Teaching Comprehension Strategies in ABE and GED Reading and Math Instruction

1. Teaching Comprehension Strategies in ABE and GED Reading and Math Instruction Presented by Charlie Love charlie@durangoaec.org Durango Adult Education Center

2. Overview • The components of reading • Ideas for improving reading ability • How these ideas can be applied in mathematics instruction • A deeper look at comprehension strategies, for reading and math

3. Motivation Comprehension Five Components of Reading Phonology Vocabulary Fluency Each component can limit the progress of the others.

4. Increasing Motivation • Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) • High interest materials • Student choice • Real-world application—make it relevant • parenting topics • health • Select level-appropriate materials (generally no more than 5 difficult* words per page) *difficult = unable to decode independently or not in student’s vocabulary

5. Increasing Fluency • Instructor modeling (teacher reads aloud) • Chunking (see handout) • Timed reading, chart results (wpm) • Choose level-appropriate materials (no more than 5 “difficult” words per page) • Lots of reading practice, silent and oral • Read the same passage several times to increase speed

6. Boosting Phonology (Decoding) Skills • Phonemic Awareness • Phonemic awareness is the ability to register and compare the number and sequence of sounds within spoken words • Provides a foundation for understanding phonics • Lack of phonemic awareness is an underlying cause of many reading disorders • Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing (LiPS) is a commercial program that develops phonemic awareness • Wilson Reading System, Orton-Gillingham • Phonics texts and/or programs • Morphology (word parts) • Dictionary work

7. Building Vocabulary • Using context clues • Dictionary activities, practice • Structural analysis, word parts • Selecting target words • Strategy building words • High frequency words • Words that lack context clues • Vocabulary cards

8. Improving Comprehension • Pre-teach vocabulary (limit to a few words) • Skim text--headings, bold words, pictures, captions, and graphic information • Encourage students to engage in reading by applying “Strategies to Improve Comprehension” (see handout) • Discuss cognitive processes • Explain importance of being an active reader • Provide bookmarks as a prompt and reminder • Model and practice each strategy

9. Strategies to Improve Comprehension • Visualize • Relate • Summarize • Form Questions • Predict • Infer • Metacognition

10. Visualize- in reading • Visualizing and Verbalizing program • Structure words (see handout) • What • Where • Etc. • An activity- “Forest Fire” • Visualize a word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, and eventually a passage

11. Visualize- in math • Word problems and graphics tell a story • Compare to a movie or TV show • Characters • Setting: place and time • Plot or action Relate- whenever possible, imagine characters and a setting that are familiar and personal Ask students to verbalize their images

12. Relate- in reading • Compare info being read to personal experiences and knowledge • Rationale for accessing prior knowledge • Dendrites • Another method of engagement, additional cognitive processing • File cabinet metaphor

13. Summarize- in reading • Try with video clip, movie (watch previews) • Lots of textbook activities available • Leave the room, come in and ask what they’re reading (explain in one sentence)

14. Summarize- in math • What is the word problem asking (paraphrase the question) • Analyzing a graph (math, science, soc. stud.) • Title (characters) • Axis (setting) • Trend (plot) • Make a statement that covers all 3 this is the main idea of the graph

15. Form questions- in reading • Group activities: question cubes, question spinner, pull names out of a hat, spin the bottle, 20 questions • Individual: write a question for each paragraph as you read, stump sitting • Getting an answer to the question is not important, increased engagement is important • “Laughing Quadruplets” video

16. Form questions- in math • Do I need all of this information? • What operation will I perform? • Is my answer logical? In the ballpark? • Questions about the characters, setting, plot in a word problem

17. Predict- in reading • Make predictions at the end of each paragraph- deemphasize predicting correctly • Sink or float activity • “Nightmare in Yellow”

18. Predicting- in math • Estimate before calculating. • Other ideas?

19. Infer- in reading • Define inference and implication • Pantomime an emotion • Role-play a scenario • Don’t want to go on a date • Don’t like the food • A poetry activity “What does the poet imply about Christopher Columbus? What can you infer?”

20. Infer- in math • Deciding how to set up and solve a problem- which information is relevant, which operation to use

21. Metacognition- in reading • Traffic signs and signals- encourages metacognition and summarizing Metacognition- in math • Encourage students to read a problem several times before attempting to solve, noticing the information they acquire with each reading