What Classroom Teachers Need to Know About Comprehension

1. What Classroom Teachers Need to Know About Comprehension Rebecca Derenge, Title I Reading Coordinator Title I Directors Spring Meeting March 10-13, 2009

2. Complexity of Comprehension

3. 70 % of input to the human brain is visualNothing about reading is new… we simply hear it again to renew and replenish ourselves to go back out there and teach.

4. Content area teachers are uniquely qualified to teach students how to actively think about the texts in their classes. • Analyze cause/effect of historical processes • Visualize physical and chemical processes • Interpret character motives and figurative language

5. How do you know you’re stuck? • The voice inside the reader’s head isn’t interacting with the text. • The reader’s mind begins to wander. • Clarifying questions asked by the reader are not answered. • The reader reencounters a character and has no recollection when that character was introduced. Tovani, C. (2000) I Read It, But I Don’t Get It

6. National Reading Panel Report • Comprehension Monitoring (Metacognition – Thinking about Thinking) • Identify where difficulties occur • Restate passages in their own words • Look back or forward through text to clarify

7. SequencingThe sequence of a passage tells what comes first, next or last Tells when something happens Can order events or actions Has a beginning, middle and end Tells who, what when and where Gives directions when telling how something is done.

8. Need to show, not just tell: • Modeling • Scaffolding • I do- you watch • I do – you help • You do – I help • You do – I watch

9. Compare and ContrastTells how things are alike and different Look for adjectives when comparing and contrasting Words with er or more compare two things Words with est or most compare more than two things Words such as like or as are also used to c/c Better and best compare good things Worse and worst compare bad things

10. Fact and OpinionA fact is something that is true.An opinion is what someone thinks or feels Facts use words such as names, places and dates Opinions use words such as think, feel, good and should to tell you how to think or feel Facts and opinions can be used in one paragraph Use facts to explain who, what, when, where and why Opinions based on facts are more convincing

11. Cause and EffectA cause is why something happens or what makes something happen.An effect is what happens as a result of a cause A cause tells why or gives a reason something happened Words and phrases like so, because, since, on account of, as a result of and therefore, are often clues that a cause or effect is being stated Cause and effect sentences involve an event and often go together Cause and effect can have a problem then solves it by telling how it is worked out

12. Parents with professional jobs speak about 2100 words an hour to their toddlers, those in poverty only about 600 Through the Cracks By Carolyn Stollman Third grade determines the lifelong reading level. It talks about how these children who have fallen through the cracks band together and then finally reach a classroom where they feel they can learn.

13. Literary ElementsLiterary elements are what make up a story. These elements include author, setting, character, mood, theme, style and illustrations. The author is the person who wrote the story The setting is where the story takes place The character is the person the story is about The mood is your feelings about the story The theme is the purpose for writing the story The style is how the author writes the story The illustrations give pictures to support the story

14. National Reading Panel Report • Story structure • Narrative • Different Genre • Expository • Texts • References • Trade books

15. Main IdeaThe main idea of the passage is what the passage is about What is the main idea of the passage? Signal words: mostly about, another title, best tells, best title, main theme, best describes, main purpose, most likely, best way, main lesson and sums up Put in graphic organizer

16. ACHIEVEMENT GAP Poverty Race Expectations Teacher quality Parenting Test bias • In the end it is about LITERACY INSTRUCTION

17. InferencesInferences are based on information stated in the story or text as well as what is already known from personal experience which may relate to the passage being read. Making inferences means making a guess Signal words: infer, guess, probably, happened, clues, judging, conclusion, feel, think, believe, referring, describe, reason and determined. Put in graphic organizer

18. National Reading Panel Report • Question answering (with immediate feedback) • Gives a purpose for reading • Focuses attention • Helps students actively think as they read • Reviews content and relate to what they already know (background knowledge)

19. National Reading Panel Report • Question Generating (asking themselves questions as they reading) • What if… • I wonder…

20. HOW IMPORTANT IS BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE?

21. Although Cretaceous and Tertiary deposition has buried older rocks in the area under a sedimentary blanket many thousands of feet thick, an outline of the earlier geologic history may be inferred from deep well records and from studies in the surrounding areas. In the half-billion years from the close of the Precambrian to the end of the Cretaceous, this region experienced none of the great folding and faulting so conspicuous in the Appalachians, the Oachitas, and parts of Europe and Asia. • Evans & Belknap, Desolation River Guide

22. National Reading Panel Report • Use of graphic organizers

23. National Reading Panel Report • Cooperative learning

24. National Reading Panel Report • Summarization • Identify or generate the main idea • Connect main or central ideas • Eliminate unnecessary or redundant information • Remember what they have read.

25. Bibliography • Put Reading First. (Sept. 2001). http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipfor reading/publications/reading_first1text.html • Report of the National Reading Panel. (Apr. 2000). http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp

26. Bibliography • Tovani, C. (2000). I Read It, But I Don’t Get It. Stenhouse Publishers, Portland, ME. • Zimmerman, S. & C. Hutchins. (2003). 7 Keys to Comprehension. Three Rivers Press, NY. • Zwiers, J. (2004). Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades 6-12. International Reading Association, Newark, DE

27. Additional Resources • Beck, et al. (1997). Questioning the Author. International Reading Association, Newark, Delaware. • Block and Pressley. (2002). Comprehension Instruction. Guilford Press, NY. • Ruddell and Unrau. (2004). Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. International Reading Association, Newark, Delaware.