Grab Bag of Comprehension Strategies

Prepared by Elizabeth H. Allen, M.Ed., NBCT

Strategies from:

• Laura RobbJeff Zwiers•Cris Tovani•Kyleen BeersJeffrey D. WilhelmElizabeth H. Allen

Building Conceptsby Laura Robb

Purpose: To help students understand concepts when they have little to no background knowledge

Text: Narrative/Expository

When to use: Before, during, after reading

CATAPULTJeff Zwier

Purpose: A prereading activity, CATAPULT = covers, author, title, audience, page, underlying message or purpose, visuals, and time

Text: Narrative

When: before reading

CATAPULT

CATAPULT Bookmarks

Cause & Effect Graphic Organizerby Jeff Zwiers

Purpose: to determine the sequence of events in a story or historical account; to infer the causes of events

Text: Narrative or Expository

When: before, during and after reading

Cause and Effect Timeline

Comprehension Collaborationby Elizabeth H. Allen

Purpose: To guide students to become independent of the teacher; to read closely

Text: Narrative or expository

When: before, during, after

Double-Entry Diary, So What?By Cris Tovani

Purpose: access tool to help students hole their thinking and analyze quality of thought

Text: narrative or expository

When: during reading

Double Entry Diary, So What?

In the left hand column, write the direct quote (passage or sentence) from the book with the page number that provoked some thought. In the middle column write your connection, question, prediction, what the quote reminded you of that you already know, what you visualized, a comment or an opinion. As you continue, be sure to use different thoughts. In the right hand column, explain how your thought helped you to understand the quote and the text better. If it didn’t help with your understanding, then it needs to be removed. Leave a space or draw a line under each section you write.

Write your quote Write your thought So what? How does this help

you understand?

Four Box Comprehensorby Elizabeth H. Allen

Purpose: to deepen comprehension; to help students think about their thinking

Text: narrative or expository

When: during and after reading

Write a short summary of what you have read so far: In the inside circle draw something you visualized as you were reading. In the outside circle write connections you can make to your reading.

If you could text the author right now, what would you say to him or her? Remember to be polite and respectful. Explain your thinking, but since you’re texting you can use your texting shorthand.

As the illustrator, draw a picture that you would insert into the book some place. Be sure to have the picture reflect a section that you have already read. At the bottom, write the page number of where the picture should go in the book.

Four Box Comprehensor

Four Box Wonderby Elizabeth H. Allen

Purpose: to deepen comprehension and help students think about their thinking

Text: narrative

When: during reading

Give One-Get Oneby Jeff Zwiers

Purpose: uses students socialness to tap into and build background knowledge. Similar to a brainstorming session but with a more communicative twist

Text: narrative and expository

When: before reading

Hot Seatby Jeffrey D. Wilhelm

Purpose: to deepen comprehension. This strategy includes open ended questioning, fun, and differentiates all at the same time!

Text: narrative or expository

When: after reading

Tip – teach QAR questions and what open ended questions are first

Image Inference and Predictionby Jeff Zwiers

Purpose: This is a visual way to train students’ brains to use evidence in order to make logical inferences. This habit then transfers over to reading as students use evidence from the text (and pictures) and combine it with background knowledge.

Text: narrative and expository

When: before reading

Inference Advertisementsby Jeff Zwiers

Purpose: to identify how authors try to influence readers

Text: advertisements

When: before, during, after

Is Says, I Say, and Soby Kyleen Beers

Purpose: inferencing: a visual scaffolding to help students organize thoughts connecting text and prior knowledge

Text: expository

When: before, during, after

Question It Says I Say And So

It Says – I Say – And So

Main Idea Memory Storageby Jeff Zwiers

Purpose: visual and kinesthetic simplification of the active thinking we use to comprehend; based on research by Marzano.

Text: narrative or expository

When: during reading

Mantle of the Expertby Jeffrey D. Wilhelm

Purpose: deepens comprehension through enactments (Multiple Intelligences)

Text: narrative and expository

When: before, during and/or after reading

Prediction Basketballby Jeff Zwiers

Purpose: This is a kinesthetic and cooperative activity that puts a little more fun into making predictions. It also can be used for other comprehension habits as a way of mixing up answers and creating random participation.

Text: narrative or expository

When: before reading

Prediction Chartby Jeff Zwiers

Purpose: This activity is helpful for teaching students to use good evidence for making predictions. It breaks down the process and shows students how prediction should naturally happen in the brain while reading.

Text: narrative or expository

When: before reading

Prediction Chart

Sorry, I Lost My Headingsby Jeff Zwiers

Purpose: This activity encourages students to read text sections and generate a tentative heading or subheading for a section’s information. It also gives effective practice for text-marking and note-taking.

Text: Expository

When: during reading

Tableauxby Jeffrey D. Wilhelm

Purpose: requires students to choose and represent key details, see relationships and patterns across details and scenes, and summarize the whole coherence of ideas presented through a particular text segment.

Text: narrative or expository

When: during, after reading

THIEVESby Jeff Zwiers

Purpose: It is a way to get students to build extensive knowledge of the text even before they read the first ‘normal’ words of a chapter. (Adapted from Marzano 2002)

Text: expository

When: before reading

Why, Why, Why Chartby Jeff Zwiers

Purpose: to develop the habit of setting a purpose for the reading beyond “the teacher told me to read it”.

Text: narrative or expository

When: before reading

Elizabeth H. Allen (Beth)

Contact: ehallen@wcpss.net

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