Cold Reads: A HOT TOPIC FOR IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION

Ordeal By Cheque How was background knowledge accessed? What kinds of questions did you ask? How did the questions allow you to infer? How did you know what to focus on? What did you do when you got stuck? What tempted you to quit or disengage? What would you need to keep going?

Overview -Emphasize comprehending the information -Activate students’ “inner voices” for comprehension -Model “thinking aloud” for comprehension -Teach reading strategies that teach students to how to “think”

The Inner Voices Conversational Voices - relate to text, ask questions, make connections Reciting Voices - Lose track, stray from text, forget I am thinking about what I am thinking about………

Reading Strategy #1 ANNOTATION: recording thinking so that it can be remembered and reused. Preview the text captions, subtitles, pictures Questions: What is the purpose of the text? What do I know? What do I want to know? Scan questions?

Annotation (cont.) 2. Carry on “dialogue” with the text as notes are made -State a reason. -Ask a question. -Give an opinion. -Make a connection. -Make a relationship. -(We will make posters for prompting students)

Content areas – How they see it Math - What does the diagram tell me? Social Studies - What is the cause and effect? English - Answer the 5 “Ws” See wiki for content area specific thinking questions

Fix – up strategies Re-read the sentence and look for clues Re-read sentences before and after the unknown word or piece for clues Look for a prefix or suffix in a word Break the word apart and look for smaller words

For Example……. I don't know what "remote" means. That's a "fix-it". I'll read the sentence again and look for clues that help me understand. The sentence say, "The sea provides food, and its remote islands and rocky outcroppings provide safe nesting and resting places." If the remote islands are safe places then that could mean that remote means the islands are far away from anything that could hurt them.

Wrap Up: Oral Questioning or Checking Annotations Teacher: -Distinguish who is reading and who is fake reading -See the strategies kids are using to access meaning -Diagnose what learners need -Assess what they can do -See how they are attacking text

Ways to Assess Annotation Sticky notes – have students simply stick them to notebook paper in order and turn them in. Divide notebook paper in to sections by folding it up (burrito or hamburger style) Scan what they have written “Exit” slip – short summary on what they read

Reading Strategy #2 Do the activity with an article as a whole group at first. Model the “thinking out loud” as you chart your thoughts on board or paper. Use a graphic organizer to help out. Avoid highlighters – can easily use reciting voices and get nothing from the activity. Students will pick up comprehension skills through collaborating with each other so…

Reading Strategy #2 Break the students into groups of 3-4 (2) Give each group a section of the article to read and decide on meaning (5-10) Provide them chart paper to diagram or outline their interpretation (5) Bring class back together to discuss and guide ( ) GIVE THEM TIME LIMITS

Focus for Teachers Teach with the strategy in mind for 4-6 times, then shift the focus to the text Post the strategy in the room Use – I do MODEL IT – We do DO IT TOGETHER –You do STUDENTS DO IT – alone or as group

Read Alouds mins. Use as a classroom management tool Models good oral reading fluency Builds background knowledge and vocabulary The “thing” that helps to remember Aaron Smith, 10 year veteran, reads aloud from his favorite cookbook.