Nine Interesting Ways* to Teach Reading

Comprehension in the Classroom

*and tips

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#1 - Five SentencesI write a passage of around 5 sentences for the class and then we discuss how likely some statements about the text will be. With higher end children I will discuss the ideas of literal and inferential answersHere's an example..

The cat walked slowly around the kitchen. He looked cautiously at the work surface and then leapt up onto it. He greedily ate the chicken flavour cat food from the bowl, all the time looking around. He cleaned the plate and then looked at the fridge before jumping back down.

1. The cat was male. (A warm-up, the class tell me the word he shows this is true)2. The cat was hungry (the class agree because he ate the food so quickly)3. The cat was in someone else's house (now we get interesting - some children say 'the cat was looking around, so maybe he was' others will say ' He looked at the fridge so that suggests he knows where the food comes from).4. The cats favourite food was chicken flavour (again the class are split, but most can tell me that the fact he at the chicken all up suggests this COULD be the case)5. It was raining outside. (The class should spot this as a red herring - there is no evidence either way,)

Robert Drummond

#2 - Reciprocal Reading StrategiesReciprocal reading is a well-researched programme for developing children's comprehension.  It focuses on the four key skills of • prediction• clarifying• questioning• summarising

But these must take place within a supportive reading environment that models the following ideas; • predicting, self-questioning, making connnections to self,

text and world, visualising, knowing how words work, self-correcting, summarising and evaluating.

•  The next four slides give ideas for the reciprocal strategies

#3 - Predicting

This is not just about predicting from the front cover but can also occur within the text predicting the next what the next chapter, paragraph or sentence will be about.• Predict what a text will be about from a 

o key imageo image and titleo by covering up the next paragrapho using the headings and sub-headings

• share by creating a sentence 'I predict this text will be about....... because...........  Putting it into a sentence forces us to make it coherent.

• Make a list of words that you think will be in the text• use a wordle of the first page, paragraph and try to link

words and identify what the text is about

#4 - Questioning

This is not about the teacher going in with a set list of questions but the pupils generating questions that can be answered from the text.  The comprehension is shown through the discussion about generating the questions not the answers• work on smaller pieces of text before attempting a whole

text - paragraph or even sentence.• generate as many  questions as possible - the most obvious

will come out first and then you will move into inferential and evaluative

• make sure the children know where the answers are - run a competition

• children generate the answer and ask what the question is (jeopardy) 

#5 - Summarising

There are lots of ways in which this can be done:• use autosummarise in word - keep summarising. 

When does it start to lose meaning.  Which words does it remove?

• write a blurb• write a review of the tv pages of a magazine• tell the story/text in six words• summarise in 100 words, 50 words, haiku

  @joysimpsonhttp://literacyresourcesandideas.edublogs.org  

#6 Tell Me Framework from Aiden Chambers

• to start a discussion about a book use the likes/dislikes/patterns and puzzles grid and then discuss each section in turn.

• Aiden Chambers has a Tell Me framework that are generic statements to start a discusion about a book and its meaning.

   @joysimpson

#7 Put yourself in the Character's Shoes

• Use blabberize or • voki or • domo animate to record the thoughts of the main

character of your book  Example using blabberize can be found here

@nzchrissy

#8 Interactive Poster with Glogster

Create an interactive poster using glogster.  Educators can sign up for edu.glogster - creates class accounts in one go! Creation Ideas:• Summary• Author's Message• Informative/Persuasive Poster

 Example of Social Issues poster created for a Reader's Workshop Lesson can be found here

@nzchrissy

#9 Change the mode of the text

Give pupils a passage of text and ask them to draw what is being described. Once pupils have finished they can compare what they have drawn with what their partner has drawn in order to discuss the differences and explain why - this will prompt them to focus on specific words or phrases. 

    

@MissSMitch

#10 Using Film - Rapid Recall

Use a short film and periodically pause the video, asking children questions about character, setting and textual cohesion. This can also include inference and deduction questions.

This activity can be extended by getting the children to write film reviews. Films, which children are not familiar with are most effective for this type of activity. I personally recommend Studio Ghibli animations.    

@MultiMartin 

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presentation.• Let me know how you have used the resource.• Get in touch. 

You can email me or I am @tombarrett on Twitter

Thanks for helpingTom Barrett 

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