Reading Rockets-Reading Strategies Flashcards
Alphabet Matching-Phonics
Very young learners are developing their understanding of the alphabetic principle — the understanding that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. Teachers can help students develop this understanding through lots of fun activities that help students explore the alphabet letters and sounds.
Why teach about the alphabet?
Letter naming is a strong predictor of later reading success Learning letter names helps a child learn letter sounds It helps students develop their understanding of the alphabetic principle
When to use: Before reading During reading After reading How to use: Individually With small groups Whole class setting
Matching Books to Phonics Features
There are several ways to match books to readers — by reader interest, by reading level, and by the phonics feature(s) a particular child is learning. Careful pairing of reading with phonics study gives children a chance to apply what they are learning about letters and sounds to the reading of words and stories. Because the goal of phonics instruction is to help children use the alphabetic system to read and spell words, it’s important to provide students with this practice.
Why match books to phonics features?
Phonics instruction teaches students the relationships between letters and individual sounds. An important step in teaching phonics is to provide students with practice in applying what they’ve learned to real reading and writing. Effective early reading instruction uses materials (books, stories, poems) that contain a large number of words that children can decode. Other instruction might provide opportunities to spell words and write stories that also contain the same phonics features.
Anticipation Guide-Comprehension
An anticipation guide is a comprehension strategy that is used before reading to activate students’ prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic. Before reading, students listen to or read several statements about key concepts presented in the text; they’re often structured as a series of statements with which the students can choose to agree or disagree. Anticipation guides stimulate students’ interest in a topic and set a purpose for reading.
Why use anticipation guides?
They teach students to make predictions, anticipate the text, and verify their predictions.
They connect new information to prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic.
How to use an anticipation guide
Construct the anticipation guide. Construction of the anticipation guide should be as simple as possible for younger students. Write four to six statements about key ideas in the text; some true and some false. Include columns following each statement, which can be left blank or can be labeled Yes, or No (Maybe can also be used).
NOTE: Teachers may wish to create an additional column for revisiting the guide after the material has been read. Model the process. Introduce the text or reading material and share the guide with the students. Model the process of responding to the statements and marking the columns. Read each of the statements and ask the students if they agree or disagree with it. Provide the opportunity for discussion. The emphasis is not on right answers but to share what they know and to make predictions. Read the text aloud or have students read the selection individually. If reading aloud, teachers should read slowly and stop at places in the text that correspond to each of the statements. Bring closure to the reading by revisiting each of the statements.
Concept Maps-Comprehension
A concept map is a visual organizer that can enrich students’ understanding of a new concept. Using a graphic organizer, students think about the concept in several ways. Most concept map organizers engage students in answering questions such as, “What is it? What is it like? What are some examples?” Concept maps deepen understanding and comprehension.
Why use a concept map?
It helps children organize new information.
It helps students to make meaningful connections between the main idea and other information.
They’re easy to construct and can be used within any content area.
How to use a concept map
Note: It is important that teachers spend time introducing younger students to charts and diagrams prior to using this strategy.
There are several ways to construct concept maps. Most include the following steps:
Model how to identify the major ideas or concepts presented in a selection of text as you read. Organize the ideas into categories. Remind students that your organization may change as you continue to read and add more information. Use lines or arrows on the map to represent how ideas are connected to one another, a particular category, and/or the main concept. Limit the amount of information on the map to avoid frustration. After students have finished the map, encourage them to share and reflect on how they each made the connections between concepts. Encourage students to use the concept map to summarize what was read. Teachers can use concept maps as a pre-reading strategy by inviting students to share what they already know about a particular concept. While reading, teachers should ask students to help add to the map as a group using an overhead or large chart. This provides a visual aid for building upon their prior knowledge with new information they have gathered from reading. Teachers may wish to have students practice writing skills by asking students to write on their own concept map. Teach vocabulary words explicitly and use simple words. Be sure the pointed part of each arrow is clear. Design the graphics to minimize directional confusion. When applicable, allow students to draw pictures or use cut out pictures as well as words.
Concept Sort-Comprehension
A concept sort is a vocabulary and comprehension strategy used to familiarize students with the vocabulary of a new topic or book. Teachers provide students with a list of terms or concepts from reading material. Students place words into different categories based on each word’s meaning. Categories can be defined by the teacher or by the students. When used before reading, concept sorts provide an opportunity for a teacher to see what his or her students already know about the given content. When used after reading, teachers can assess their students’ understanding of the concepts presented.
Why use a concept sort?
It allows teachers to introduce the new vocabulary which students will see in the assigned text.
It provides teachers with information about how much the students already know about a topic.
It familiarizes students with the vocabulary of a new topic or book.
How to use a concept sort
If your goal is to teach a concept such as rough/smooth, gather 10-15 objects or pictures that have rough and smooth textures. Or, if your goal is to teach a concept or vocabulary that is presented in a book, choose 10-15 relevant, important words from the book.
Working individually, in small groups or as a class, have the students sort the cards or objects into meaningful groups. The groups (or categories) can be pre-defined by the teacher (often called a closed sort) or by the students (often called an open sort).
Discuss the categories used within the different groups. Describe why certain cards were placed within certain groups.
Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)
The Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) is a comprehension strategy that guides students in asking questions about a text, making predictions, and then reading to confirm or refute their predictions. The DRTA process encourages students to be active and thoughtful readers, enhancing their comprehension.
Why use directed reading thinking activity?
It encourages students to be active and
thoughtful readers.
It activates students’ prior knowledge.
It teaches students to monitor their understanding of the text as they’re reading.
It helps strengthen reading and critical thinking skills.
How to use directed reading thinking activity
Teachers should follow the steps below when creating a DRTA.
Determine the text to be used and pre-select points for students to pause during the reading process.
Introduce the text, the purpose of the DRTA, and provide examples of how to make predictions.
Note: Be aware of the reading levels of each student, and be prepared to provide appropriate questions, prompts, and support as needed.
Use the following outline to guide the procedure:
D = DIRECT. Teachers direct and activate students' thinking prior to reading a passage by scanning the title, chapter headings, illustrations, and other materials. Teachers should use open-ended questions to direct students as they make predictions about the content or perspective of the text (e.g., "Given this title, what do you think the passage will be about?").
R = READING. Students read up to the first pre-selected stopping point. The teacher then prompts the students with questions about specific information and asks them to evaluate their predictions and refine them if necessary. This process should be continued until students have read each section of the passage.
T = THINKING. At the end of each section, students go back through the text and think about their predictions. Students should verify or modify their predictions by finding supporting statements in the text. The teacher asks questions such as:
What do you think about your predictions now?
What did you find in the text to prove your predictions?
What did you we read in the text that made you change your predictions?
Exit Slips
Exit slips are written student responses to questions teachers pose at the end of a class or lesson. These quick, informal assessments enable teachers to quickly assess students’ understanding of the material.
How to use exit slips
At the end of your lesson ask students to respond to a question or prompt.
Note: There are three categories of exit slips (Fisher & Frey, 2004):
Prompts that document learning:
—Example: Write one thing you learned today.
—Example: Discuss how today's lesson could be used in the real world.
Prompts that emphasize the process of learning:
—Example: I didn't understand…
—Example: Write one question you have about today's lesson.
Prompts to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction:
—Example: Did you enjoy working in small groups today?
Other exit prompts include:
—I would like to learn more about…
—Please explain more about…
—The thing that surprised me the most today was…
—I wish…
You may state the prompt orally to your students or project it visually on an overhead or blackboard.
You may want to distribute 3 x 5 cards for students to write down their responses.
Review the exit slips to determine how you may need to alter your instruction to better meet the needs of all your students.
Collect the exit slips as a part of an assessment portfolio for each student.
First Lines
First Lines is a pre-reading comprehension strategy in which students read the beginning sentences from a book and then make predictions about that book. This technique helps students focus their attention on what they can tell from the first lines of a story, play, poem, or other text. As students read the text in its entirety they discuss, revisit and/or revise their original predictions.
Why use first lines?
It helps students learn to make predictions about the content of what they’re about to read or what is about to be read to them.
It helps students focus their attention on what they can tell from the first lines of a story, play, poem, or other text.
How to use first lines
Choose the assigned reading and introduce the text to the students. Ask students read only the first line of the assigned text, or if using your read aloud, read aloud only the first line.
Ask students to make predictions for the reading based on the first sentence.
Engage the class in discussion about the predictions.
Encourage students to return to their original predictions after reading the text, assessing their original predictions and building evidence to support those predictions which are accurate. Students can create new predictions as well.Inference
Observations occur when we can see something happening. In contrast, inferences are what we figure out based on an experience. Helping students understand when information is implied, or not directly stated, will improve their skill in drawing conclusions and making inferences. These skills will be needed for all sorts of school assignments, including reading, science and social studies. Inferential thinking is a complex skill that will develop over time and with experience.
Why teach inference?
Inference is a complex skill that can be taught through explicit instruction in inferential strategies
Inferring requires higher order thinking skills, which makes it a difficult skill for many students.
How to teach inference
One simplified model for teaching inference includes the following assumptions:
We need to find clues to get some answers. We need to add those clues to what we already know or have read. There can be more than one correct answer. We need to be able to support inferences.
Marzano (2010) suggests teachers pose four questions to students to facilitate a discussion about inferences.
What is my inference? This question helps students become aware that they may have just made an inference by filling in information that wasn't directly presented. What information did I use to make this inference? It's important for students to understand the various types of information they use to make inferences. This may include information presented in the text, or it may be background knowledge that a student brings to the learning setting. How good was my thinking? According to Marzano, once students have identified the premises on which they've based their inferences, they can engage in the most powerful part of the process — examining the validity of their thinking. Do I need to change my thinking? The final step in the process is for students to consider possible changes in their thinking. The point here is not to invalidate students' original inferences, but rather to help them develop the habit of continually updating their thinking as they gather new information.
One model that teachers can use to teach inference is called “It says, I say, and so” developed by Kylene Beers (2003). Click below to see graphic organizer examples from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, as well as the steps to solving a math problem about area and diameter
Inquiry Chart
The Inquiry Chart (I-chart) is a strategy that enables students to gather information about a topic from several sources. Teachers design the I-chart around several questions about a topic. Students read or listen to several sources on the topic and record answers to the posed questions within the I-chart. Students generate a summary in the final row. Different answers from various perspectives can be explored as a class.
Why use an inquiry chart?
It fosters critical thinking and strengthens reading skills.
It teaches younger students to generate meaningful questions about a topic and learn to organize their writing.
Students build upon prior knowledge or thoughts about the topic by sharing interesting facts.
It can serve as an evaluation tool for how much a student has learned about a topic.
How to use an inquiry chart
- The teacher provides each student with a blank I-chart and assists with topic selection OR provides the pre-selected topic.
- The students engage in forming questions about the topic. Those questions are placed at the top of each individual column.
- The rows are for recording any information students already know and the key ideas pulled from several different sources of information. The last row gives students the opportunity to pull together the ideas into a general summary.
- Teachers may ask students to resolve competing ideas found in the separate sources or develop new questions to explore based on any conflicting or incomplete information.
The planning phase includes:
- identifying the topic
- forming questions
- constructing the I-chart
4. collecting materials
The next step is to engage students in the interacting phase which involves:
1. exploring prior knowledge 2. sharing of interesting facts 3. reading and rereading
Finally, teachers guide the students through the integrating and evaluation phase by:
1. summarizing 2. comparing 3. researching 4. reporting
Jigsaw
Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy that enables each student of a “home” group to specialize in one aspect of a topic (for example, one group studies habitats of rainforest animals, another group studies predators of rainforest animals). Students meet with members from other groups who are assigned the same aspect, and after mastering the material, return to the “home” group and teach the material to their group members. With this strategy, each student in the “home” group serves as a piece of the topic’s puzzle and when they work together as a whole, they create the complete jigsaw puzzle.
Why use jigsaw?
- It helps build comprehension.
- It encourages cooperative learning among students.
- It helps improve listening, communication, and problem-solving skills.
How to use jigsaw
Introduce the strategy and the topic to be studied.
Assign each student to a “home group” of 3-5 students who reflect a range of reading abilities.
Determine a set of reading selections and assign one selection to each student.
Create “expert groups” that consist of students across “home groups” who will read the same selection.
Give all students a framework for managing their time on the various parts of the jigsaw task.
Provide key questions to help the “expert groups” gather information in their particular area.
Provide materials and resources necessary for all students to learn about their topics and become “experts.”
Note: It is important that the reading material assigned is at appropriate instructional levels (90–95% reading accuracy). Discuss the rules for reconvening into "home groups" and provide guidelines as each "expert" reports the information learned. Prepare a summary chart or graphic organizer for each "home group" as a guide for organizing the experts' information report. Remind students that "home group" members are responsible to learn all content from one another.
Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD)
The listen-read-discuss strategy helps students comprehend text. Before reading, students listen to a short lecture delivered by the teacher. The students then read a text selection about the topic. After reading, there is a large group discussion or students engage in small group discussions about the topic. During the discussion, students compare and contrast the information from the lecture with the information they read.
Why use listen-read-discuss?
It helps students comprehend material presented orally.
It builds students’ prior knowledge before they read a text.
It engages struggling readers in classroom discussions.
How to use listen-read-discuss
Listen: Present information to students about the book they will be reading. This can be in the form of a short lecture on the topic, using a graphic organizer to guide the lecture.
Read: Ask students to read a text selection. The content should be similar to the material presented during the “listen” portion of the lesson.
Discuss: Lead a classroom discussion of the material. Encourage students to reflect on any differences between their reading of the content and your presentation.
Paragraph Shrinking
Paragraph shrinking is an activity developed as part of the Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS). The paragraph shrinking strategy allows each student to take turns reading, pausing, and summarizing the main points of each paragraph. Students provide each other with feedback as a way to monitor comprehension.
Why use paragraph shrinking?
It helps students develop their reading comprehension skills.
It allows each student to take turns reading, pausing, and summarizing the main points of each paragraph.
Note: Paragraph shrinking was developed as one of the Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. Because of that, the directions below describe a procedure where students work with a peer to complete the strategy.
How to use paragraph shrinking
- Choose the assigned reading and introduce the text to the students.
- Create pairs within the classroom by identifying which children require help on specific skills and who the most appropriate children are to help other children learn those skills.
- Model the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy.
- Have each member of the teacher-assigned pair take turns being “Coach” and “Player.”
- Ask each student to read aloud for 5 minutes without rereading a text. After each paragraph, students should stop to summarize the main points of the reading. Ask students to then summarize the following information:The who or what of the paragraph
The most important thing about who or what
The main idea
Note: If a “Player” ever gives a wrong answer, the “Coach” asks the “Player” to skim the paragraph again and answer question a second time.
- Ask students to state the main idea in 10 words or less which will encourage them to monitor comprehension while taking turns reading.
- Award each pair points when the above goals of the strategy are met
Partner Reading-Why use it
It is a cooperative learning strategy in which two students are encouraged to work together to read an assigned text.
It allows students to take turns reading and provide each other with feedback as a way to monitor comprehension.
It provides a model of fluent reading and helps students learn decoding skills by offering positive feedback.
It provides direct opportunities for a teacher to circulate in the class, observe students, and offer individual remediation.
How to use partner reading
Choose the assigned reading and introduce the text to the students.
Create pairs within the classroom by identifying which children require help on specific skills and who the most appropriate children are to help other children learn those skills.
Model the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy.
Have each member of the teacher-assigned pair take turns being “Coach” and “Player.” These pairs are changed regularly, and over a period of time as students work. Thus, all students have the opportunity to be “coaches” and “players.”
Note: It is important for teachers to monitor and support students as they work together.
Ask the stronger reader to begin this activity as the “Player” and read orally for 5 minutes. Have the “Coach” follow along and correct any mistakes when necessary.
Have the pair switch roles and ask the weaker reader to become the “Player.” The “Player” rereads the same passage for the next 5 minutes and the “Coach” provides corrective feedback. One point is earned for each correct sentence read (optional).
Question the Author
Questioning the author is a strategy that engages students actively with a text. Rather than reading and taking information from a text, the QtA strategy encourages students to ask questions of the author and the text. Through forming their questions, students learn more about the text. Students learn to ask questions such as: What is the author’s message? Does the author explain this clearly? How does this connect to what the author said earlier?
Why use question the author?
It engages students in the reading and helps to solidify their understanding of a text.
It teaches students to form questions to the author while reading.
It teaches students to critique the author’s writing.
How to use question the author
Beck et al. (1997) identify specific steps you should follow during a question the author lesson. This strategy is best suited for nonfiction texts.
Select a passage that is both interesting and can spur a good conversation.
Decide appropriate stopping points where you think your students need to obtain a greater understanding.
Create queries or questions for each stopping point.
What is the author trying to say?
Why do you think the author used the following phrase?
Does this make sense to you?
Display a short passage to your students along with one or two queries you have designed ahead of time.
Model for your students how to think through the queries.
Ask students to read and work through the queries you have prepared for their readings.
Question-Answer Relationship (QAR)
The question–answer relationship (QAR) strategy helps students understand the different types of questions. By learning that the answers to some questions are “Right There” in the text, that some answers require a reader to “Think and Search,” and that some answers can only be answered “On My Own,” students recognize that they must first consider the question before developing an answer.
Why use question–answer relationship?
It can improve students’ reading comprehension.
It teaches students how to ask questions about their reading and where to find the answers to them.
It helps students to think about the text they are reading and beyond it, too.
It inspires them to think creatively and work cooperatively while challenging them to use higher-level thinking skills.
How to use question–answer relationship
Explain to students that there are four types of questions they will encounter. Define each type of question and give an example.
Four types of questions are examined in the QAR:
Right There Questions: Literal questions whose answers can be found in the text. Often the words used in the question are the same words found in the text.
Think and Search Questions: Answers are gathered from several parts of the text and put together to make meaning.
Author and You: These questions are based on information provided in the text but the student is required to relate it to their own experience. Although the answer does not lie directly in the text, the student must have read it in order to answer the question.
On My Own: These questions do not require the student to have read the passage but he/she must use their background or prior knowledge to answer the question.
Read a short passage aloud to your students.
Have predetermined questions you will ask after you stop reading. When you have finished reading, read the questions aloud to students and model how you decide which type of question you have been asked to answer.
Show students how find information to answer the question (i.e., in the text, from your own experiences, etc.).
Reading Guide
Reading guides can assist with developing students’ comprehension. They help students navigate reading material, especially difficult chapters or nonfiction reading. Students respond to a teacher-created written guide of prompts as they read an assigned text. Reading Guides help students to comprehend the main points of the reading and understand the organizational structure of a text.
Why use a reading guide?
It can be developed for a variety of reading material and reading levels.
It helps guide students through what they are about to read, and helps students monitor their comprehension while reading.
It helps students to follow the main points of the reading and understand the organization of a text.
It helps readers to think actively as they read and have a purpose for reading.
How to use reading guides
The teacher determines the major ideas from a book or an assigned reading and considers each student’s knowledge related to the concepts.
Teachers then write questions or statements designed to guide readers through the major ideas and supporting details of the text. Guides may be phrased as statements or as questions.
Teachers begin the procedure by introducing the assigned book, discussing the main ideas, and new vocabulary.
Teachers then discuss the statements or ask the questions on the Reading Guide.
Teachers may read the selection aloud or students read the assigned text as teachers monitor reading.
Teachers and students work together to respond to statements or questions on the reading guides during the reading process. Teachers should monitor and support students as they work.
Note: As students gain proficiency at completing reading guides, they may design their own guides and provide support for one another.
What items might you include in a reading guide?
The following is a list of sample items that teachers might include on a Reading Guide:
What do you think this book is about? What/Who were the characters, places, and events that took place? What happened in the story? Why did the author write this book? The author discusses the differences between \_\_\_\_ and \_\_\_\_ . The main idea of this book is... What new information have you learned from the book?
Reciprocal Teaching
Reciprocal teaching refers to an instructional activity in which students become the teacher in small group reading sessions. Teachers model, then help students learn to guide group discussions using four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting. Once students have learned the strategies, they take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading a dialogue about what has been read.
Why use reciprocal teaching?
It encourages students to think about their own thought process during reading.
It helps students learn to be actively involved and monitor their comprehension as they read.
It teaches students to ask questions during reading and helps make the text more comprehensible.
How to use reciprocal teaching
efore Reciprocal Teaching can be used successfully by your students, they need to have been taught and had time to practice the four strategies that are used in reciprocal teaching (summarizing, questioning, predicting, clarifying).
One way to get students prepared to use reciprocal teaching: (from Donna Dyer of the North West Regional Education Service Agency in North Carolina)
1. Put students in groups of four.
2. Distribute one note card to each member of the group identifying each person's unique role:
Summarizer
Questioner
Clarifier
Predictor
3. Have students read a few paragraphs of the assigned text selection. Encourage them to use note-taking strategies such as selective underlining or sticky-notes to help them better prepare for their role in the discussion. 4. At the given stopping point, the Summarizer will highlight the key ideas up to this point in the reading.
5. The Questioner will then pose questions about the selection:
Unclear parts
Puzzling information
Connections to other concepts already learned 6. The Clarifier will address confusing parts and attempt to answer the questions that were just posed.
7. The Predictor can offer predictions about what the author will tell the group next or, if it's a literary selection, the predictor might suggest what the next events in the story will be. 8. The roles in the group then switch one person to the right, and the next selection is read. Students repeat the process using their new roles. This continues until the entire selection is read. (Source: ReadingQuest)
9. Throughout the process, the teacher's role is to guide and nurture the students' ability to use the four strategies successfully within the small group. The teacher's role is lessened as students develop skill.
Story Maps
A story map is a strategy that uses a graphic organizer to help students learn the elements of a book or story. By identifying story characters, plot, setting, problem and solution, students read carefully to learn the details. There are many different types of story map graphic organizers. The most basic focus on the beginning, middle, and end of the story. More advanced organizers focus more on plot or character traits.
Why use story maps?
They improve students’ comprehension
They provide students with a framework for identifying the elements of a story.
They help students of varying abilities organize information and ideas efficiently.
How to use story maps
Discuss the main components of a story (e.g., characters, setting, plot and theme OR beginning, middle, end).
Provide each student with a blank story map organizer and model how to complete it.
As students read, have them complete the story map. After reading, they should fill in any missing parts.
Examples
Language Arts
This example demonstrates how story maps are used with an Arthur story. Students identify the setting, characters, the problem, and the solution in the story.
See example > (20K PDF)*
Math
Story maps can be used to help students solve open-ended math problems. Or students can use the story map to create their own math problems.
Social Studies
Using the format of the story map, students can create their own map by taking a walk around the playground or school. Encourage students to include positional words in their story map writing.
Story Sequence
Helping students learn to recall the facts of a story in the proper order is a skill that aids comprehension. Sequencing is an important part of problem solving across subjects.
Why teach story sequence?
It assists with comprehension.
Sequence structures help students of varying abilities organize information and ideas efficiently.
Story Sequence Examples
Examples
Language Arts
Story maps provide one way to help students organize the events from a story.
Helping students learn transition or signal words that indicate a sequence (first, second, last) will also help them learn about sequence.
Sequence sticks, story chains, and a story sequence craft all help students practice ordering events within a story. See these ideas from Suite 101.com.
Math
Most math curricula include worksheets on ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc). Patterns are also a form of sequencing my encouraging the use of vocabulary words such as “What bead goes first? Then which bead? Which bead is third?” Encouraging students to write out the steps for solving addition and subtraction problems that include regrouping is an excellent way to have them think through the steps in order. Teachers can use a simple sheet of paper folded into four squares. Ask students to write the steps in order in the squares.
Science
Helping children sequence also develops their scientific inquiry skills. In order to study or observe changes in something, students must follow along and record changes. The changes happen in a particular order, which kids can document by writing or drawing pictures.
Social Studies
Timelines are a great way to teach sequence in social studies. Kids may enjoy making a timeline of their own life, and include important milestones such as when they learned to walk, talk, ride a bike and go to school. Once students understand the process of charting important milestones on a timeline, topics from the social studies curricula can be used.
This simple example of an explorers timeline illustrates how the spacing between dates indicates the passage of time.
Other Ideas for School or Home
Create a sequence page for a simple activity around the house or at school. Use any blank sheet of paper. Fold the paper into squares. Start with 4 large squares, for older students create more squares. Ask kids to draw the steps they know in the order in which the steps occur. For example, draw each step it takes to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or to brush their teeth. Cut or tear out the pages from an old calendar. Mix up the months and hand out the stack of pages. Ask the kids to order the months from January to December by laying the pages out on the floor. Which month goes first? Then which one? Which month is last?
Summarizing
Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text, how to ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way. Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what is read. Summarization strategies can be used in almost every content area.
Why use summarizing?
It helps students learn to determine essential ideas and consolidate important details that support them.
It enables students to focus on key words and phrases of an assigned text that are worth noting and remembering.
It teaches students how to take a large selection of text and reduce it to the main points for more concise understanding.
How to use summarizing
Begin by reading OR have students listen to the text selection.
Ask students the following framework questions:
What are the main ideas?
What are the crucial details necessary for supporting the ideas?
What information is irrelevant or unnecessary?
Have them use key words or phrases to identify the main points from the text.
Think-alouds
Think-alouds have been described as “eavesdropping on someone’s thinking.” With this strategy, teachers verbalize aloud while reading a selection orally. Their verbalizations include describing things they’re doing as they read to monitor their comprehension. The purpose of the think-aloud strategy is to model for students how skilled readers construct meaning from a text.
Why use think-alouds?
It helps students learn to monitor their thinking as they read and improves their comprehension.
It teaches students to re-read a sentence, read ahead to clarify, and/or look for context clues to make sense of what they read.
It slows down the reading process and allows students to monitor their understanding of a text.
How to use think-alouds
Begin by modeling this strategy. Model your thinking as you read. Do this at points in the text that may be confusing for students (new vocabulary, unusual sentence construction).
Introduce the assigned text and discuss the purpose of the Think-Aloud strategy. Develop the set of questions to support thinking aloud (see examples below).
What do I know about this topic?
What do I think I will learn about this topic?
Do I understand what I just read?
Do I have a clear picture in my head about this information?
What more can I do to understand this?
What were the most important points in this reading?
What new information did I learn?
How does it fit in with what I already know?
Give students opportunities to practice the technique, and offer structured feedback to students.
Read the selected passage aloud as the students read the same text silently. At certain points stop and “think aloud” the answers to some of the pre-selected questions.
Demonstrate how good readers monitor their understanding by rereading a sentence, reading ahead to clarify, and/or looking for context clues. Students then learn to offer answers to the questions as the teacher leads the Think Aloud.
Think-Pair-Share
Think-pair-share (TPS) is a collaborative learning strategy in which students work together to solve a problem or answer a question about an assigned reading. This technique requires students to (1) think individually about a topic or answer to a question; and (2) share ideas with classmates. Discussing an answer with a partner serves to maximize participation, focus attention and engage students in comprehending the reading material.
Why use think-pair-share?
It helps students to think individually about a topic or answer to a question.
It teaches students to share ideas with classmates and builds oral communication skills.
It helps focus attention and engage students in comprehending the reading material.
How to use think-pair-share
Decide upon the text to be read and develop the set of questions or prompts that target key content concepts.
Describe the purpose of the strategy and provide guidelines for discussions.
Model the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy.
Monitor and support students as they work through the following:
T : (Think) Teachers begin by asking a specific question about the text. Students “think” about what they know or have learned about the topic.
P : (Pair) Each student should be paired with another student or a small group.
S : (Share) Students share their thinking with their partner. Teachers expand the “share” into a whole-class discussion.
Visual Imagery
Good readers construct mental images as they read a text. By using prior knowledge and background experiences, readers connect the author’s writing with a personal picture. Through guided visualization, students learn how to create mental pictures as they read.
Why use visual imagery?
Generating an image while reading requires that the reader be actively engaged with the text.
Creating mental images while reading can improve comprehension.
