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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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?

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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)

11. 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

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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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 (Supportive Learning Contexts)

16. Essential Questions

17. 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?

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

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