WHY DON’T THEY COMPREHEND

& HOW CAN WE HELP

THEM?

Susan Hoch – Reading SpecialistGalax Elementary Schoolsusanhoch@gcps.k12.va.us

Jessica Kidd – Reading SpecialistGalax ElementarySchooljessicakidd@gcps.k12.va.us

©Hoch & Kidd 2014

www.alove4reading.blogspot.com

Think Like A Struggling Student….

Reading Strategies Do the students understand when, how, and why to use strategies? Are you, as the teacher, comfortable teaching the reason and

meaning behind the strategies?Understanding Vocabulary

Do the students understand the words you are using and the words they are reading?

Are you, as the teacher, comfortable with explicit vocabulary instruction?

Questions Do the students understand the questions they are being asked? Are you, as the teacher, comfortable asking questions at various

levels of diffi culty?Fluency

Do the students read fluently at the level they are being instructed?

Are you, as the teacher, comfortable determining if the student’s reading problems are due to a lack of fluency?

Why Don’t They Comprehend?

Why Don’t They Comprehend?

Word Callers Do the students read fluently, but have no grasp on the

meaning? Are you, as the teacher, comfortable addressing a problem

with word calling?

Motivation Do the students want to read? Are you, as the teacher, comfortable using different texts

and strategies that would increase motivation, but possibly place you outside of your comfort zone?

Special Education Students/ English Language Learners Are their underlying issues that need to be addressed by a

specialist in your school?

Now… How Can We Help Them?

By teaching strategies for:

Comprehension

• Visualization/ Summarization

• Making Inferences• Asking Questions• Fix-Up Strategies• Application

Vocabulary

• Exposure• Cartoon of the Day• Plug It in• Context Clues

Don’t forget- Give them time to apply what they are learning!

• Research

• Doodle-A-Story

• FUNneling

• 5 W’s Gist

• Doodle-A-Summary

VISUALIZATION/ SUMMARIZATION

Improves Comprehension

EnhancesEngagement

PromotesReflection

Why is Visualization Important?

“…when readers use mental imagery as a

strategy it has resulted in improved

reading comprehension

outcomes.”Credit: Developing Reading

Comprehension by G.Woolley

Why is Summarization Important?

“Summarization promotes ‘deep processing.’ As

students identify links to prior

knowledge and connections to main ideas in text, they

enhance comprehension and

retention.”Credit:

www.readwritethink.org

Ultimate goal: Comprehension of

text

Identify the main idea

Remember what they read

Eliminate unnecessary information

Doodle-A-Story

Doodle-A-Story

-Pictures are not shown during

readingTelevision In My Mind

-Use the big TV- Pictures are

shown throughout reading

-Used to discover the big picture-Represents a

summary

TV In My Mind

-Pictures can be shown to scaffold the

student

Other Twists on Doodling

Direct Explanation Model Guided

Practice Application

FUNneling Example

1. Pre-teach the 5 W’s using a 5 W’s graphic organizer, such as “The Handy 5 W’s.” The organizer is to be used when teaching the students what each W means, not while reading a book.

2. Select a book and with teacher guidance, use the 5 W’s hand as a tool to help them fi ll in the “Five W’s Chart.”

3. After the students begin to understand the 5 W’s, then the teacher will begin modeling how to take the chart and turn it into a summary in the following order:1. Who?2. Where?3. When?4. What ?5. Why?

5 W’s Gist

https://sites.google.com/a/solteacher.com/olteacher-com/

Goldilocks (who) was at the bear’s house (where) one afternoon (when). She tried out all of the bear’s things, but liked Baby Bear’s best (what).

Because the bears came home, Goldilocks was scared away (why).

Doodle Map

First Step:

Second Step:

Third Step:

• Research

• Can You Solve It?

• Goosh

• CSI-Clues to Solve It

• Mysteries

MAKING INFERENCE

S

When the author doesn’t tell meWhat’s this all aboutI can figure it out.

I put myself in a detective’s shoes.I use the pictures and word clues.

I think about what I know.So the picture in my mind begins

to grow.

Pictures scaffold inferential thinking.

• Wordless Picture Books• Cartoons Ex: Facial Expressions

“You

personalize

what you

read to build

a deeper

meaning."

Making Inferences

is “Reading

between the lines”.

Research on Making Inferences

“The author leaves…

a trail of clues to combine with our background experiences for

better understanding.”

"Inferring involves forming a best guess about what the "evidence" (words, sentences, and paragraphs) means; speculating about what's to come; and then drawing conclusions about what was read to deepen the meaning of the literal words on the page."

Example: Can You Solve It?

Try to figure out the meaning of the nonsense word, galumpa in the following story:

• I love galumpas! • I have used a galumpa many times in my life for

many diff erent reasons. • I have used a galumpa in school, at home, and even

while at the beach! • Sometimes I use galumpas for entertainment, and

sometimes I use them for information. • The best place to find galumpas is at the library. • I hope I’m able to instill in my students a love for

reading galumpas!

Goosh

Guess Reason (Proof) Correct?

1. Fill a small trash bags with “trash.”2. In class, tell students that your neighbor is

really strange and you never see her. You decided you wanted to find out more about her, so when she took her trash to the road, you snuck over there and stole it!

3. Now they are going to help you figure you what your neighbor is really up to.

4. Pull out one piece of trash at a time, and have your students guess why your neighbor may having something like that.

5. Continue pulling out one item at a time, until the bag is empty.

6. Have the students make a conclusion about your neighbor!

CSI- Clues to Solve It

…I wonder what

people can tell about me by my

trash?

Mini Mysteries & More Mini MysteriesRemedia Publications

Intriguing mysteries that require the readers to search for clues in the mysteries as they are reading.

Readers use clues to come up with logical conclusions.

Critical Thinking Analyze Situations Making Inferences

Mysteries

• Research

• 5 W’s Bookmark

• Question Master

• Question Cubes

• What Are You Thinking?

• A Twist on QAR

ASKING QUESTIONS

Why Does Asking Questions Help?

Asking Questions

Very different

from answering someone

else’s questions

Asking questions while you

read means you are awake

Means you are

personally interacting

with the text and using

questions to make sense of what you are reading

Sparks a highly active

mindset during

learning

Hands-on Tool for: Peer reading, small group reading, and whole group

reading. Teacher led questioning

Teacher ask the questions and students answer using 5 W’s Bookmark & “5 W’s Handy Hand” tool if needed to aid in answering.

Student led questioning Students ask the questions using their bookmark to assist them

in understanding what to ask.

5 W’s Bookmark includes: Story Structure –

Who? Where? When? Plot – What? Why? Problem/Solution

5 W’s Bookmark

I ask questions when I read: Who, what, where, and when? I seek the answers in the book.

I can find them if I look.I ask questions when I read:

Why, what if, how might?I think of questions so I know

what’s real.I share my opinions and what I

feel.

* Students must fi rst be taught how to ask questions while they read, through something l ike a Think Aloud.

1. Once the students understand asking questions choose a book and hand out the worksheet.

2. Explain to students that while they read, they need to be asking themselves questions, but also asking the author questions (ex- Why are you making her go there?)

3. Have the students read the book, and write down any questions they may think of.

4. Once everyone fi nishes, have the students look back over their questions, looking for the fol lowing: the most unique question, the most common question, and the question you were able to answer yourself after reading on in the book.

5. The students wil l mark their responses using: 6. Discuss al l of the questions (save the unique questions for the end),

explaining how sometimes we think al ike, but sometimes we al l think very diff erently.

7. After the discussion about their most unique questions, judge which question you think is the most unique. That person wil l be today’s “Question Master!”

I am the Question Master!

Most UniqueMost

CommonAnswered Myself

1. Teacher supplies small groups with a question cube. Question cube may contain picture cards & icons for

younger students or question starters for older students. Always include an open-ended “I wonder” on one side of the

cube. Great way to generate discussion among your students.

2. Teacher supplies students with text and stopping points in the text. (Great scaff old at fi rst.)

As students get used to reading and generating questions, the teacher allows them to choose their own stopping points in the text.

Question Cubes

http://printables.atozteacherstuff.com/435/cube-pattern/

Suggestions:Wondering CubesPrior Knowledge CubesFact/Opinion CubesText Feature Cubes

• Research

• Fix-It-Up Toolbox

• Stop and Fix Bookmark

• Think Aloud- Fix It

• Watch Your Driving!

FIX-UP STRATEGIES

Research on Fix-Up Strategies

Cultivating Awareness

“ The best fix-up strategy of all is to cultivate awareness: to be so engaged with the

text that when that engagement starts to waver, just like a car veering from its

lane, they immediately recognize it and can take

steps to get back on course.” 7 Keys to Comprehension by S. Zimmerman

Unfortunately, a lot of our kids do not realize when they start to “veer” off

the road.

They need to understand how important it is to think about their

own thinking (metacognition).

The National Reading Panel

considers comprehension

monitoring to be one of eight most

effective strategies.

Students need to be constantly reminded of

fix-up strategies by using things such as anchor charts that

demonstrate how and when the strategy was

used.

Fix-It-Up Toolbox

Toolbox of Fix-up Strategies

 I no longer have

a mental picture

of what I'm

reading.  My

understanding

has been

interrupted.

My mind starts to wonder and I'm

thinking about all sorts of different things, but not

about what I'm reading.

I can't remember what I just

read.  

I'm not asking or answering

questions as I read.

I encounter characters and

have no memory of

when they were introduced.

I cannot figure out this word.

Visualiz

e

Context

Clues- Read

on

Retelling/ Summarize

Reread

Check Point! Clarify

Ask! What

do I know?

Stop and Fix Bookmark Great for use in small-group lessons.

Students use bookmark to show which fix-up tools that are using to understand tricky parts of the story.

Students then verbalize how they were able to clarify the meaning in the tricky part of the story.

Other Options I Can Picture It Bookmark

Fix-up bookmark using sensory words to help students build understanding of what they are reading through the use of their senses and pictures.

Sticky Flags Students places a red flag on the page when they realize that

comprehension is lost. This alerts the teacher that there is a problem with comprehension, and he or she needs to pause and use the Stop and Fix Bookmark to fix the problem. Once comprehension is regained and the students shares how he or she fixed the problem, a green sticky is placed on the page.

Stop and Fix Bookmark

1. Choose a book, fi ction or nonfi ction.2. On the wall, tape up a piece of butcher paper that has three

columns:

3. Choose a “secretary” to track your thinking as you read.4. Explain to the students they have to “turn on” their thinking as

they read. This means they notice when they stop understanding what they are reading.

5. Complete a Think Aloud, focusing on the fi x-up strategies on the butcher paper. It may sound like this:

6. Your secretary will put a check mark in “reread” to indicate that you had to go back and reread.

7. Use the chart as a discussion tool to talk about how you have to go back and reread, stop and think, or read on to ensure you understand the story.

Think Aloud- Fix It

Reread Stop & Think Read On

“Hmm, I don’t remember who this character is. I better go back and reread to try and figure this out!

• Research• Readin

g & Writin

g

• Graphic Organizers

• Open Ended Questions

APPLICATION

Research on ApplicationReadingWriting

Interdependent

InseparableComplimentar

y

As readers we find meaning, and as writers we apply what we have learned to inform others, and develop a better understanding of what we have read. www.k12reader.com

Writing is the act of taking what we have read & understood, and putting it to print. National Writing Project

What I’ve read

What I understand

from reading

What I’m thinking

Why Graphic Organizers?

Application/Comprehension

Open Ended Questions

Prom

otes

criti

cal

thinkin

g

More reflective

reasoning

Better

understandi

ng

More discussion –

building knowledge

together

• Research

• Exposure

• Cartoon of the Day

• Plug It In

• Context Clues

• List- Group- Label

VOCABULARY

INSTRUCTION

Research on Vocabulary Instruction

Exposure

Vocabulary PowerPointsDaily AnnouncementsWord of the DayCartoon of the DayExplicit InstructionRead AloudsBooksNewslettersCan You Find a New Word?

GamesVocabulary Walls

Cartoon of the Day

Let’s look at this word together:

What does this word mean?

Plug It In! Plug It in!

when the correct word is plugged in,

it is

electric!Ex: When the snow started, the children became ____________ to get outside and play in it. They were so excited to build a snowman that they couldn’t wait!a. Eager b. Disappointed c. Thrilled

d. Angry

Circle the connectors.

Slash out the disconnections.

1 2Which words are

connected to the story or sentence?

Which words do not

connect?

It takes time to make

connections, but….

If the student is having trouble, have them write a synonym for

each word and use the synonym instead of the

word.

Context CluesUnlocking the meaning of words

The Eight Context Clues StrategiesStrategy 1: Find nearby key words for clues.

Strategy 2: Use story titles or reading topics to predict words your will read.Strategy 3: Look at pictures as you read for clues about unfamiliar words.

Strategy 4: Use letter-sound clues to read words correctly.Strategy 5: Use grammar clues to identify an unfamiliar word.Strategy 6: Use key words in a passage to find a word’s meaning.

Strategy 7: Use signal words to find synonyms and antonyms for an unfamiliar word.Strategy 8: Use pictures to think of synonyms for an unfamiliar word.

Spot & Dot

Step 1: Have the students think about all of the words they have learned from a recent topic they have studied and list them on the board.

Step 2: Have the students work together to rearrange the words into categories, or groups.

Step 3: Have the students label each group of words.

List- Group- Label

principal classroom teacher

superintendentschool bus driverschool secretaryreading specialist

Let’s

try!

Make sure to have

discussion about

the labels the

students pick!

We want to thank you for spending the morning with us! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. Also, if you use one of the strategies we discussed, let us

know how it goes- good or bad! We would love to hear from you!

Thanks for Coming!

Check us out on our reading ideas at…our blog -

alove4reading.blogspot.com&

our TpT store – A Love For Reading

Susan Hoch susanhoch@gcps.k12.va

.us

Jessica Kiddjessicakidd@gcps.k12.va

.us

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Bibliography

DISCLAIMER

• Reference within this presentation to any specific commercial or non-commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise does not constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Virginia Department of Education.