This is a presentation for Teaching Comprehension
- 1. TEACHING COMPREHENSION Pedagogical Training
- 2. READING COMPREHENSION What is reading comprehension? Why is comprehension important? What instructions help students develop comprehension? What skills and strategies are deemed effective? What are the challenges in teaching comprehension?
- 4. WHAT IS READING COMPREHENSION? Reading comprehension is the ability to read text, process it and understand its meaning. It relies on two, interconnected abilities: 1. Word reading (being able to decode the symbols on the page 2. language comprehension (being able to understand the meaning of the words and sentences). Comprehension is an interaction between three things Word identification skills Background knowledge Comprehension skills.
- 5. COMPREHENSION Remembering is not the same as comprehension. I can remember a lot of facts, but unless I see how they are connected to the whole, unless I can use a schema to understand to explain all this stuff I am not comprehending.
- 6. WHY IS COMPREHENSION IMPORTANT? Two questions are asked in each of the classes from 9 to 12 involving large chunks of marks Comprehension is important because the educational career of so many Indian children are imperilled because they do not read well enough, quickly enough, or easily enough to ensure comprehension in their content courses in middle and secondary schools. It is difficult to translate this loss into the actual rupee amount. oThe cost to society is probably quite high in terms of lower productivity, and underemployment. Unacceptable gaps in reading performance persist and the growing diversity in Haryana will likely widen the gaps even further
- 7. COMPREHENSION FRAMEWORK WHAT INSTRUCTIONS HELP STUDENTS DEVELOP COMPREHENSION What is in the Text • What’s it about? • Who’s telling the story? • What does the author want you to know? What is in your head • What surprised you? • What does the author think you already know? • What changed or confirmed your thinking? What is in Your heart • What did you learn about yourself? • How this will change your thoughts and actions?
- 9. READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES Reading comprehension strategies can be chunked into two categories, 1. Before reading strategies help prep students minds for reading by having them think about what they're about to read before they actually start reading. 2. During and after reading strategies help students monitor their understanding of the text, to remember what they have read, and to provide students with solutions i
- 10. BEFORE READING STRATEGIES Clarify a purpose for reading Overview the text Activate prior knowledge Making predictions This strategy involves having students think about the reasons why they're about to read a specific text. For example, the student might be reading the text to find information to write a report on a topic, or they might be reading their notes or their textbook to study for a test. Bringing attention to the purpose of reading should highlight to students that their purpose for reading should influence the way they read the material. Overviewing the text involves reading and thinking about the title and major headings of the text, reading the introduction and conclusion, and looking at tables and graphs within the text prior to reading the body of the text. Questions that students should be encouraged to ask themselves include what do I think this text is about? What are some of the major points covered by the text
- 11. DURING AND AFTER READING STRATEGIES To remember what has been read To provide solutions To discuss text structure Story Maps Summarizing Think-Alouds
- 12. MONITORING COMPREHENSION Comprehension monitoring instruction teaches students to: Be aware of what they do understand Identify what they do not understand Use appropriate strategies to resolve problems in comprehension
- 13. METACOGNITION Metacognition can be defined as “thinking about thinking.” Good readers use metacognitive strategies to think about and have control over their reading. Before reading, they might clarify their purpose for reading and preview the text. During reading, they might monitor their understanding, adjusting their reading speed to fit the difficulty of the text and “fixing” any comprehension problems they have. After reading, they check their understanding of what they read. Students may use several comprehension monitoring strategies: 1. Identify where the difficulty occurs --- “I don’t understand the second paragraph on page 76.” 2. Identify what the difficulty is ---“I don’t get what the author means when she says, ‘Arriving in America was a milestone in my grandmother’s life.’” 3. Restate the difficult sentence or passage in their own words ---“Oh, so the author means that coming to America was a very important event in her grandmother’s life.” 4. Look back through the text ---“The author talked about Mr. McBride in Chapter 2, but I don’t remember much about him. Maybe if I reread that chapter, I can figure out why he's acting this way now." 5. Look forward in the text for information that might help them to resolve the difficulty --- “The text says, ‘The groundwater may form a stream or pond or create a wetland. People can also bring groundwater to the surface.’ Hmm, I don’t understand how people can do that… Oh, the next section is called ‘Wells.’ I’ll read this section to see if it tells how they do it.”
- 14. GRAPHIC AND SEMANTIC ORGANIZERS Graphic organizers illustrate concepts and relationships between concepts in a text or using diagrams. Graphic organizers are known by different names, such as maps, webs, graphs, charts, frames, or clusters. Regardless of the label, graphic organizers can help readers focus on concepts and how they are related to other concepts. Graphic organizers help students read and understand textbooks and picture books. Graphic organizers can: Help students focus on text structure differences between fiction and nonfiction as they read Provide students with tools they can use to examine and show relationships in a text Help students write well-organized summaries of a text
- 15. SOME EXAMPLES OF GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS: Venn-Diagrams ----Used to compare or contrast information from two sources. For example, comparing two Dr. Seuss books. Storyboard/Chain of Events ----Used to order or sequence events within a text. For example, listing the steps for brushing your teeth. Story Map -----Used to chart the story structure. These can be organized into fiction and nonfiction text structures. For example, defining characters, setting, events, problem, resolution in a fiction story; however in a nonfiction story, main idea and details would be identified. Cause/Effect -----Used to illustrate the cause and effects told within a text. For example, staying in the sun too long may lead to a painful sunburn.
- 16. ANSWERING QUESTIONS Questions can be effective because they: Give students a purpose for reading Focus students’ attention on what they are to learn Help students to think actively as they read Encourage students to monitor their comprehension Help students to review content and relate what they have learned to what they already know The Question-Answer Relationship strategy (QAR) encourages students to learn how to answer questions better.
- 17. GENERATING QUESTIONS By generating questions, students become aware of whether they can answer the questions and if they understand what they are reading. Students learn to ask themselves questions that require them to combine information from different segments of text. For example, students can be taught to ask main idea questions that relate to important information in a text.
- 18. RECOGNIZING STORY STRUCTURE AND SUMMARIZING In story structure instruction, students learn to identify the categories of content (characters, setting, events, problem, resolution). Often, students learn to recognize story structure through the use of story maps. Instruction in story structure improves students’ comprehension. Summarizing requires students to determine what is important in what they are reading and to put it into their own words. Instruction in summarizing helps students
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