Comprehension Strategies for Struggling Students

1. Comprehension Strategies forStruggling Students South Todd Elementary 7/30/2012 Betsy Madison Betsy.madison@grrec.ky.gov Betsymadison.com

2. What is your definition of Reading Comprehension? What skills and knowledge are most critical for reading comprehension? • “intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between text and reader” Durkin (1993) • “the construction of the meaning of a written text through a reciprocal interchange of ideas between the reader and the message in a particular text” Harris & Hodges (1995) • “reading comprehension is thinking guided by print” Perfetti (1995) • “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language. It consists of three elements: the reader, the text, and the activity or purpose for reading” Rand Reading Study Group (2002)

3. Comprehension Continuum

4. Proficient comprehension of text is influenced by: • Accurate and fluent word reading skills • Oral language skills (vocabulary, linguistic comprehension) • Extent of conceptual and factual knowledge • Knowledge and skill in the use of strategies to improve comprehension or repair it when it breaks down. • Knowledge of text structure and genre • Reasoning and inferential skills • Motivation to understand • Interest in the task and materials

7. You should suspect comprehension problems if a student… • has know difficulty with phonemic awareness, phonics, and/or fluency • seems to have a weak vocabulary. • is not able to summarize a passage or a book. • might be able to tell you what happened in a story, but can't explain why events went the way they did.

8. can't explain what a character's thoughts or feelings might have been. • doesn't link events in a book to similar events from another book or from real life. • seems to focus on the "wrong" aspect of a passage; for example, he concentrates so much on the details that the main idea is lost.

9. can tell the outcome of a story, but cannot explain why things turned out that way. • does not go behind what is presented in a book to think about what might happen next or why characters took the action they did. • brings up irrelevant information when trying to relate a passage to something in her own life.

10. cannot tell the clear, logical sequence of events in a story. • does not pick out the key facts from informational text. • cannot give you a "picture" of what's going on in a written passage; for example, what the characters look like or details of where the story takes place.

11. Reasons for Comprehension Difficulties Lack of appropriate prior knowledge. Inability to relate content to prior knowledge. Over-reliance on background knowledge. Inability to read text fluently. Difficulty with decoding words; Inability to attend to meaning while reading. Inability to apply comprehension strategies. Difficulty with understanding meaning of words.

13. Listening Comprehension is the first step • Refers to children’s understanding of stories and other texts that are read aloud to them • Lays the foundationfor children to later be able to “understand what they read, remember what they read, and communicate with others about what they read” —National Institute for Literacy, 2001, p. 48

14. Listening Comprehension . . . . . . is enhanced as children listen to stories that are read aloud, participate in discussions of stories, and engage in other literacy-related activities.

15. Listening Comprehension Instruction • Make predictions • Answer questions about the book’s content • Read and talk along • Share their own interests related to the book content • Ask questions of you and their peers • Reenact or retell the story When you read aloud, encourage children to ...

16. Effective Read-Aloud Sessions • Schedule time for read-aloud sessions • Use a variety of grouping formats including one-on-one, small groups, and whole class • Select different types of books • Activate and build background knowledge • Teach new words and concepts

17. Stop a few times for reactions, comments, predictions, and questions • Avoid long discussions • Don’t stop read-alouds when students can read independently

18. It’s the talk that surrounds (before and after) the reading aloud of books that is so important for enhancing children’s oral language, vocabulary development, and listening comprehension.

19. Putting it all together Step 1: Enhance content instruction Step 2: Embedded strategy instruction Step 3: Intensive strategy instruction for struggling students Step 4: Intensive basic skill instruction

20. Level 1: Enhance Content Instruction “Give me a fish while you’re teaching me how to catch my own. That way I won’t starve to death while I’m learning to tie flies.” • Students with limited literacy skills typically do not acquire enough content knowledge to meet standards • Comprehension will not improve, long term, for struggling readers unless content area background knowledge is improved • When students have limited literacy, teachers must compensate for their limited skills in the ways they present content • Rather than COVERING content, try UNCOVERING content

21. Level 2: Embedded Strategy Instruction Literacy/Thinking Strategies teach students how to think about what they read • Connect to Prior Knowledge • Visualize/Graphically Organize • Question • Determine Importance in Text • Monitor for Meaning • Infer • Synthesize

22. Level 3: Intensive strategy instruction for struggling students • Tier 1 Small Group Intervention • Tier 2 or 3 Intervention • Mastery of specific strategies for struggling students • Direct Instruction • Think Aloud • Modeling, Modeling, Modeling • Name the strategy and positive outcome

23. Level 4: Intensive Basic Skill Instruction • Phonemic Awareness • Phonics • Fluency • Vocabulary • Screening • Re-Teaching • Intervention

24. Gradual Release of Responsibility I do it. We do it. Y’all do it. You do it.

25. Comprehension Strategies

26. Procedures for Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies • Direct instruction begins with teachers modeling one strategy at a time (whole group instruction) • I DO IT • Teachers use think-alouds to describe why, when, and how they are using the strategy to make meaning • I DO IT

27. Teachers guide whole group in practicing the strategy • WE DO IT • Teachers guide small groups, partners, or individual readers in applying the strategy • Y’ALL DO IT

28. Phase out teacher direction until readers apply strategies independently • YOU DO IT • Readers reflect on the benefits and challenges or using the strategy • I DO IT, WE DO IT, Y’ALL DO IT, YOU DO IT

29. Connect to Prior Knowledge

30. Intentionally Activating Schema • Text-to-Self Connections • Students compare what they are reading to their own prior knowledge & experiences • Students can better understand character, setting, events, etc… of a story because they’ve had a similar experience • These connections can be made by young students. • Engaging: I like learning when it’s about ME

31. Text-to-Text Connections • Students compare what they are reading to something they’ve already read. • Encourage connections across genres (article to story, story to poem) • Helps students understand the concept of character, setting • Helps students learn to make predictions, anticipate problems and solutions • These connections can be made by young students

32. Text-to-World Connections • Students compare what they are reading to a Real World Event • May require a little more teacher direction with young students • Helps students better understand both the Real World Event and the text

33. Prior Knowledge Thinking/Discussion Stems That reminds me of… I’m remembering… I have a connection to… I have schema for… I can relate to… I already know…

34. “The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for.” Ludwig Wittgenstein Vocabulary Tools for Activating Prior Knowledge • Word Sorts • Three Way Tie • Frayer Model • Most Important Word

36. Visualizing/Organizing

37. Visualizing/Organizing • Good readers spontaneously create mental images, anchored in their background knowledge, as they read. • Good readers use these mental images to give depth and dimension to their reading experience. This engages them and makes the text memorable. • Good readers use mental images to draw conclusions and recall significant details after the text is read. • Good readers modify their mental images as others share their images.

38. Visualize • Creating a mental image • Making a picture in your head • MODEL, MODEL, MODEL • Ask students to draw the picture they see in their head • Ask students to write about the picture they see in their head

39. Visualizing Thinking Stems I’m picturing… I can imagine… I can feel… I can see… I can smell… I can taste… I can touch… I can hear… My mental images include…

40. Organizing • Read with a pencil in hand • Reading must be accountable • Students will be responsible for something as a result of the reading • Write Time • Writing is an active vs. passive task • Writing involves the whole body in the process of thinking • Writing clarifies perspective

42. Questioning

43. Questioning • Students ask questions, while reading,… • If they are curious about something in the text • If they want to predict what will happen • If they want to make something more clear • Asking the right questions allows good readers to focus on the most important information in a text.

44. Questioning Thinking Stems • I wonder… • What if…? • Why…? • I don’t understand… • It confused me when… • How could…?

45. Questioning the Author • Helps students see text as “someone’s ideas written down” • Deals with text through teacher-posed questions such as “What is the author trying to say?” or “What do you think the author means by that?” • Encourages discussion in which students are urged to think about constructing meaning

46. Question the Author

47. Question Writing Practice • What questions come to mind when you see this picture? • List your questions in your reading journal. • At least one question must be an open question. • At least one question must come from the evaluating, creating, hypothesizing level on your Bloom’s chart.

48. Question Writing Practice • What questions come to mind when you see this picture? • List your questions in your reading journal. • At least one question must be an open question. • At least one question must come from the evaluating, creating, hypothesizing level on your Bloom’s chart.

50. Determining Importance