1. Reading Comprehension: The Key to Academic Achievement
Presenter: Amy Benjamin
Guide to Handouts:
Part One: Reading in My Class
1-1: Reading Profile Pie Chart
1-2: Anyone can be a challenged reader
1-3: “Academic flash phrases”
Part Two: Strategies and Processes
2-1: “This is your brain on reading”
2-2: Four Gears of Reading
2-3: Text Pattern array
Part Three: A Teacher’s Guide to Durable Vocabulary Knowledge
3-1: Summary of the research in best practice
3-2, 3: The Academic Word List (AWL)
3-4-6: Word components
3-7: Graphic organizers for content area vocabulary
3-8: Sample morphology chart and morphology kit
3-9: Blank morphology chart for classroom use
3-10: Five ways to process a vocabulary list for durable learning
3-11: Graphic organizer for vocabulary learning
Part Four: Circuit Training for Academic Reading Fitness
4-1-3: A model for embedding reading instruction in all classes
Part Five: 99 Ways to Improve Your Students’ Reading Comprehension
5-1-4: A list of specific, research-based, implementable ideas
You may access today’s visuals at (Recent Presentations)

2. The visuals in today’s presentation are available at:

3. WHAT? WHY? HOW? What are the reading requirements of your class?
Textbook
Handouts
Websites
Workbook
Supplemental articles
Directions
Tests
Notes on the board
And?
WHAT?
WHY?
HOW?
Why do students need to read in your class?
Introduction to information
Review and reinforcement
Directions
Supplemental information
And?

4. What are the reading requirements of your class?
Represent, in a pie chart,
the kinds of reading that
students are expected
to do in your class.
Share with a colleague.
Main Textbook
Handouts
Websites
Workbook
Supplemental articles
Directions
Tests
Notes on the board
And?

5. Anyone can be a challenged reader:
The amount of distributions from net investment income and net realized capital gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from generally accepted accounting principles. These “book/tax” differences are either considered temporary or permanent in nature. Key differences are the treatment of short-term capital gains, foreign currency transactions, organization costs and other temporary differences. To the extent that these differences are permanent in nature, such amounts are reclassified within the capital accounts based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences do not require reclassifications. To the extent distributions exceed net investment income and/or/net realized capital gains for tax purposes, they are reported as distributions of paid-in capital.
Semi-Annual Report for a Mutual Fund

6. Stumbling blocks in this text:

7. What would you have to do to understand* this text?
Consult outside source
Break it down into comprehensible parts
Establish purpose
Sub-summarize:
Diagram
Take notes
Talk it out
Look for context clues based on background knowledge
Rereading
Visualizing
Trying to find examples
Set up the text so that its appearance and organization on the page is helpful
numbered lists; bullets, spaces
*Understand:
Be able to use it for its intended purpose
Be able to explain it in my own words

8. Word Wall for “Flash Phrases”
amount of distributions
net investment income
net realized capital gains
federal income tax regulations
generally accepted accounting principles.
“book/tax” differences
short-term capital gains
foreign currency transactions
organization costs
capital accounts
federal tax-basis treatment
reclassification
distributions of paid-in capital

10. Information processing (reading comprehension) is domain-specific:

11. Coming UP: Strategies and Processes
“Circuit Training for Academic Reading Fitness”
Vocabulary Intensive
99 Ways…

12. Reading Samples:
You have four pages of the kind of text that
students read in school.
How do reading skills differ for processing information
in these texts?
What kinds of reading skills would be necessary for
each one?
What background knowledge would be necessary for
comprehension?
Characterize the vocabulary in each one.

13. With your group, devise a “before reading”
mini-lesson that would help
Students read any of the four content area text samples.

14. Read and React:
You have an editorial written by Howard Gardner.
Please read it.
What ideas that Gardner posits are worthy of further
thought and discussion?

15. Golden Oldies: Volume I
SQ3R
Survey
Read
Question
Recite
Review 15 15

16. Golden Oldies: Volume II
KWL
1.Summoning prior knowledge
2.Establishing a purpose;
asking questions prior to reading
3.Summarizing how the
new learning relates to
existing knowledge 16 16