • Other valuable websites: • http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ • http://www.thinkingmaps.com/