Ann Morrison, Ph.D.

How would you describe each of the following types of comprehension? Reading comprehension Language comprehension Social comprehension What components do each of these have in common?

What is required for someone to comprehend?

Sadoski (1983, 1985) demonstrated that upper grade elementary students, who report using imagery without being instructed to do so, are more likely to understand complex relationships in text. Students can be taught to create mental images using explicit guided practice (Pressley 1976). Morrison,

Describe the following picture to your partner so that they can develop a mental image of it. Use as many descriptive words as possible.

Colors Numbers Relative or absolute size Relative or absolute direction or location in front of or behind above or below to the right or …left Link to common prior experience or knowledge Morrison,

What a child already knows; schema Why activate it? Because it primes the neural pathways related to that knowledge or skill and gets them warmed up to learn something new that is related to what they already know (like stretching before a run) Because it helps students find a place to store new understandings which helps them retrieve the new knowledge at a later date (like filing)

Mental representations Coding Processing Logogens Imagens Synchronous Asynchronous Referential processing Associative processing Representational processing

Morrison,

Look at the graphic on page 53 On the graphic, describe the task of each of the mechanisms of DCT Discuss where you see examples of DCT being applied in classrooms Refer to the Associative Structures in both the Verbal and Nonverbal Systems How do the associative structures work to support comprehension? Where do you see examples of associative structures in learning? Morrison,

Merriam Webster Visual Dictionary: Merriam Webster Word Central: Morrison,

1. Help students create language representing illustrations 2. Teach the student how to read a picture. 1. Notice the characters 2. Notice the setting 3. Notice the action 4. Notice the details 3. Teach them to use numbers, colors, directionality 4. Model how to read a picture 5. Take the picture away and tell the student what you remember about it 6. Then look at the picture together and compare what you said against what was in the illustration

Show the student a picture High scaffolding: Have them describe the picture in words while looking at it Have them describe the picture in writing while looking at it Low scaffolding: Have them describe the picture in words after you take it away Have them describe the picture in writing after you take it away Show the student the picture and compare their description to the picture Morrison,

Activate Background Knowledge Preview the Lesson Today, I am going to teach you how to turn pictures into words. Explicit Instruction Pictures have words that describe them. Here is a picture of a ____. When I see a picture, my mind automatically finds a word that describes that picture

Modeling For example, when I look at this picture, I see a man. Not only do I see the man, I also notice things about him. I look at his picture, and automatically my brain thinks about the words that go with the picture. When I look at the mans clothing, I see …. When I look at what the man is doing, I see… When I look at the background, I see… Morrison,

Guided practice Now you try it… Morrison,

Modeling Read a sentence to the student and place the text of the sentence in front of the student. Begin with a relatively simple sentence like: A boy sat on a bench and ate an ice cream cone. Give the student a piece of paper and markers. Have the student draw the sentence. Morrison,

If I say the word ____ I see a picture of a ____ in my head, even if I dont have the picture in front of me. Morrison, Tell the student to try to picture what is going on in the sentence in their mind 2.Have the student illustrate the picture they have in their mind without listening to the sentence again 3.Read the sentence to the student again. As you do so, have them check to see if all of the details of the sentence are included in their illustration.

Morrison, When I opened the door on the left, I got a little bit scared because there was one of those adjustable desk lamps with a long neck that made it look like a bird about to attack. I put the light on though, and the room was a huge bore. The ceiling slanted on the far side, and there was only one window. It was okay if you wanted to keep somebody as the Prisoner of Zenda, but it looked like a rotten place to work. All it had was this big desk made by taking a thick piece of plywood and laying it over two wooden horses, and a bookcase with blueprints and stuff in it, and a big oscilloscope, with its guts hanging out, in the corner. There were three old TV sets too, but they looked like they didnt even work.