+ Dr. Julie Coiro Chafee 615 EDC 423: Teaching Comprehension and Response in Elementary School

+ Objectives To understand how the five components of reading fit together to stress “Comprehension First” (at all grade levels) To identify a series of instructional routines for teaching reading comprehension as inquiry and problem-solving To explore aspects of key reading comprehension/thinking strategies and apply them to a text To practice inferring (and how to teach students how to make inferences) > class & homework

+ Our Class Wordle on Defining Reading Comprehension and Comprehension Instruction

+ Defining Reading: Multiple Perspectives Top Down Model Whole > Part Comprehension Focus = READER Higher-Level Strategies Constructing Meaning Social Concept Driven Reading is…. THINKING & PERSONAL MEANING MAKING Bottom-Up Model Part > Whole Decoding, Phonics, Fluency Focus = TEXT Lower-Level Skills Letters and Words Independent Reading is…. SOUNDING OUT WORDS & READING QUICKLY Interactive Model Text & Reader Task and Context Cornett (Your Text’s Author)???

+ Claudia Cornett’s perspective (informed by research) is… Comprehension First Inquiry Into Big Ideas Using Important Questions The Comprehension Problem Solving Process (CPS)

+ Why Comprehension First? No Child Left Behind – Five Components (Reading First) Phonemic Awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary READING COMPREHENSION Means to comprehension – NOT means to a curricular end which was the downfall of Reading First

+ Why Aren’t the Reading Components Equal? COMPREHENSION PHONEMICAWAREPHONEMICAWARE PHONICSPHONICS VOCABULARYVOCABULARY FLUENCYFLUENCY PHONEMICAWAREPHONEMICAWARE PHONICSPHONICS VOCABULARYVOCABULARY FLUENCYFLUENCY COMPREHENSIONCOMPREHENSION

+ Research: Reading Comprehension Achievement in the U.S. (page 13) Reality: Reading comprehension scores are inadequate and flat Putting five pieces together does not make a whole We might be “winning the battle but not the war” Internationally, Americans rank close to the bottom Large gaps in performance among different ethnic groups As poverty increases, achievement decreases The “mother factor” (Guthrie, 2004) (high level of education) Which reading factors can educators address and how?

+ Five Factors of Comprehension > Opportunities to DIFFERENTIATE 1. Learner characteristics (p. 18) 2. Text characteristics 3. Task (How is comprehension defined?) 4. Teacher/Teaching Practices 5. Context (where, when, with whom text is used)

+ A broader interpretation of core components of comprehension is needed to address the problem COMPREHENSION PHONEMICAWAREPHONEMICAWARE PHONICSPHONICS VOCABULARYVOCABULARY FLUENCYFLUENCY WRITINGWRITING MOTIVATIONMOTIVATION

+ 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 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 doYou watch I doYou help I helpYou do I watchYou do

+ Noticing Good Teaching: Comprehension Problem Solving Emma (p ) The Fables, by Arnold Lobel (Caldecott Award Winner) Why fables? What general instructional practices does Emma use? Do they work? Why or why not? What techniques does Emma use to focus students’ attention on reading comprehension strategies? Do they work? Why or why not?

+ Homework: Book Activity 1 Inferring Part 1: Record your thinking and clues for two locations where inferring helps deepen understanding Part 2: Select one location and use prompts to draft a think-aloud Rubric and information sheet on inferencing Also Read Chapter 3: Pages (Supportive Teaching Practices)

+ 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 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 doYou watch I doYou help I helpYou do I watchYou do

+ 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? What questions do I have?

+ 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

+ M S A Key Reading Strategies M+MDAAVISS MONITOR AND CLARIFY M D A A SK QUESTIONS V I S I NFER/ PREDICT M AKE CONNECTIONS V ISUALIZE S YNTHESIZE D ETERMINE IMPORTANT IDEAS A NALYZE/CRITIQUE S UMMARIZE

+ 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)

+ Seeing the Strategies in Action: The Princess and The Bowling Ball 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: Underline/jot notes in the margins After: Share/Compare with a partner

+ The Princess and The Bowling Ball (Tell what you are thinking as you listen/read along) 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

+ Homework: Book Activity 1 Inferring Part 1: Record your thinking and clues for two locations where inferring helps deepen understanding Part 2: Select one location and use prompts to draft a think-aloud Rubric and information sheet on inferencing Also Read Chapter 3: Pages (Supportive Teaching Practices)