1 / 36

Middle School Reading Comprehension

Reading Is A Complex Activity. A skilled reader rapidly and accurately decodes the words, attaches the meaning to words and sentences, connects text information to relevant background knowledge, maintains a mental representation of what he or she has already read, forms hypotheses about u

brit
Download Presentation

Middle School Reading Comprehension

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


    2. Reading Is A Complex Activity A skilled reader rapidly and accurately decodes the words, attaches the meaning to words and sentences, connects text information to relevant background knowledge, maintains a mental representation of what he or she has already read, forms hypotheses about upcoming information and makes decisions based on his or her purpose for reading – all at the same time. Use this quote to help participants see all the interconnections that occur when one reads. Review all the areas we’ve discussed in training (decoding, sight word recognition, comprehension and vocabulary knowledge) and discuss the purpose for reading – meaning. Relate this to the Adams’ model in Unit 2. This quote is from Improving Comprehension by JoAnne Carlisle and Melinda Rice.Use this quote to help participants see all the interconnections that occur when one reads. Review all the areas we’ve discussed in training (decoding, sight word recognition, comprehension and vocabulary knowledge) and discuss the purpose for reading – meaning. Relate this to the Adams’ model in Unit 2. This quote is from Improving Comprehension by JoAnne Carlisle and Melinda Rice.

    3. Again – just a quick graphic to show all the processes that happen for reading comprehension to occur.Again – just a quick graphic to show all the processes that happen for reading comprehension to occur.

    4. Changing Emphasis In Learning To Read This graphic is to illustrate the change in focus as we teach students to read. The idea here is to show we do not ignore comprehension when we are teaching the “code” to students. It is always the end result of reading – the amount of time and focus changes as students move up the stages of reading and make the shift from learning to read to reading to learn.This graphic is to illustrate the change in focus as we teach students to read. The idea here is to show we do not ignore comprehension when we are teaching the “code” to students. It is always the end result of reading – the amount of time and focus changes as students move up the stages of reading and make the shift from learning to read to reading to learn.

    5. Teaching Comprehension This slide is showing what the research is saying about good comprehenders. They use a multitude of strategies to comprehend text. We need to teach these strategies and teach students how to comprehend – not just test their understanding. Too often, teachers think that if they just hand students a list of questions, they are teaching comprehension. This is not the case – that is testing comprehension – not teaching.This slide is showing what the research is saying about good comprehenders. They use a multitude of strategies to comprehend text. We need to teach these strategies and teach students how to comprehend – not just test their understanding. Too often, teachers think that if they just hand students a list of questions, they are teaching comprehension. This is not the case – that is testing comprehension – not teaching.

    6. Teaching versus Testing Comprehension This is a graphic to further illustrate the previous slide. There is a difference between helping students develop comprehension skills and determining if they have them. Have a discussion with participants about what happens in classrooms on a regular basis especially in the upper grades. What are some ways we can help students develop comprehension skills instead of always going toward evaluating? Our goal is to teach comprehension as illustrated on the left, not to simply test if students can comprehend.This is a graphic to further illustrate the previous slide. There is a difference between helping students develop comprehension skills and determining if they have them. Have a discussion with participants about what happens in classrooms on a regular basis especially in the upper grades. What are some ways we can help students develop comprehension skills instead of always going toward evaluating? Our goal is to teach comprehension as illustrated on the left, not to simply test if students can comprehend.

    7. What Do Good Readers Do? Make predictions based on background knowledge Identify key ideas from text they are reading Are aware of text structures Monitor their comprehension and know how to employ fix-up strategies Have a knowledge of and use a variety of reading strategies effectively. Paraphrase, explain and summarize information and construct conclusions Ask participants before clicking the points under the title. Most of these will be given through discussion and you can just use this slide as a quick summary. Summary of Good Readers is from both Birsh editions. Page 185 in 1st ed and p. 379 in 2nd ed. The main point to make here is that good comprehenders are ENGAGED while reading. They may be having a conversation with the author, they are questioning, scanning expository text – reading the picture headings, studying the graphs, etc. You may just have your participants generate these ideas before showing the slide and then use this slide as a summary. Most participants will bring these things up and then you can use this slide just to verify their ideas.Ask participants before clicking the points under the title. Most of these will be given through discussion and you can just use this slide as a quick summary. Summary of Good Readers is from both Birsh editions. Page 185 in 1st ed and p. 379 in 2nd ed. The main point to make here is that good comprehenders are ENGAGED while reading. They may be having a conversation with the author, they are questioning, scanning expository text – reading the picture headings, studying the graphs, etc. You may just have your participants generate these ideas before showing the slide and then use this slide as a summary. Most participants will bring these things up and then you can use this slide just to verify their ideas.

    8. Sources of Comprehension Difficulties* This looks at where are the breakdowns in comprehension. Is it a process issue or a knowledge issue? Many times teachers say the student can’t comprehend when the issue is vocabulary and background knowledge, not the child’s inability to get meaning from print. We have to explore all of these when looking at the difficulties children have in comprehension. *These sources of difficulty may interact with one another, increasing the severity of a student’s comprehension problems. A student may also use strengths in one or more aspects to compensate, at least to some extent, for weakness in other aspects. This looks at where are the breakdowns in comprehension. Is it a process issue or a knowledge issue? Many times teachers say the student can’t comprehend when the issue is vocabulary and background knowledge, not the child’s inability to get meaning from print. We have to explore all of these when looking at the difficulties children have in comprehension. *These sources of difficulty may interact with one another, increasing the severity of a student’s comprehension problems. A student may also use strengths in one or more aspects to compensate, at least to some extent, for weakness in other aspects.

    9. National Reading Panel On Comprehension Directly teaching comprehension strategies leads to improvements in comprehension. Strategies are most effective when taught in combination and used flexibly in active, naturalistic learning situations Teachers can be taught to be effective in teaching comprehension. There is a need for extensive teacher preparation to teach comprehension. These points will come in one at a time for you to review NRP on comprehensionThese points will come in one at a time for you to review NRP on comprehension

    10. National Reading Panel: Research-Supported Strategies comprehension monitoring cooperative learning graphic and semantic organizers story structure question answering question generation summarization multiple strategies These strategies were found by the National Reading Panel to be ones that are supported by research as most effective for improving reading comprehension. Note: this does not mean that other strategies were not effective – some strategies have simply not been studied yet. The point is that we have good evidence for using these strategies with students. This will be the framework for the following slides. Info. on most of the strategies will be provided.These strategies were found by the National Reading Panel to be ones that are supported by research as most effective for improving reading comprehension. Note: this does not mean that other strategies were not effective – some strategies have simply not been studied yet. The point is that we have good evidence for using these strategies with students. This will be the framework for the following slides. Info. on most of the strategies will be provided.

    11. …a growing body of research has demonstrated that students can be taught the strategies that good readers use spontaneously and that when students are taught those strategies, both their recall and their comprehension of text improve. (Pressley, 2002; Stahl, 2004) There is a little discussion about whether students actually learned to use reading strategies or whether it was a way to get them more actively engaged in reading a text. Although strategy instruction of various types has been found to improve comprehension, we do no know why this is the case. Somewhat ironically, strategy instruction may not improve children’ s use of strategies but may encourage them to look at text in a different manner, possibly increasing their cognitive engagement with text, and, through this increased engagement, become better at comprehending. (Stahl, 2004 – Reading Research at Work)There is a little discussion about whether students actually learned to use reading strategies or whether it was a way to get them more actively engaged in reading a text. Although strategy instruction of various types has been found to improve comprehension, we do no know why this is the case. Somewhat ironically, strategy instruction may not improve children’ s use of strategies but may encourage them to look at text in a different manner, possibly increasing their cognitive engagement with text, and, through this increased engagement, become better at comprehending. (Stahl, 2004 – Reading Research at Work)

    12. Comprehension Strategy Instruction – Teacher Actions important for Success Make explicit connection between strategy and application in text Repeatedly state and model the “secret” to doing it successfully so students “see” the mental workings involved Provide students with multiple opportunities to perform the strategy themselves Base assessment on both strategy use and text comprehension (Duffy, in Comprehension Instruction ed. by Block and Pressley, 2002) Research keeps saying to use strategy instruction but many teachers do not understand exactly how to teach strategies to students. These were the teacher actions found to be the most instrumental in student success with strategies.Research keeps saying to use strategy instruction but many teachers do not understand exactly how to teach strategies to students. These were the teacher actions found to be the most instrumental in student success with strategies.

    13. Model Of Explicit Instruction When teaching a strategy, the teacher wants to keep this model in mind. The teacher should model the strategy using a think aloud process and then use guided instruction in many practice opportunities. Gradually release the responsibility of the strategy to the student. The tricky part with struggling readers is how much to let go and when. We have to be cognizant of their beliefs about themselves and make sure they feel safe enough to take a risk to try the strategy with less and less structure available to them. See p. 192 1st ed. in Birsh under Explicit Instruction Model.When teaching a strategy, the teacher wants to keep this model in mind. The teacher should model the strategy using a think aloud process and then use guided instruction in many practice opportunities. Gradually release the responsibility of the strategy to the student. The tricky part with struggling readers is how much to let go and when. We have to be cognizant of their beliefs about themselves and make sure they feel safe enough to take a risk to try the strategy with less and less structure available to them. See p. 192 1st ed. in Birsh under Explicit Instruction Model.

    14. NRP – Comprehension Strategies: Comprehension Monitoring Goal – become aware of understanding of text and identify when that understanding has been blocked Ask questions Does this make sense? Do I understand what I am reading? What does this have to do with what I already know? What will happen next? Steps when there is a roadblock to comprehension Identify the difficulty Use think-aloud procedures Restate what was read Reread text or read ahead to find info. that may help

    15. NRP – Comprehensions Strategies: Comprehension Monitoring Read and Say Something Read and Say Something is a great strategy for monitoring. Put these on cards and students can pull a card and “say something”. You can also a bookmark for students to use. Another strategy by Buehl (2001) is called Three-Minute Pause. In this strategy, students stop while reading, watching a video or listening to turn to their partner or group for a three minute pause. They 1) summarize what they have learned, then 2) identify something they found particularly interesting and 3) ask any questions about confusing information or make a prediction. Having them pause every 10 or 15 minutes helps with memory and fixing up any confusing parts of text. Have participants use their book from the vocabulary activity and do “Read and Say something” have them take turns reading a part of the text and pick one of the blocks to try out this strategy. If you can, have cards made for each table to use to pick from.Read and Say Something is a great strategy for monitoring. Put these on cards and students can pull a card and “say something”. You can also a bookmark for students to use. Another strategy by Buehl (2001) is called Three-Minute Pause. In this strategy, students stop while reading, watching a video or listening to turn to their partner or group for a three minute pause. They 1) summarize what they have learned, then 2) identify something they found particularly interesting and 3) ask any questions about confusing information or make a prediction. Having them pause every 10 or 15 minutes helps with memory and fixing up any confusing parts of text. Have participants use their book from the vocabulary activity and do “Read and Say something” have them take turns reading a part of the text and pick one of the blocks to try out this strategy. If you can, have cards made for each table to use to pick from.

    16. NRP – Comprehension Strategies: Comprehension Monitoring This is an example of a sheet that can be made for the student to use to monitor themselves while reading. This would be part of the scaffolding of moving the student from being dependent on the teacher giving cues to the student having a way to monitor independently.This is an example of a sheet that can be made for the student to use to monitor themselves while reading. This would be part of the scaffolding of moving the student from being dependent on the teacher giving cues to the student having a way to monitor independently.

    17. NRP – Comprehension Strategies: Cooperative Learning “Having peers instruct or interact over the use of reading strategies leads to an increase in the learning of the strategies, promotes intellectual discussion and increases reading comprehension” NRP, 2000 Best Practices – Assign roles to students Leader Time Keeper Supply Manager Teacher Contact Participation Rubric Assign points based on participation Most teachers will be familiar with Cooperative Learning groups. Just review a few “best practices” for success with cooperative learning groups. The participation rubric has been found to be very successful in using these groups. Another technique not listed on a slide but worth mentioning or reminding participants is the “Think-Pair-Share” technique. A teacher poses a thought, question or uses a piece of text. A pair of students share their thinking and then that pair shares with another pair. Then the groups share out to the whole class. This is a quick use of cooperative learning and a quick way to break up the lesson. To practice – have participants turn to a partner and share their best or worst story regarding using cooperative groups. What do they see as being critical for success of groups in their class? Do they like students in groups? Why or why not? Then have them share with two others and share with the group as a whole.Most teachers will be familiar with Cooperative Learning groups. Just review a few “best practices” for success with cooperative learning groups. The participation rubric has been found to be very successful in using these groups. Another technique not listed on a slide but worth mentioning or reminding participants is the “Think-Pair-Share” technique. A teacher poses a thought, question or uses a piece of text. A pair of students share their thinking and then that pair shares with another pair. Then the groups share out to the whole class. This is a quick use of cooperative learning and a quick way to break up the lesson. To practice – have participants turn to a partner and share their best or worst story regarding using cooperative groups. What do they see as being critical for success of groups in their class? Do they like students in groups? Why or why not? Then have them share with two others and share with the group as a whole.

    18. NRP – Comprehension Strategies: Graphic Organizers Most teachers will be familiar with graphic organizers used to organize information. Graphic organizers can be bought in books at teacher stores or can be downloaded by googling “graphic organizers” Many can be found at a site called ReQuest. Graphic Organizers are wonderful ways to help students organize text and their thoughts. The key is helping students choose main ideas instead of writing everything from the text. Graphic Organizers are a great way to help scaffold information for students and then use the organizer as a writing tool. NRP cited 3 important uses for these visual cues: 1) help students focus on text structure while reading 2) provide tools to examine and visually represent textual relationships, and 3) assist in writing well-organized summaries. The use of graphic organizers can facilitate memory of the content of what has been read for many students.Most teachers will be familiar with graphic organizers used to organize information. Graphic organizers can be bought in books at teacher stores or can be downloaded by googling “graphic organizers” Many can be found at a site called ReQuest. Graphic Organizers are wonderful ways to help students organize text and their thoughts. The key is helping students choose main ideas instead of writing everything from the text. Graphic Organizers are a great way to help scaffold information for students and then use the organizer as a writing tool. NRP cited 3 important uses for these visual cues: 1) help students focus on text structure while reading 2) provide tools to examine and visually represent textual relationships, and 3) assist in writing well-organized summaries. The use of graphic organizers can facilitate memory of the content of what has been read for many students.

    19. NRP – Comprehension Strategies: Story Structure Introduce elements of narrative one at a time: Title Characters Setting (time and place) Rising action (series of events) Climax Resolution Graphic Organizers to teach story structure. Knowledge of the elements of narrative text provides students with a framework for organizing important aspects of a selection. A graphic organizer showing the elements of a selection helps the students decide what kind of information to focus on. Knowledge of the elements of the text also helps students understand relationships between the parts.Graphic Organizers to teach story structure. Knowledge of the elements of narrative text provides students with a framework for organizing important aspects of a selection. A graphic organizer showing the elements of a selection helps the students decide what kind of information to focus on. Knowledge of the elements of the text also helps students understand relationships between the parts.

    20. Sample graphic organizer to use with students reading narrative textsSample graphic organizer to use with students reading narrative texts

    21. NRP – Comprehension Strategies: Story Map Another example of how to scaffold for students text structure for narrative. Have participants sketch out their own books story map.Another example of how to scaffold for students text structure for narrative. Have participants sketch out their own books story map.

    22. NRP - Questioning Answering: Constrained Questions/Child’s Response These are the kinds of limited questions and answers we want to avoid.These are the kinds of limited questions and answers we want to avoid.

    23. NRP – Questioning Answering Open Questions/Child’s Response These are the types of questions and elaborated responses we want to encourage. These are the types of questions and elaborated responses we want to encourage.

    24. Effective Ways To Follow-Up Student Responses Repeat and rephrase child’s response Generic probes: “What’s that all about?” “What’s that mean?” “How do you know?” Questioning the Author – aimed at teaching students that they can become skilled at figuring out what an author might have meant to say by thinking and discussing meaning Why do you think the author tells us this now? Did the author explain this clearly? Does the author tell us why?

    25. NRP: Question Answering and Question Generation Question – Answer - Relationships In the Book questions Right There In the passage Answer: “how many…”, “who is…”, “where is…” Think and Search How ideas in the passage relate to each other Answer: “The main idea of the passage…”, “What caused…” “compare/contrast” In My Head questions Author and You Use ideas and info. Not directly stated in passage/think about what you have read and form own ideas Answer: “The author implies..”, “The passage suggests…” On My Own Use background knowledge Answer: “In your opinion…”, “Based on your experience…” See p. 397 Birsh 2nd edition. This instructional approach was developed by Terry Raphael in the 1980’s. It was designed to help students categorize questions and use this information to help them in answering questions. Teachers need to provide modeling and scaffolding to assist students in using this strategy appropriately. After students learn to answer the 4 types of questions, they can then write their own. The sequence for teaching QAR strategy is as follows: 1. Introduce the concept with the two main categories 2. Demonstrate the strategy with short passages by using think aloud 3. Give students text, questions, answers and the label. Students supply the reason for the label. 4. Give text, questions and answers and students provide the label and reason 5. Give students text, questions and students supply the answer, labels and reasons for label Some students need an intermediate step of the teacher supplying the QAR label to assist the student in finding answer. There are several cue cards that can be found on the internet to use as posters or cue cards for students. Have participants write questions using the QAR format for their book. Activity: Three-Minute Pause. Turn to a partner or group for a three minute pause. 1) summarize what they have learned, then 2) identify something they found particularly interesting and 3) ask any questions about confusing information or make a prediction. Share from a few pairs or groups.See p. 397 Birsh 2nd edition. This instructional approach was developed by Terry Raphael in the 1980’s. It was designed to help students categorize questions and use this information to help them in answering questions. Teachers need to provide modeling and scaffolding to assist students in using this strategy appropriately. After students learn to answer the 4 types of questions, they can then write their own. The sequence for teaching QAR strategy is as follows: 1. Introduce the concept with the two main categories 2. Demonstrate the strategy with short passages by using think aloud 3. Give students text, questions, answers and the label. Students supply the reason for the label. 4. Give text, questions and answers and students provide the label and reason 5. Give students text, questions and students supply the answer, labels and reasons for label Some students need an intermediate step of the teacher supplying the QAR label to assist the student in finding answer. There are several cue cards that can be found on the internet to use as posters or cue cards for students. Have participants write questions using the QAR format for their book. Activity: Three-Minute Pause. Turn to a partner or group for a three minute pause. 1) summarize what they have learned, then 2) identify something they found particularly interesting and 3) ask any questions about confusing information or make a prediction. Share from a few pairs or groups.

    26. Visualization or Mental Imagery Imagery training has been found to improve students’ memory of what they read Individuals are guided to create visual images to represent a picture or a text as they read it. Can start with small amounts of text working up to whole pages There is a DVD called Second Hand Lion that has a great scene in it for visualization. One of the characters is telling a story and the listener keeps changing his image based on new details given. If trainers have time to show that segment, it would be very powerful to explain visualization.There is a DVD called Second Hand Lion that has a great scene in it for visualization. One of the characters is telling a story and the listener keeps changing his image based on new details given. If trainers have time to show that segment, it would be very powerful to explain visualization.

    27. Retelling (Visualization) Read a passage related to the topic As you read, draw simple pictures that mark the actions, events, or key points. After reading, retell the passage as you point to the pictures in sequence. Incorporate important vocabulary into the retelling. Students retell the passage after you have modeled. Retelling. This strategy is not exclusive to Neuhaus Education Center but these are the structured steps they use to teach teachers how to use the strategy. Retelling is used to develop oral language and help students understand the structure of a story or nonfiction text. It will help students be more succinct and use vocabulary that you want them to practice. This is a good strategy for students who have difficulty visualizing and who have memory and/or sequencing difficulties.Retelling. This strategy is not exclusive to Neuhaus Education Center but these are the structured steps they use to teach teachers how to use the strategy. Retelling is used to develop oral language and help students understand the structure of a story or nonfiction text. It will help students be more succinct and use vocabulary that you want them to practice. This is a good strategy for students who have difficulty visualizing and who have memory and/or sequencing difficulties.

    28. “A New Way Of Travel” Activity: Modeling the retelling strategy, Use this text to use to model the retelling strategy. The sentences with the picture codes will come in one at a time as you click. You can use this opportunity to discuss that for many students this is the only amount of text they can handle. For other students, they may be able to handle two to three sentences and draw one picture to represent those ideas. Have another sheet of paper handy to draw the pictures (directions in brackets) on while you read the text. You are modeling here. After you have drawn all the pictures – hit “b” on computer for your screen to go black. Teacher Practice: Teachers pair up and retell the passage using the pictures. Hit “b” again and the screen will come back. Go over the usefulness of this strategy and discuss any other options, ideas, and/or modifications. Brainstorm other ways to use this strategy. For some students this may only be at the Listening Comprehension level since they may not be able to read text yet.Activity: Modeling the retelling strategy, Use this text to use to model the retelling strategy. The sentences with the picture codes will come in one at a time as you click. You can use this opportunity to discuss that for many students this is the only amount of text they can handle. For other students, they may be able to handle two to three sentences and draw one picture to represent those ideas. Have another sheet of paper handy to draw the pictures (directions in brackets) on while you read the text. You are modeling here. After you have drawn all the pictures – hit “b” on computer for your screen to go black. Teacher Practice: Teachers pair up and retell the passage using the pictures. Hit “b” again and the screen will come back. Go over the usefulness of this strategy and discuss any other options, ideas, and/or modifications. Brainstorm other ways to use this strategy. For some students this may only be at the Listening Comprehension level since they may not be able to read text yet.

    29. Ask a volunteer to retell the story using these pictures. Ask a volunteer to retell the story using these pictures.

    30. Now You Try… With a partner, read the next story and draw a picture to represent each story part. Use just the pictures to retell the story. OPTIONAL ACTIVITY: This is an independent activity which can be skipped unless you want them to try on their own and then discuss their pictures, etc.OPTIONAL ACTIVITY: This is an independent activity which can be skipped unless you want them to try on their own and then discuss their pictures, etc.

    31. “The Contest” HANDOUT: THE CONTEST You will need to print out this slide as a handout to be copied for participants. HANDOUT: THE CONTEST You will need to print out this slide as a handout to be copied for participants.

    32. Pictures for checking themselves.Pictures for checking themselves.

    33. NRP: Multiple Strategies Reciprocal Teaching Process Strategies included are: Summarizing – identifying and paraphrasing main ideas. Questioning – formulating and answering questions about the content. Clarifying – recognizing and correcting “breakdowns” in comprehension Predicting – forming hypotheses about upcoming events or information. Visualizing – making mental pictures of important information and content NRP found two multiple strategy instructions effective – Reciprocal Teaching Process and Collaborative Strategic Reading – Klingner and Vaughn, 1999. This is found in Birsh 2nd ed p. 387. It is similar to RTP as it uses 4 strategies: preview (activate knowledge and predict), Click and Clunk (monitor comprehension during reading by identifying difficult words and concepts using fix-up strategies when text doesn’t make sense), get the gist (restate the main ideas) and wrap up (generate questions a teacher may ask). You can see that both multiple strategies are very similar. Reciprocal Teaching is a scaffolded discussion technique that is build on four strategies that good readers use to comprehend text: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing (Palincsar & Brown, 1984). It was originally designed as a paragraph by paragraph discussion technique in which the teacher would model each of the four strategies in a think aloud. It has evolved into a strategy that can be used whole class or in cooperative groups with the students being the “teacher” for sections of text. Cue cards help students with the strategy. Each strategy needs to be practiced individually with test portions before using all 4 in one session. Teachers need to model using think alouds to assist students with these strategies. Working on different types of questions will help keep those from being too simple. Teachers can require students to use “2 think and search questions” for example so they do not stay at the Literal level. Or teachers can use the Costa’s Levels of questions – see handouts as a guide for students. NRP found two multiple strategy instructions effective – Reciprocal Teaching Process and Collaborative Strategic Reading – Klingner and Vaughn, 1999. This is found in Birsh 2nd ed p. 387. It is similar to RTP as it uses 4 strategies: preview (activate knowledge and predict), Click and Clunk (monitor comprehension during reading by identifying difficult words and concepts using fix-up strategies when text doesn’t make sense), get the gist (restate the main ideas) and wrap up (generate questions a teacher may ask). You can see that both multiple strategies are very similar. Reciprocal Teaching is a scaffolded discussion technique that is build on four strategies that good readers use to comprehend text: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing (Palincsar & Brown, 1984). It was originally designed as a paragraph by paragraph discussion technique in which the teacher would model each of the four strategies in a think aloud. It has evolved into a strategy that can be used whole class or in cooperative groups with the students being the “teacher” for sections of text. Cue cards help students with the strategy. Each strategy needs to be practiced individually with test portions before using all 4 in one session. Teachers need to model using think alouds to assist students with these strategies. Working on different types of questions will help keep those from being too simple. Teachers can require students to use “2 think and search questions” for example so they do not stay at the Literal level. Or teachers can use the Costa’s Levels of questions – see handouts as a guide for students.

    34. Reciprocal Teaching Process During reading, students visualize and self question information from the text. After reading a segment of text, leader summarizes, asks questions “that a teacher might ask”, clarifies any difficulties and makes a prediction. Other students generate additional questions, make predictions and/or ask for clarification. Specific strategies are applied to appropriate text sections. The only rule is that all 5 are applied during every session. Each reciprocal teaching strategy has an important role in the process. The order of the strategies is not fixed; it depends on the text and the reader. A good resource for teachers is Reciprocal Teaching at Work by Lori Oczkus.Each reciprocal teaching strategy has an important role in the process. The order of the strategies is not fixed; it depends on the text and the reader. A good resource for teachers is Reciprocal Teaching at Work by Lori Oczkus.

    35. Summary Of Best Practices: Teaching Comprehension Set stage to show how reading activity changes according to text and purpose Explain and model steps in strategy Present more than one situation or text in which strategy would be useful Provide many opportunities for practice Encourage think alouds Have student suggest times and conditions for strategy Go through these quickly. These are found in Birsh 2nd ed. on page 384Go through these quickly. These are found in Birsh 2nd ed. on page 384

    36. “If you want children to read well, they must read a lot. If you want children to read a lot, they must read well.” Marilyn Adams as quoted by Joe Torgesen 3/2006

More Related