Teaching Comprehension and Response in Elementary School EDC 423: Teaching Comprehension and Response in Elementary School September 20, 2011 Dr. Julie Coiro Chafee 615

Objectives from Last Class To understand how the five components of reading fit together to stress “Comprehension First” (at all grade levels) Examine & Discuss Emma’s Instruction (Classroom Snapshot): To identify a series of instructional routines for teaching reading comprehension as inquiry and problem-solving To practice inferring (and how to teach students how to make inferences) > class & homework Fill this out as a group after partners work to complete the activity sheet: Identifying and Addressing Students’ Reading Comprehension Needs

Quick Check: A broader interpretation of core components of comprehension is needed to address the problem COMPREHENSION P H O N E M I C A W R P H O N I C S V O C A B U L R Y F L U E N C Y W R I T N G M O T I V A N

Quick Check: Big Ideas about Best Practices… (in Chapter 2) Think-aloud and modeling thinking strategies (define, show, give examples, when/why use) Gradual Release of Responsibility (I do > We do > You do) The Teacher The Students I do You watch You help I help You do I watch These ideas are coming up in Chapter 2 and are the framing ideas for the course and best practices

Today’s Objectives To explore aspects of key reading comprehension/thinking strategies and see how they are logically applied to diverse texts Before/During/After reading A box of Cheerios! (Classroom Snapshot) A narrative text selection (My Father’s Dragon) An expository text selection (Gorilla Rescue) To assess your own use of reading comprehension strategies with a challenging text (your homework)

Big Ideas about Best Practices… (in Chapter 2) CPS and Before/During/After framework BEFORE: Set a purpose, activate background knowledge DURING: Big ideas, infer, connect, visualize, question/wonder, analyze, synthesize AFTER: Organize, shape, reflect, revise, publish These ideas are coming up in Chapter 2 and are the framing ideas for the course and best practices

BEFORE Reading Strategies Set a purpose Create motivation > Focus on the goal What’s the problem? Why am I using this text? Predict and Connect: Overview to activate prior knowledge What’s the title? Do a picture walk. What do I already know about this? What do I predict will happen/I will learn?

DURING Reading Strategies (or listening or viewing) MONITOR: Be aware of mistakes and apply strategies to repair/revise understandings (CLARIFY) Make Connections: Text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world Determine important ideas: Use text clues as evidence Ask Questions: Readers asks ?’s and reads to clarify before, during, and after reading Analyze/Critique: Use text features and structures to reflect on what stands out (overall gist) and how it stands out Visualize (Image): Use imagination and senses to picture, smell, taste, or feel something in the text Infer: Use clues from text & background knowledge Summarize: Identify the main idea and supporting details from the text Synthesize: Tell the big ideas and add original reflection/interpretation

Key Reading Strategies M+MDAAVISS MAKE CONNECTIONS M SYNTHESIZE S DETERMINE IMPORTANT IDEAS D SUMMARIZE MONITOR AND CLARIFY S M ASK QUESTIONS A INFER/ PREDICT I VISUALIZE V ANALYZE/CRITIQUE A

AFTER Reading Strategies Organize and Shape How can I best show my understanding of the most important big ideas? Reflect and Revise What works and what doesn’t work Publish: Make comprehension public How can I share? With whom? When? Where? (How can we, as teachers, make this experience authentic – to address a real purpose)

The Princess and The Bowling Ball (Think-Aloud: Tell what you are thinking as you read) Predicting…from the title Making Connections…after I read a few sentences – to link to something familiar Questioning…What does a pea have to do with a bowling ball? Visualizing…”I felt like I was sleeping on a lump as big as a bowling ball” Summarizing…address and resolve my confusion - Somebody/Wanted/But/So

Using CPS with Alternative Texts: (Think-Aloud: Tell what you are thinking as you read) Cheerios Box

Seeing the Strategies in Action: My Father’s Dragon OR The Gorilla Rescue Before: Set a purpose -- Read the story silently and actively stop to apply comprehension strategies that help you take and make meaning from the text. During: 1. Re-read to identify stopping points; 2. Pose a logical question that builds understanding; 3. Label type of thinking required to answer After: Share/Compare across texts

Big Ideas Chapter 3: (p. 52-65) Best Practice Implementation Response options congruent with 21st century life (multimodal, visual, digital, and diverse) Involve in genuine conversations & discussions with long-term projects that exhibit comprehension while fostering motivation 5 Factors & Planning questions: page 60 As teachers: style & substance; enthusiastic & optimistic personality; desire to learn; reflective strategic thinkers As readers: reflect on personal use of CPS strategies to inform personal knowledge, beliefs, and practice

Homework: Book Activity 2 Comprehension Self-Assessment Part 1: Read challenging text and rate Part 2: Reflect on use of comprehension strategies Part 3: Reread challenging excerpt and apply comprehension strategies Part 4: Reflect on rating & assignment Also Read Chapter 3: Pages 65-77 (Supportive Learning Contexts)

Essential Questions

Essential Questions (Reframe topics to provide purpose and connections; to motivate and engage) Habitats: What makes a good home? For us? For bears? For lobsters? Community: How can we improve our school? Science: How does flight influence and change behavior (for birds, for humans)? Geometry: How can we use what we know about math to build a new playground? A doghouse?

Essential Questions: You Try… Lesson/Big Idea: Questions?

Essential Questions: You Try… Lesson/Big Idea? Questions?