Written Responses within Reading Instruction

2. Written Responses within Reading Instruction Building Bridges to Deeper Comprehension

3. “A failure to recognize that composing and comprehending are process-oriented thinking skills which are basically interrelated… impedes our efforts not only to teach children to read and write, but our efforts to teach them how to think.”(Squire, 1983, p.581)

6. Understanding Why Writing Improves Comprehension • Helps clarify, organize and refine thoughts (Wells,1993,Brookes, 1998) • Involves the construction of meaning • Purposeful and structural in shaping the learner’s experience (Tierney &Pearson, 1983) • Builds links between: • Text Text • Text World • Text Self

7. Understanding Why Writing Improves Comprehension • Writers respond to text as they compose • Readers need to respond to what they are reading to interpret text • Writing expresses your own personal insight into a text Langer & Flihan, 2000

8. Using Written Responses to Enhance the Understanding of Text • Pair writing activities with decoding, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension for higher level of understanding. • Use explicit and direct instruction to introduce task, product or genre. • Limit instruction of genre to narrative, expository, persuasive.

9. Using Written Responses to Enhance the Understanding of Text • Have students respond or reflect on text through written assignments. • Use comparisons of: • text to text • text to self • text to world • Use writing to gain deeper understanding of the text. • Focus on informational summaries, personal responses to literature and quality responses to questions. Langer & Flihan, 2000

10. Types of Written Responses • Dictation- sound, word or simple sentence dictation • Simple answers- one to two words or a short sentence • Short answer- is used when the question needs a simple concise response. • Extended answer- used for more detailed explanations or comparison of text

11. Know Your Instructional Target! Story Target Target Target Strategies

12. Reading & Writing Strategies

13. Vocabulary Fluency Compre-hension Writing Before Word relatedness Illustrate & associate Model fluent reading Cold timings Predicting events in story During Reteach words Oral partner reading Summarizing Questioning After Word maps Content charts Fast phrases Sticky notes Graphic organizers Questioning Instructional Framework Group writing activity on predictions Get the Gist Review predictions Written response to G.O. and QAR

14. R & W STRATEGIES • SUMMARIZING • QUESTIONING

15. Summarizing • Story Frames • Get The Gist • Graphic Organizers • Narrative and Expository

16. Story Frames • Provides written language structure • Great for the primary grades (1-2) • Benefits ELL & Special Ed students • Types: • Character analysis • Plot summary • Setting • Story problem

17. Get The Gist • Effective summarizing strategy. • Improves understanding and memory of reading material. • Students monitor their comprehension by summarizing key information.

18. Graphic Organizers • Graphically represented ideas & relations. • Illustrate concepts and interrelationships among concepts in a text using diagrams or pictures. • Reading tools used to organize, clarify and interpret what is being read. • A means of getting to end, not the end result.

19. Responses To Graphic Organizers • Express graphically represented ideas & concepts and their relationships in writing. • Utilizing the information gained from the organizer to construct a reflective thought in writing. • Written response’s framework and/or structure should reflect the nature of the graphic organizer.

20. Graphic Organizers For Narrative Text • Story Elements Chart (p. 31) • Story Structure/Grammar Map (p. 45) • Find & Connect The Features Chart (pp. 35-39) • Think Links (pp. 15-16) • Compare And Contrast (p. 19)

21. Graphic Organizers For Expository Text • Main Idea Chart (p. 23) • Note Taking Organizer (p. 26) • Mind Map (p. 29) • Venn Diagram

22. Questioning • Types-short answer or extended response. • Higher level type of questions • Provide students with opportunities to make connections and think broadly about a topic. • Predict story features and events. • Reflect on what they’ve read by integrating their prior knowledge with text-based information.

23. Questioning & Text • Narrative Text: • Who, What, When, Where & Why? • Solution to the problem. • What will happen next? • Expository Text: • Does this make sense? • What have I learned so far? • What questions do I still have?

24. READING & WRITING ACTIVITY • Choose a story from the teacher’s manual to use. • Select 2 “TARGETS” that will be the used for instruction. • Decide if the strategy would work best in the Before, During or After section of the lesson. • Select a writing response that will expand the strategy’s focus.

25. Assessment of Writing to Learn It is all about the Quality of the Responsefor Extended Response • Use a rubric that focuses on Ideas, Organization and Conventions • Ask yourself: • Is the content accurate? Is it substantial, specific and /or illustrate the target? • Does the response follow the structure? (Frame, summary structure, question responses) • Are the conventions visible and do not interrupt the flow of the writing?

26. Assessment of Writing to Learn Extended Written Responses to Reading Rubric