Testimony :

1. Testimony : This document was written in order to - give testimony of the total distress that a lack of understanding reading strategies can cause for a reader in difficulty … who is however more than willing! - inform the teachers who are too often unaware of this distress so that they may acquaint themselves with these strategies and then, as true reading professionals, they can teach them to all readers.

2. Echoes of my first meeting with Julie. by Hélène Delvaux

3. Présentation: Presentation: Julie is 15, she is in her third year of secondary school. She is having problems; her first report card shows several failures. She has come to ask for help. She looks down at the floor; she slumps her shoulders; she doesn’t say much ! We begin by getting acquainted. I explain to her how we are going to work (more specifically with mind management). She tells me that she has a lot of problems understanding the lessons, that she spends a huge amount of time studying and that she is failing in several courses. After having discussed processes she has succeeded in (modern dance and one course where she has reasonable results), I suggest doing a little reading understanding activity.

4. I can indeed tell that she is very stressed, she isn’t sure of herself, hesitant about each answer, even in areas where she is successful; to continue getting to know her, it seems to me that it would be useful to suggest that she do a small task : read a tiny comic strip with only four panels. The document seems very simple to me and should thus be suitable for this first discovery of how Julie’s mind works when she is in a learning situation. You will see the document on the following slide. Setting up the reading project : I ask Julie to read the comic strip just to understand the meaning; I tell her that she can take all the time that she feels she needs and that afterwards, I’ll ask her to say in just a few words what she has understood of this little story, without looking at the document which will have been removed. Here is the document :

5. For example, we could quite easily go without chicken on Sundays ! …and have fish less often ! Its price is out of bounds ! We can’t go on like this ! We really have to cut down on our household expenses ! On the other hand, we could eat pasta more often ! and eat less meat ! Vegetarians don’t eat meat, do they ? And…

6. Julie reads the comic strip, takes all the time she needs, then after a few minutes she tells me … that she doesn’t understand it. She specifies that it is the the text as a whole that she doesn’t understand. We then decide to look for the meaning together, panel after panel. I ask her to try to tell me what she has understood as we go through it. I tell her that I will help her in her approach, but that I won’t do the work in her place. She agrees to this. Here’s the story of this … adventure :

7. We can’t go on like this ! We really have to cut down on our household expenses ! Panel 1 : Here is, essentially, the dialogue between Julie and myself : H J H - What did you understand in this first panel ? J - This panel means that the prices in the shops should come down. What does « that » mean in the first sentence? H - Excellent question (it’s a question of looking for a reference, which is an important step for a good reader and which should therefore be encouraged to enable understanding) . We’re going to look for the answer together. Let’s come back to your first answer : «  the prices in the shops should come down ».

8. We can’t go on like this ! We really have to cut down on our household expenses ! - Do you think that the person who’s speaking has some sort of power over the prices that shops put on things ? H J - … … - And you, when you go shopping? Is the client the one who brings the prices down? H J • No. H - Well then, let’s change our hypothesis and come back to the « that ». I connect it to the « we » at the beginning and I wonder who this « we » is ? Maybe it will give us an answer for the « that » ? (again a question of reference, which is indispensable for a good understanding – and at the same time it is interesting to show that understanding consists of noticing clues with which to work out a hypothesis about the meaning, which can then be checked). J - I think it is « people » in general.

9. Let’s look at the panel more closely : a man is sitting in an armchair and reading; there is a little side table, a lamp, we can make out a curtain and a frame on the wall. Where do you think we are? H We can’t go on like this ! We really have to cut down on our household expenses ! (while saying this, I’m « reading » the panel, i.e., I’m picking out important clues, which is a step that Julie doesn’t know ; and yet a panel can be read in the same way as a text). J - In a lounge. - A lounge like the living room in your house, a lounge like in a big hotel, or like at the hairdresser’s, … ? H J - More like a living room in my house. We finally come to the conclusion that the person who is speaking could be the father of a family (a family we don’t know anything about, but which we can imagine) . The « we » would then represent the whole family.

10. We can’t go on like this ! We really have to cut down on our household expenses ! It should be pointed out that Julie told me that she hadn’t looked at the drawing and that she had never thought of finding clues in it to back up her understanding. In fact, she didn’t know that a drawing could be read too. - Now we know who the « we » is, but we still don’t know what the « that » represents ! Let’s go and look for it in the next sentence. H J - I don’t understand what « household expenses » means. At that point I realize that she knows the two words separately, but that she doesn’t have any idea what a family’s daily life can cost. For various reasons, she never takes part in shopping for the household.

11. We can’t go on like this ! We really have to cut down on our household expenses ! Together, let’s look for what can cost something in a household : food, electricity, telephone, cleaning products, clothes, car, heating, etc. Then, she immediately realizes what the sentence can mean : and consequently, she understands just as quickly that the words « like that » mean that the family is spending too much and needs to cut down. Now we’ve understood the meaning of the first panel. We move on to the second one.

12. For example, we could quite easily go without chicken on Sundays ! …and have fish less often ! Its price is out of bounds ! Panel 2 : Julie rereads the text and doesn’t understand the meaning because she has no idea of the cost of living : especially of meat and fish. As the knowledge isn’t there, I provide her with it : I inform her that meat is often expensive and that fish is too. At that moment, she tells me that she doesn’t understand the expression « its price is out of bounds ». It should be pointed out that a good reader can say when there is something which isn’t understood and exactly what isn’t understood. This ability is to be encouraged.

13. For example, we could quite easily go without chicken on Sundays ! …and have fish less often ! Its price is out of bounds ! H - Do you understand « out of bounds »? J - Yes. H - Do you understand the word« price »? J - Yes . H - So, what do you think the expression : « its price is out of bounds » means? J - I don’t know. H - Well, make some hypotheses and take the risk (understanding is taking a risk, it’s important to repeat that, not many students know it and it is a relief for them to hear it often – it obviously means that the teacher is ready to accept mistakes). The fish has an « out of bounds  » « price »: what could that possibly mean? Go on ! Take the risk and try ! J -That means that it doesn’t cost very much. H • Bravo ! That’s a good hypothesis. Let’s check it in comparison with the rest of the sentence.

14. For example, we could quite easily go without chicken on Sundays ! …and have fish less often ! Its price is out of bounds ! It is important to accept all hypotheses positively, even those which, as we know from the start, aren’t correct. This is because the objective here, is to bring the reader in difficulty to take the risk to make hypotheses, whether right or wrong. J - No, that doesn’t work. H - So, go on and make another hypothesis. Between each question/answer, Julie thinks to herself silently;I keep quiet too and I wait for her answer. This silent time is important so she can work by evocation. J - …that fish is very expensive! H - Very good hypothesis. Check it. J -Yes, that works with the beginning of the sentence!

15. For example, we could quite easily go without chicken on Sundays ! …and have fish less often ! Its price is out of bounds ! Julie has just experienced the risk and…the pleasure of giving meaning, by herself, to a word or an expression that she doesn’t know. She appreciates this. All we have left to do, is to link the meaning of the text to the drawing : the person has got up out of the armchair, closed the book and is walking with a very annoyed look (face – hand ). It’s consistent with the text : he hasn’t yet found a solution, he’s looking for it. We can move on to the third panel.

16. On the other hand, we could eat pasta more often ! and eat less meat ! Vegetarians don’t eat meat, do they ? And… Panel 3 : • Comprehension for this drawing is quick : • Julie knows that pasta is cheap • She knows about vegetariens - She finds confirmation for our preceding comprehension in the statement « eat less meat  ». She looks at the drawing and finds that the person’s attitude confirms her understanding : his face seems a little less strained, he ’s moving towards a solution, even if he seems resigned.

17. On the other hand, we could eat pasta more often ! and eat less meat ! Vegetarians don’t eat meat, do they ? And… It should be noted that previous knowledge is important : sometimes the reader doesn’t have the knowledge, but often it’s there and the reader doesn’t think to use it. That can also be a part of the teacher’s role : J. Giasson recommends a series of ideas in order to stimulate knowledge.

18. Panel 4 : J - I don’t understand! H - What is it that you don’t understand? - I don’t know what the cat is carrying on its shoulder. J H - It’s carrying a bundle and symbolically, that’s everything it owns! We observe the drawing : the cat looks like it’s entering the living room, it’s walking with a resolute step and it isn’t looking at the father of the family. Where is it going? The father of the family is very surprised : his attitude shows it and is confirmed by the exclamation mark! The cat is therefore doing something unexpected and astonishing.

19. There is something to be inferred from this. Julie can’t find it. • What did the father of the family imagine that he could save money on? H J - On food. H - And what does a cat like to eat? J - Meat. And then, Julie understands immediately : the cat, having heard the plans for saving money on meat and fish, is leaving, doubtless for another house. We have finally finished by understanding the comic strip … which I thought simple at first.

20. Observations and comments. As soon as the first panel had been read, the question of reference came up with the « that » and the « we ». Neither of them is easy because the « we » must be inferred from reading the drawing itself and the « that » must be inferred from the following sentence which illustrates the opposite. As far as inference is concerned, it is omnipresent in both the text and the drawing. Logical connections are, however, clearly expressed and facilitate understanding : « for example », « on the contrary », « and ». Moreover, in order to understand, previous knowledge must be mobilized: Julie isn’t used to doing this, she must therefore be informed and helped to perform the task, while being reminded of the risk involved in carrying out the process : by proceeding in this manner, it isn’t certain that an answer will be found, and even less certain that the correct answer will be found.

21. Some knowledge that could be considered « elementary » isn’t present inside her head; this information must be given to her, without judgement. When faced with a vocabularyword or a new expression, Julie remains passive : she’s used to asking for the meaning, never to looking for it by herself (sometimes in the dictionary, but it’s so off-putting!). In short, faced with a text, Julie isn’t in the least used to doing all this mental work of understanding : observing what is given, picking up significant indications both in the words and in the drawings, asking herself questions, trying to link pieces of information, comparing them with her experience, making hypotheses of meanings and checking them, etc. Julie wasn’t aware that there was all this work involved in understanding. Furthermore, she told me : when I first met you, for me, understanding meant « my eyes had glanced through the the text. That’s all » .

22. This is an echo of my first meeting with Julie. There were many more during which we patiently practiced the strategies for understanding in reading. And Julie had a lot of fun while doing so, even if it was often difficult for her. And each time, we took the time, to become aware, to name the strategy, to describe it, to recall it, and to imagine possible ways to use it again. Without this last metacognitive phase, the work would have been incomplete and, without a doubt, less efficient.

23. Testimony For the project « Signesetsens » 2007-09 Document by Hélène Delvaux d’IF Belgique Photographs : H. Delvaux