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Chapter 14Narrative

Reading

By Anna Durfee

Comprehension

3 key elements of comprehension

The reader

The text

The activity

All of these are put together in context.

“Comprehension instruction requires showing students how these elements affect their understanding when reading.”

3 Elements of Comprehension:The Reader

Each reader brings a set of competencies that affect comprehension.

Reader competencies include:

Speed and accuracy of decoding

Reading fluency

Vocabulary

Word knowledge

Comprehension strategies

3 Elements of Comprehension:The Text

Two broad categories of text used in classrooms:

Narrative

Informational

Narrative texts include fiction, narrative nonfiction, and some poetry.

All narrative texts express ideas and tell a story, either fictional or not.

Motivate students by finding appropriate texts for them to read.

3 Elements of Comprehension:The Activity

Components:

Purposes for reading

Identify the reading task (i.e learning for a test, understanding rules to a game)

Processes for reading

Apply a range of processes to achieve the purpose of reading (i.e decoding, higher-level thinking skills)

Consequences of reading

Reach an outcome (i.e increased knowledge, improve comprehension, etc)

3 Elements of Comprehension inContext

The context in which the reading occurs (socially and culturally) shapes and is shaped by the 3 elements of comprehension: the reader, the text, and the activity.

Good Readers

Before reading:

Set goals for the text

Skim the text for general ideas or themes

Predict

During reading:

Skim, concentrate, reread, make notes.

Monitor comprehension

Note problems with unknown words or confusing text

Use repair strategies

Make inferences

Evaluate and ask questions

Good Readers After reading:

Sometimes reread selectively

Summarize

Think about ways to use the information gained

Conscious plans to make sense of the text and get the most out of what is read.

Students use these strategies to become active readers in control of their own comprehension

See table on pg. 614

Comprehension Strategies

Narrative Reading:Story Structure Knowledge

Story structure:

Setting: when and where a story takes place

Characters: people, animals, or creatures in the story

Plot: what happens in the story, is centered around a conflict

Theme: the big idea of the story

“When reading a narrative text, good readers use their knowledge of story elements to ask and answer questions, monitor story comprehension, predict and preview, connect to world knowledge, construct mental images, and summarize or retell”

Story Structure Knowledge:Asking and Answering Questions Example questions:

Setting: where and when does the story take place?

Characters: who is the main character?

Plot: what is the problem the character faces? How does the story turn out?

Theme: what lesson does the main character learn?

*Bloom’s Taxonomy gives a lot of possible text-based questions a teacher could ask. See pg. 638

Answering questions:

Students should not only answer their own questions about a story, but should also be guided through teacher questions following Bloom’s Taxonomy

Story Structure Knowledge:Monitoring Comprehension Monitoring Comprehension:

Questions:

Do I have a sense of when and where the story takes place?

Have I identified the main character?

Do I understand the problem?

Am I following the plot?

Did I figure out how the problem was resolved?

Do I understand the lesson of the story?

Think-alouds: students say what they are thinking as they read the story

Story Structure Knowledge:Connecting to World Knowledge

“ Integrating story information with previous life experiences enables students to understand, feel, value, and retain the depth of an author’s meaning.”

Story Structure Knowledge:Predicting and Constructing Mental Images

Predicting:

For developing readers, stories with predictable plots or repetitive phrases are best

Good readers make informed predictions before and during reading

Teachers can guide students by applying what students know about story structure

Constructing Mental Images:

Students learn to picture the author’s descriptions in their minds

Sometimes readers must adapt their mental images as they encounter new information

Story Structure Knowledge:Summarizing Developmental levels of summarizing/retelling:

Emergent level: focus on event listing and sequencing, introduce basic story elements

Early fluent level: helps student apply basic story elements, introduce identifying main events, model and guide retelling

Fluent level: introduce plot summary, practice to refine sequencing and story elements retelling.

Multiple-Strategy Instruction Program: TSI

Emphasizes:

Collaborative discussion among learners

Metacognition

Motivation

Reader response

Embodies full range of transactions:

Between reader and text

Between readers

Between reader and teacher

Reader Response Discussion-oriented

instruction

Discussion supports students in the process of developing meaning

Both teacher-directed and student-directed discussions are encouraged

Writing in response to literature

Encouraging written responses increase comprehension

3 categories of written responses:

Personal

Creative

Critical

Narrative Reading:

When to Teach Strategies for narrative reading should be taught at

the first introduction to text and continue through high school

Traditional assessments should be combined with a teacher’s ongoing informal assessment (i.e retellings, think-alouds, etc)

When to Assess and Intervene

Narrative Reading:How? Dialogic Reading: Picture Book Read-Aloud Method

C: Completion

R: Recall

O: Open-ended

W: Who, what, when, where, or why

D: Distancing

See pg. 649

Peer Sequence

P – Prompt

E – Evaluate

E – Expand

R - Repeat

See pg. 650

“The PEER sequence encourages students to say more about their understanding of the story”

Book Club: Writing in Response to Literature

Students need instruction and support to develop their skills in using writing as a tool for reflecting on reading.

Response options:

Personal

Creative

Critical

Lesson model pg. 677

Conclusion Chapter 14 covers the ways in which comprehension can be

increased while reading narrative texts; one of the two main categories students encounter in school

Through explicit and extensive instruction in story structure knowledge and reading strategies, complete comprehension can be achieved from the moment students enter the world of text.

Several models and heavily researched strategies are available to help monitor and maintain student comprehension when reading narrative texts.