Comprehension Connections:

Bridges to Strategic Reading

Presentation By: Christa DannerProfessional Study Plan 2009

•Metacognition•Using Schema•Inferring•Questioning•Determining Importance•Visualizing•Synthesizing

STRATEGIES

Reading is

Thinking

Good readers read and think at the same time.

Metacognition

Lyrics from“Reading Strategy Songs”Miles and Tanny McGregor

Metacognition

I think I canthink aboutthinking!Do you

understand whatI said?

It’s all aboutmetacognition –what’s going on

in my head

Metacognition p. 11 - 27Concrete Experience:

The Reading Salad

Wordless Books:The Red Book by Barbara

Lehman

When Books and Brains Collide

textthinking

The Thought Bubble

Color Cards (level of understanding)

(aka How to Get Inside Your

Teacher’s Head)

Thinking about

my thinking

Text + Thinking = Real Reading

Metacognition

THINKING STEMS•I’m thinking…•I’m noticing…•I’m wondering…•I’m seeing…•I’m feeling…

Thinking about our thinking

Using Schema

Good readers preview a text and think about what they know about a topic before reading.

Good readers activate, build and revise their schema while reading.

Good readers make connections (text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world) while reading.

Good readers use what they already know to better understand and enjoy the story.

Schema

Schema, schemaSchema, schema

What I knowWatch it growI can make ConnectionsMeaningfulconnectionsText to selfText to text

Text to world

Lyrics from

“Reading Strategy Songs”

Miles and Tanny McGregor

Schema p. 28 - 45Concrete Experience:

The Schema Roller

Wordless Books by Mercer Mayer

Circles of Connections

•“Rachel Delevoryas,” Randy Stonehill

•“You’ve Got a Friend,” Randy Newman

•“Popular,” Kristin Chenoweth

Artist:

A Day in the Life of a Girl

(1952)A Day in the Life of a Boy

(1951)

Norman Rockwell: Enduring Connections

Surprise (1956)

Schema

THINKING STEMS•That reminds me of…• I’m remembering…• I have a connection

to…• I have schema for…• I can relate to…

Making connections

using our prior knowledge

Inferring

Good readers make predictions about text and confirm or reject them as they read on.

Good readers determine meanings of unknown words by using their schema, paying attention to the picture clues, re-reading and talking to others.

Good readers use their schema and the clues in the book to draw conclusions and make their own interpretations.

InferringDo I infer?

The answer’s “yes”I infer whenI read text

When I infer,it’s a smart guess

When I infer,my thinking is best

I infer whathappens nextI infer whenI read text

Lyrics from“Reading Strategy Songs”Miles and Tanny McGregor

Inferring p. 46 - 59Concrete Experience:

Shoe/Garbage

Wordless Books by Istvan Banyai

Listen Between the Lines

•“Cat’s in the Cradle,” Harry Chapin

•“Day Is Gone,” Peter, Paul, and Mary

•“The Best Gift,” Barbra Streisand

Artist:

Christmas Morning,

Breakfast (1945)

Domino Players (1943)

Horace Pippin: Inferring from the Heart

The Wash (1942)

InferringTHINKING STEMS

•My guess is…•Maybe…•Perhaps…•It could be that…•This could mean…•I predict…•I infer…

schema + evidence = inference

Questioning

Good readers ask questions to clarify meaning, wonder about text yet to be read, focus their attention, and locate specific answers.

Good readers understand that many interesting questions may not be answered directly in the text.

Good readers understand that asking questions helps deepen understanding.

Good readers ask questions before, during and after reading.

QuestioningAsking questions

when I readwhen I readwhen I read

Asking questionswhen I read

before,during,

and after.

Lyrics from“Reading Strategy Songs”Miles and Tanny McGregor

Questioning p. 60 - 73Concrete Experience:

Questioning Rocks

Wordless Books:By David Wiesner

Wonder-full Songs

•“Whose Garden Was This,” Tom Paxton

•“Blowin’ in the Wind,” Bob Dylan

•“Y,” by Mark McGuinn

•“The Living Years,” Mike and the Mechanics

Artist:

Girl with a Pearl Earring

(2001)

Chasing Vermeer (2005)

Jan Vermeer: Questions Beneath the Surface

Tuesday Free Fall

Sector 7

Q=24-7

? ? ? ?

Who?

What?

When?

Why?

Where?

How?

Do?

A Girl Asleep (1657)

QuestioningTHINKING STEMS

•I wonder…•What if…•Why…•I don’t understand…•It confuses me…•How could…

Generate Questions

Before, During, and After

Reading 24/7!

Determining Importance

They skim and scan books prior to reading and think about what they know about a topic and what they might learn.

They use clues the author gives them like headings, bold words, and captions to find important information.

They notice when their inner voice says, “WOW” or “Look at this”, because it usually means they have learned something new.

They look for signal words the author uses before important information like “most important” or “in conclusion”.

Good readers think about what information is important to remember.

DeterminingImportance

I can read it allBut I can’t

remember it allI choose

what’s importantand single it out

DetermineImportanceThat’s whatit’s about!

Lyrics from“Reading Strategy Songs”Miles and Tanny McGregor

Determining Importance p. 74 - 87

Concrete Experience: Purse/Just Add

Water

Wordless Book:A Circle of Friends

by Giora Carmi

Listening for Importance

•“Seasons of Love,” from Rent

•“Takes a Little Time,” Amy Grant

•“Secret o’Life,” James Taylor

•“Ebony and Ivory,” Paul McCartney and Stevie

Wonder

Artist:

The Child’s Bath (1893)

Mary Cassatt: Make an Impression with Determining Importance

“Coat of Many Colors” by Dolly Parton

Breakfast in Bed (1897)

At the Opera (1877)

Determining Importance

THINKING STEMS•What’s important here…•What matters to me…•One thing that we should

notice…•I want to remember…•It’s interesting that…

What matters most?

Visualizing

Images come from emotions and all five senses.

Creating images makes the text come alive, makes the text personal or memorable to the reader.

Helps a reader to better understand the text.

Good readers use what they already have stored in their memories to visualize a story.

VisualizingMake a picturein your headin your headin your head

Make a picturein your head

Use your senses.Like a movie

when you readwhen you readwhen you readLike a movie

when you readA mental image.

Lyrics from“Reading Strategy Songs”Miles and Tanny McGregor

Visualizing p. 88 - 101Concrete Experience: Visualizing Tubes

Wordless Books:Sidewalk Circus by

Paul Fleischman and Kevin Hawkes

Mental Images Through Music

•“Old Friends/Bookends,” by Simon and

Garfunkel

•Fantasia soundtrack

•Peter and the Wolf, Sergei Prokofiev

•“Grandma’s Featherbed,” by John Denver

Artist:

“Migrant

Mother”

(1936)

Dorothea Lange: True Vision

Carl the Dog series by Alexandra Day

“Alabama Farm” (1938)

“Riverbank Gas

Station” (1940)

“New York City”

(1952)

Visualizing

THINKING STEMS• I’m picturing…• I can imagine…• I can feel…see…smell…

taste…touch…hear•My mental images

include…

Create mental images

USE YOUR SENSES

Synthesizing

Good readers retell what they have read as one way to synthesize.

Good readers recommend and criticize books they have read.

Good readers synthesize to create their own interpretation.

Good readers monitor the meaning and themes of a story, understanding that their thinking changes as the story unfolds.

SynthesizingSynthesizeSynthesizeTake whatYou know

And see it growYou put all your

Thinking together,you see

Your thinking ischanging

And that’s the keyAnd this is the

queen of all strategiesJust synthesize!

Lyrics from“Reading Strategy Songs”Miles and Tanny McGregor

Synthesizing p. 103 - 112Concrete Experience:

Nesting Dolls

Wordless Books:Owly series by Andy

Runton

Sing a Song of Synthesis

•“There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”

•“The Green Grass Grows All Around”

•“The House That Jack Built”

•“Windmills of Your Mind”

Artist:

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Louvre

I.M. Pei: Structures of Synthesis

SynthesizingTHINKING STEMS

•Now I understand why…•I’m changing my mind

about…•I used to think _____ but now

I think…•My new thinking is…•I’m beginning to think…

changing your thinking along the way

Determining Importance

Questioning

Inferring

Visualizing

Synthesis

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