Reading Comprehension North Todd Elementary

February 27, 2013Betsy MadisonBetsy.madison@grrec.ky.govBetsymadison.com

Reading ComprehensionNorth Todd ElementaryWhat can we do?Reading must be authentic (related to what you will do tomorrow)Reading must be purposeful (you must be responsible for something in class)Comprehension strategies must be woven into content

Literacy Strategies for ComprehensionDetermine Importance QuestionConnect to Schema (Prior Knowledge)SynthesizeVisualizeMonitorInfer3Gradual Release of ResponsibilityI do it.We do it.Yall do it.You do it.

Connect to Schema (prior knowledge)Every child comes to school with a frame made of their experiences since birth.Some students have a frame that looks like garden lattice.

Some students have a skinny little frame.

Using SchemaAll day long, we throw dirt clods at their frames.

New Knowledge has to have Prior Knowledge to stick to.Which frame will more dirt clods stick to?

The Role of WORDS in SchemaBy age 3, kids from well off families have a working vocabulary of 1116 words.Kids from working class families have 749 words.Kids from welfare have a mere 525 words.Word poverty leads to idea poverty.You have to know stuff to read stuff.(New Knowledge has to have Old Knowledge to stick to.)

The Power of Reading to Build VocabularyReading 14 minutes a day means reading 1,000,000 words a year.Preschool and childrens books expose students to more challenging vocabulary than prime-time television.For vocabulary development, children should have text that is 3 years above their age/grade level.The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for. Ludwig Wittgenstein

What can you do, at NTES, to combat WORD POVERTY?Intentionally Activating SchemaText-to-Self ConnectionsStudents compare what they are reading to their own prior knowledge & experiencesStudents can better understand character, setting, events, etc of a story because theyve had a similar experienceThese connections can be made by young students.Engaging: I like learning when its about ME

Text-to-Text ConnectionsStudents compare what they are reading to something theyve already read.Encourage connections across genres (article to story, story to poem)Helps students understand the concept of character, settingHelps students learn to make predictions, anticipate problems and solutionsThese connections can be made by young students

Text-to-World ConnectionsStudents compare what they are reading to a Real World EventMay require a little more teacher direction with young students Helps students better understand both the Real World Event and the text

Schema Thinking/Discussion StemsThat reminds me ofIm rememberingI have a connection toI have schema forI can relate toI already know

VisualizeCreating a mental imageMaking a picture in your headMODEL, MODEL, MODELAsk students to draw the picture they see in their headAsk students to write about the picture they see in their head

Visualizing Thinking StemsIm picturingI can imagineI can feelI can seeI can smell

I can tasteI can touchI can hearMy mental images include

QuestioningStudents ask questions, while reading,If they are curious about something in the textIf they want to predict what will happenIf they want to make something more clear

Asking the right questions allows good readers to focus on the most important information in a text. Read article17

Questioning Thinking StemsI wonderWhat if?Why?I dont understandIt confused me whenHow could?

Teach your students Blooms verbs and stemsRequire questions from different levels20Talk TimeIf you have to talk, you have to think. The importance of dialogic talk By the age of 4, the child of professional parents in the US will have had nearly twice as many words addressed to it as the working-class child, and over four times as many as a child on welfare. For the middle-class child, encouragement from parents vastly outweighs discouragement; but for the child on welfare the climate of adult reaction is an overwhelmingly discouraging one. While talk is essential for intellectual and social development, for some children, the talk which they engage in at school is nothing less than a lifeline. (Robin Alexander, 2004)Opportunity to hear a perhaps more correct answerRehearsal timeTurn & TalkShirley Clark--Talk Partner21Where did we practice?What are you going to try?

ResourcesHello Literacy blog (www.helloliteracy.blogspot.com)Reading Resource.net (http://www.readingresource.net/strategiesforreadingcomprehension.html)Florida Center for Reading Research (www.fcrr.org)Reading to Learn (nancy.huston@grrec.ky.gov)www.julieballew.com