Looking at Student Work

1. Looking at Student Work You will share one piece of student work with your colleagues. The student work should be one that intrigues, puzzles or interests you in some way.

2. Looking at Student Work What Comes Up? • One member shares one piece of student work. Other members listen, look, read. • “What comes up for you when you examine this piece of work?” Other members take a few minutes to consider the question. • Round of response - - • One at time • Don’t speak out of turn • Don’t repeat someone else’s thought • Repeat round if needed 4. Open discussion based on responses Stay at the level of the work!

3. FAB FIVE OF LITERACY:Comprehension Developed by Meredith Parrish, Erin McClure

4. Comprehension Based on your teaching experiences, what is your definition of reading comprehension? Share your thoughts with a partner. Do you have similar definitions? What differences did you notice?

5. What does comprehension involve? The clouds gathered above, dark and full of rain… What are you thinking about the words in the text?

6. Now…Read Again. The clouds gathered above, dark and full of rain…as the farmer and his wife danced with joy at the end of the long drought. How did your understanding of the text change?

7. Good Readers Think as They Read • He picked up his bow… • He picked up his bow and arrows and… • He picked up his bow and arrows and put them in the back of his truck… • He picked up his bow and arrows and put them in the back of his truck along with the other things he was taking to his friend’s garage sale.

8. Research Says… • Comprehension strategies can be taught effectively through think-alouds. • Good comprehenders use a range of comprehension strategies. • Those who comprehend well are aware of their own thinking processes and make conscious decisions to use different comprehension strategies as they read.

9. Research Says… • Good readers attribute successful comprehension to effort more than ability. • Stronger comprehenders use their background knowledge to identify or make connections. • Most of the time, students should be reading texts they can decode with a high level of accuracy to improve comprehension. Making the Most of Small Group Instruction D. Diller (2007)

10. How Do I Know What My Students Need? • Pre-Assessment • Data Analysis • Student Interest Inventories • Observation • Student/Teacher Conferences

11. How do I teach comprehension? • Explain the purpose for your instruction. • Describe the strategy and how/when it’s helpful for reading • Demonstrate the use of strategy in authentic reading situations • Think aloud often • Encourage students to try strategies with you and with each other

12. How do I teach comprehension? • Ask your students to explain how they are thinking about a text • Have students practice strategies in small groups and individually • Relate strategy use to your students’ independent reading • Provide LOTS of opportunities for students to use ALL strategies with a variety of texts / content areas “Comprehension for All” Snowball Teaching K-8, May 2006

13. Understanding text structure Asking questions Answering questions Setting a purpose Summarizing Using schema / making use of prior knowledge Visualizing Monitoring Predicting Inference Graphic organizers Deciding what’s important Deeper meaning Now What?Choose a Lesson Focus!

14. Teaching Varied Comprehension Components Review the possible lesson focuses. Choose one that you would like to work on. Find others who have chosen the same lesson focus. Think of a lesson you have taught in the past and be prepared to share: • How would you adapt the lesson for your students? • What modifications would you make for your high achievers, grade level, and approaching grade level students? EC? ESL? • Does this lesson align with anything else you already do?

15. Reciprocal Teaching(Brown & Palinscar) What is it? • Provides practice in questioning, summarizing, clarifying and predicting • Opportunities to discuss text within small chunks • Provides scaffolding for students (start with heavy teacher modeling, move to teacher as facilitator / monitor)

16. Reciprocal Teaching What Does It Look Like? • Small groups of students • Students take on leadership roles • Students learn to self-monitor use of strategies

17. Reciprocal Teaching How Can I Adapt for K-2? • Teach non-readers to use strategies through read alouds. • Introduce concept whole group. • Use familiar text rather than new texts.

18. Reciprocal Teaching Roles • Questions to Ask • What would be another good title for this story? • What is this mostly about? • What does the author want you to remember? • What is the author’s purpose? • How can I make this long story short? Princess or Prince Storyteller (Summarizing) How Can Students Practice the Skill? Retell on storyboards / feltboard Graphic Organizers – sketch / label / write on storymap Dramatic Play Puppets

19. Reciprocal Teaching Roles Quincy Questioner (Questioning) • Questions to Ask • Who? What? Where? When? Why? • What does this story make you think of? • What were the important ideas? • Why do you think ________ did _______? How Can Students Practice the Skill? Model how to pause to ask a question / make a connection during a read aloud. Use a visual (stop sign, idea bubble, question mark…) Teach idea of thick questions (open ended, require more thought) Provide visual of 5 W’s

20. Reciprocal Teaching Roles Clara Clarifier (Clarifying) • Questions to Ask • What can you think of that would help you explain or understand the story better? • I was confused by _________. • What did ________ mean? How Can Students Practice the Skill? Model how to pause to ask a question during a read aloud. Use a visual (stop sign, idea bubble, question mark…) Teach idea of thin (yes / no response, easy answer, short response) Show how to go back and reread – reference the text.

21. Reciprocal Teaching Roles The Wizard (Predicting) • Questions to Ask • What do you think will happen next? • If _________ happened, how would the character most likely act? • What would happen if ________? How Can Students Practice the Skill? Sketch to stretch Predict / confirm or change charts

22. Reciprocal Teaching How Do I Assess? • Observe • Conference • Apply rubrics http://www.newliteracies.uconn.edu/carnegie/documents/IRT.pdf http://old.escambia.k12.fl.us/schscnts/brobm/teacher/mmarsh/downloads/CooperativeGroupReading.doc

23. Reciprocal Teaching –Try it Out! • In groups of five (one “teacher” + 4 RT roles), use the text provided try out a lesson. • Points to Ponder… • What role does the teacher play? How do you think you need to provide assistance early in the process? Later? • How would RT benefit all the learners in your room? • When/how could you use RT? • What questions do you still have?

24. Write-Pair-Share • Processing strategy which encourages students to think through, then refine, evaluate, justify and deepen their understanding of what they read/hear/view • Use before, during, after a literacy experience. • Many learning modalities are addressed and scaffolding is provided Try it Out  What is important to consider with a read aloud?

25. Notes on Read Alouds • Aim for 20-30 minutes daily. • Use quality informational and narrative texts. (Integrate your subject areas and promote intertextual connections!) • Deliberately plan which skills and strategies you will focus on with each text. • Incorporate think-alouds into your instruction. • Build in a day for rereading a text and incorporating skill extension (writing-based retelling, compare-contrast texts…).

26. Notes on Read Alouds Cont… • Choose Texts that are: • High interest & address standards • For your target audience (gr. level, length…) • Diverse and encourage multicultural connections • Clear and accurate • Created by same author or illustrator (create connections) • Choose Vocabulary that is: • Functional and meaningful • Rich, varied, interesting without compromising text’s overall meaning • Important to the story

27. Overall Goals for Read Alouds • Challenge students to develop more complex comprehension strategies. • Intertwine use of fiction/non-fiction to promote text-to-text connections. • Deepen comprehension through student to student dialogue. • Assess student progress through individual retells. (Has use of vocabulary and use of text information increased?)

28. Read Alouds – Try it Out With your teammates, use an informational and fictional text and: • Identify 3-4 vocabulary words from each text to teach. • Choose a comprehension strategy focus for before/during/after read aloud. • Be prepared to share your read aloud plan.

29. Small Group / Reading Workshop Purpose? • Provide differentiated instruction based on known needs of students • Opportunity for specific teacher guidance • Provide scaffolding (I do/We do/You do)

30. Small Group / Reading Workshop Things to consider: • What type of text is used? • How are students grouped? • How do students read? • How many groups are there in any given classroom? • What is the format of a the reading lesson? • How will I assess student progress?

31. Small Group / Reading Workshop • Analyze the running record sample in your packet. • What are the student’s strengths? • What error patterns do you see? • What suggestions do you have for reteaching or planning for future instruction? • What can the student do to practice necessary skills independently?

32. Assessment – Considering Cueing Systems

33. Additional Assessment • Let’s consider how we can/do use the following: • retell rubrics • listening comprehension • questions (varied levels & student generated) • vocabulary • cloze assessments • written responses • anecdotal notes from reading workshop • authentic work samples • informal reading inventories • strategy use • other???

34. Final Thoughts • Go back to your original definition of reading comprehension. • How would you modify your definition? Exit Ticket Think back to all we have discussed about comprehension. How will you use today’s information?