Seven Strategies for Comprehension

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Seven Strategies for Comprehension
Making Connections http//www.hcs.k12.sc.us/HCSDoc
uments/Uploads/Instr/Aug.201120Leadership.ppt
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As I read, I consciously and subconsciously
synthesize. I question, I infer, I create vivid
sensory images. I relate the piece to my own
experience. I tease out what I think is most
important. I draw conclusions about what I think
the key points of the passage are. Sometimes I
use the strategies purposefully, other times they
surface randomly. They are tools I use,
sometimes effortlessly, sometimes purposefully to
construct meaning. They intertwine and merge and
I switch quickly among them, frequently using
them simultaneously. They are the instruments
which, as I become more familiar with them, give
me the ability to read more quickly. They are
the means to an end. For proficient readers,
they are second nature. Keene and Zimmerman,
1997
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Metacognitive Strategies

• Making Connections/Schema
• Questioning
• Visualizing/Sensory Images
• Inferring
• Determining Importance
• Synthesizing
• Monitoring for Meaning or Fix- up Strategies

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Making Connections/Schema Activating
relevant,prior knowledge to make connections
before, during, and after reading and storing new
information with other related memories
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Questioning Asking questions before, during, and
after reading to better understand what is read
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Visualizing/Sensory Images Creating pictures in
the mind using all of the senses and emotions
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(No Transcript)
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Inferring Using background knowledge, combined
with evidence from the text, to make inferences
and draw conclusions
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Determining Importance Identifying the main
ideas, what the author considers important, and
the theme
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Synthesizing Combining what is known with new
information to understand the text Now I get
it! I learned that____. My thinking
changed while I was reading.
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Monitoring for Meaning Using fix-up strategies
when coming to an unknown word or a confusing
part of the text
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• Fix-up Strategies
• Stop and think about what you have already read.
• Make a prediction.
• Ask yourself a question and try to answer it.
• Retell what youve read.
• Adjust your reading rate slow down or speed up.

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• More Fix-Up Strategies
• Visualize.
• Use print conventions.
• Notice patterns in text structure.
• Reread.
• Reflect in writing on what you have read.
• Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Cris Tovani

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Read the poem The Ponds by Mary Oliver. Think
about the comprehension strategies you apply to
fully construct meaning from the text. Use the
box in the top corner to help you code your
thinking.
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The researchers recommended that each strategy
be taught with singular focus, over a long period
of time, to students from kindergarten through
twelfth grade and beyond, and that teachers model
and students practice the strategies with a
variety of texts. If teachers focused their
attention on a strategy, beginning with a great
deal of modeling and gradually releasing
responsibility (Gallagher and Pearson, 1983) to
the children to practice it independently, the
researchers believed students could actually be
taught to think differently as they
read. From Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Keene
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Why begin with Schema?
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A man who tells secrets or stories must think of
who is hearing or reading them, for a story has
as many versions as it has readers. Everyone
takes what he wants or can from it and thus
changes it to his measure. Some pick out parts
and reject the rest, some strain the story
through a mesh of prejudice, some paint it with
their own delight. A story must have some points
of contact with the reader to make him feel at
home in it. Only then can he accept its
wonders. John Steinbeck
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Those points of contact from the John Steinbeck
quote are the background knowledge that a reader
brings to the story.
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Each type of schema permits students to monitor
for meaning, pose questions, make predictions,
draw conclusions, create mental images,
synthesize, and determine importance as they read.
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How is background knowledge/schema utilized by
proficient learners?
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• Readers
• Readers spontaneously activate relevant prior
  knowledge before, during, and after reading text.
• Readers assimilate information from text into
  their schemata and make changes in that schemata
  to accommodate new information.
• Readers use schema to relate text to their world
  knowledge, text knowledge, and personal
  experience.
• Readers use their schema to enhance their
  understanding of text and to store text
  information in long term memory.
• Readers use their schema for authors and their
  style to better understand text.
• Readers recognize when they have inadequate
  background information and know how to create
  itto build schemato get the information they
  need.

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• Writers
• Writers frequently choose their own topics and
  write about subjects they care about.
• A writers content comes from and builds on
  his/her experiences.
• Writers think about and use what they know about
  genre, text structure, and conventions as they
  write.
• Writers seek to better recognize and capitalize
  on their own voice for specific effects in their
  compositions.
• Writers know when their schema for a topic or
  text format is inadequate and they create the
  necessary background knowledge.
• Writers use knowledge of their audience to make
  decisions about content inclusions/exclusions.

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• Mathematicians
• Mathematicians use current understandings as
  first steps in the problem solving process.
• Mathematicians use their number sense to
  understand a problem.
• Mathematicians add to schema by trying more
  challenging problems and hearing from others
  about different problem solving methods.
• Mathematicians build understanding based on prior
  knowledge of math concepts.
• Mathematicians develop purpose based on prior
  knowledge.
• Mathematicians use their prior knowledge to
  generalize about similar problems and to choose
  problem solving strategies.
• Mathematicians develop their own problems.

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• Researchers
• Researchers frequently choose topics they know
  and care about.
• Researchers use their prior knowledge and
  experience to launch investigations and ask
  questions.
• Researchers consider what they already know to
  decide what they need to find out and researchers
  self evaluate according to background knowledge
  of what quality products look like.

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• What background knowledge is needed for students
  to succeed in
• Drivers Education
• Geometry
• Chemistry
• United States History

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• In school groups, think about a specific area
  that you teach.
• What prior knowledge is needed to be successful?
• If a student doesnt feel success, what am I
  doing to help build background knowledge?
• Each school group should be prepared to share one
  area with the entire group.

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WOW! (Working on the Work)
Where do we go from here?
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• Professional Development Resources
• Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Keene
• I Read It, But I Dont Get It by Cris Tovani
• Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey
• Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller
• Constructing Meaning Through Kid-Friendly
  Comprehension Strategy Instruction by Nancy
  Boyles
• Teaching Reading in Middle School by Laura Robb