Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning

Doug Buehl

Ch 1: Fostering Comprehension of Complex Texts

Meeting the significant shifts in expectations with regards to the challenges of Common Core State Standards (p 3-4)

● Students will be expected to read and comprehend texts of greater complexity

● Students will be expected to read a higher volume of informational texts

● Students will be expected to perceive, analyze, and develop argumentation as readers, writers, speakers, listeners, and viewers.

● Students will be expected to considerably expand their academic vocabularies

● Students will be expected to regularly communicate their understandings as readers and learners through writing

Frontloading for Comprehension

Read the following essay then think about the main idea of this passage.

Your first decision is to choose the size you desire. Once you have made your selection, examine the general shape to determine where to start. The initial incision is always at the top, and you should continue until you can lift it cleanly. The removal of the interior portion can be fun, although some people regard this as the least enjoyable aspect. Once the shell is empty, you can begin to graft a personality. Some prefer a forbidding likeness, whereas others follow a more humorous direction. Finally, arrange for a source of illumination. Enjoy your results while you can, for your work will soon begin to sag.

Frontloading for comprehension

If I told you that we were going to read an essay about making a jack-o-lantern and we talked a little about what that means before we read the article, would it have made a difference?

This is frontloading. Why is frontloading important? How can this be tied to making predictions? Activating prior knowledge? Making connections? Could a student who has never seen or carved a pumpkin ever comprehend this text without discussing some of these things first? Wormeli states you must “prime the brain” before you dive into the work or ask questions.

For frontloading, use the strategy called “Chapter Tours” which points out features of the text that warrant special attention. Effective tours should do the components of what all good readers do.

Comprehension Processes of Proficient Readers

What do good readers do? (p 4-6)

● Make connections to prior knowledge● Generate questions● Visualize and create sensory mental images● Making inferences● Determine importance● Synthesize● Monitor reading and apply fix up strategies

Strategies: Jigsaw and Three 3’s in a Row

Strategy: Jigsaw and Three 3’s in a RowLet’s discuss each area: (p 4-6)

● Make connections to prior knowledge● Generate questions (Strategy: Thin and Thick Questioning) ● Visualize and create sensory mental images● Making inferences (Strategy: It Says, I Say, And So● Determine importance (Strategy: The Shrinking Post-It Note)● Synthesize● Monitor reading and apply fix up strategies (Strategy: Fix-It Bookmark)

The strategy of Chapter Tour meets all of these except monitor and fix up.Three 3’s in a Row adds in a brain break/movement.

Strategy: Thin & Thick Questioning

Thin Questions● Easier to Answer● Can Find Answers Right in the Text● Can be Yes or No Questions● Typically Have Only 1 Answer

● Who?● What?● When?● Where?● How many?● Yes/No?

Thick Questions● Harder to Answer● Need to Think and Use Schema● Need to Use Evidence from Text● Many Possible Answers to a

Question

● Why…?● How come…?● I wonder…?● What does the author mean?● What would happen?● How does this affect?

Strategy: The Shrinking Post-It Note

● Big Post-It: Starting Important Details

● Medium Post - It: More Important Details of the Starting Post-It

● Small Post - It: The Absolute Most Important Detail

Fix Up StrategiesExamples:

● Stop and think about what you have already read● Make a prediction

● Ask yourself a question and try to answer it

● Retell what you’ve read

● Adjust your reading rate: slow down or speed up

● Visualize

● Use print conventions

● Notice patterns in text structure

● Reread

● Reflect in writing on what you have read

Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Cris Tovani

Close ReadingClose reading is a strategy that helps students work with a text to reach comprehension. If students are not working towards understanding, they resort to the following three practices (p 6-10):

1. skimming for answers (locate and copy)2. surface processing (dutifully reading, but not engaging)3. reading and forgetting (need to personalize reading)

Strategies play a significant role in developing proficient reader behaviors.

Strategies“The researchers recommended that each strategy be taught with singular focus, over a long period of time, to students from kindergarten through twelfth grade and beyond, and that teachers model and students practice the strategies with a variety of texts. If teachers focused their attention on a strategy, beginning with a great deal of modeling and gradually releasing responsibility (Gallagher and Pearson, 1983) to the children to practice it independently, the researchers believed students could actually be taught to think differently as they read.”

From Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Keene

Now WhatWhat can you take away from this session? Just think about the following:

● What can you do to help students learn and apply “What good readers do” within your classroom?

● How could you incorporate Three 3’s?● Where could you incorporate front loading techniques such as

the Chapter Tour?(Remember that strategies are offered and you can decide if it works for you in your classroom. There will be a reflective session in November to talk about a strategy that you used within your classroom. More strategies will be learned before the reflective session.)

Exit Slip on Google: http://goo.gl/forms/mbnpnoNNQp

What’s NextChapter 2: Frontloading- Addressing knowledge demands of complex texts and more strategies

ResourcesChapter 1: http://www.reading.org/Libraries/books/ira-002-chapter-1.pdf