Imagine, Elaborate, Predict, and Confirm

1. Imagine, Elaborate, Predict, and Confirm Brittany Massey EDC 448 Dr. Kern Summer 2009 6/17/09

2. “To make predictions about a text, students must have prior knowledge about the topic and have a means or reason to retrieve it. This strategy takes the predictive process back to its origins in the imagination and extends it throughout the lesson.”- Karen D. Wood & Clare Endres

3. Why Use the IEPC Strategy? • To motivate students’ interest in reading • Using visual images before, during, and/or after reading enhances comprehension • Enhances students’ ability to write descriptively by encouraging use of their creative imaginations

4. When to Use the IEPC Strategy… • The IEPC Strategy is used as a whole class • It works best when used with any instance where you would use prediction or imagery • Use to heighten students’ interest in a selection • Use to stimulate their thinking about a topic before reading or listening

5. What are the Four Strategies? • Imagine • Elaborate • Predict • Confirm *Imagine, Elaborate, Predict come before reading, Confirming is after reading

6. Many studies have shown that mental imagery plays a crucial role in the interactive process of reading Visualizing is a critical aspect of achieving good comprehension skills Not all students are proficient at creating mental images with text, but according to research students of all abilities can be taught this strategy Questions to ask in this phase… What do you see… What smells or sounds are around you… How do you feel… What does this remind you of… Imagine

7. It is the practice of forming connections between previously learned information and new content through imagery and visualization, analogies, descriptions, and details Elaboration gets students to extend and modify their verbalizations through questioning and summarizing while reading, which helps develop their understanding This part of the strategy requires you (the teacher) to demonstrate, model, and prompt how it works. In this phase… Talk about your thinking Use extratextual questions to connect ideas from beyond the text to information in the text “Let me think, what do I already know about…” Have students use descriptive language while thinking aloud Elaborate

8. Predict • Get students to use their prior knowledge to anticipate what might occur in the readings • Predictions help your students develop a purpose for reading, an essential instructional element that helps direct, motivate, stay on course, and continue reading to the end of the assignment • This part of the strategy helps students to set their own purpose for reading, question their predictions, and read more to find out if their predictions were right

9. Confirm • After reading, return to original predictions and modify them to coordinate with newly learned information • Go back to key parts of the text to confirm or refute these predictions to enhance understanding

10. How to Use the IEPC Strategy • First, model the IEPC strategy, explain to your students what it is,and how it can help them learn more effectively • Explain the purpose of the lesson - what, how, and why - to engage readers with the text • Select Material (trade books, newspaper articles, content area texts, etc) • Display IEPC form (either on an overhead or on the board) • Explain the benefits of this strategy (it will help them remember what they have read) • Explain the components using appropriate language for each of your students’ learning levels • Explain that the first three parts - Imagining, Elaboration, and Predicting will come before reading and Confirming comes after reading

11. This strategy can be used across all content areas, grade levels, and various texts as long as there is an aspect of visualizing connected Teacher recommendations for classroom implementation: Help students make connections between their prior knowledge and the text context Remind students to use their 5 senses in creating their mental pictures Compare and contrast their predictions and the actual events Refer back to the text for evidence Thoroughly model the strategy and use teacher think-alouds when needed to get students started Make sure the text isn’t too long After the whole-class experience give students a chance to use the IEPC strategy in small groups, pairs, and then individually Where to Use the IEPC Strategy

12. Where to find this article… Wood, Karen D., and Clare Endres. "Motivating Student Interest with the Imagine, Elaborate, Predict, and Confirm (IEPC) Strategy." The Reading Teacher 58 (2004): 346-57.