Guidelines - Teaching Comprehension in Early Reading

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How do I teach?

Teaching Comprehension inEarly Reading

Learn toread

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Before Reading During Reading After Reading

•Set objectives for instruction

•Identify and preteach difficult to read words

•Prime students’ background knowledge

•Chunk text

•Stop periodically to ask students questions

•Map text structure elements

•Model ongoing comprehension monitoring

•Strategic integration of comprehension instruction

•Planned review

•Assessment of students’ understanding

General Framework for Teaching Comprehension

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Big Idea: Listening and Reading Comprehension

Conspicuous Strategies

Mediated Scaffolding

Primed Background Knowledge

Strategic Integration

Judicious Review

Kame’enui, E. J., Carnine, D. W., Dixon, R. C., Simmons, D. C., & Coyne, M. D.(2002). Effective teaching strategies that accommodate diverse learners (2nded.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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•Set comprehension objectives

•Preteach difficult to read words

•Preview text and prime background knowledge

•Chunk text into manageable segments

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Setting Comprehension Objectives

Refer to instructional priorities on grade-level curricularmaps:

Examples:

Accurately answer literal and inferential questionsabout Stuart Little.

Identify the main character and setting in StuartLittle.

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• Identify words that will be barriers to students’independent reading.

• Use familiar procedures to teach or reviewdifficult-to-decode words:

Sounding OutStructural Analysis

Preteaching Difficult-to-Read Words

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Irregular Words

weight

sofas

whole

meant

Story Words

Ping-pong

Stuart

Multisyllabic Words

radiator

perspiration

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Activity

• Read the excerpt from The Country and City Mouse inyour handouts.

• Assemble into groups of three or four.

• Identify difficult-to-read words.

• Categorize the words into story words, irregular words,and multisyllabic words.

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Previewing Text and Priming Background Knowledge

• Teach students to preview the text and predict what thetext is going to be about before reading a passage.

• After previewing, teach students to think about whatthey already know and what they’d like to learn aboutthe story or the topic.

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How to Teach Previewing and PrimingBackground Knowledge


Teacher actions should model how we preview a story or informational text using a “think aloud” procedure.

Example: Look at the title, look at the pictures or diagrams, survey headings.

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Teacher actions should model how to predict what the storyor informational text is going to be about.

Example: “I think this story is going to be about a mouse named Stuart Little and his life.”


Conspicuous Strategies (Continued)

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K-W-L is most effective for preparing students to read informational text.

K-W-L Procedure (Ogle, 1986)

What do I know? What do I want to know? What have I learned?

Engagesstudents andprimes their background knowledge.

Helps studentsgenerate a purpose forreading.

Encourages students to review what they have learned and prompts them to think of things they’d still like to learn.

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The Birds ofIceland

What do I know? What do I want to know? What have I learned?

Iceland is cold.It is an island.

How do birds live in thecold weather?

It’s not always cold in Iceland.Birds there live in burrows on the coast.They fly from the coast over the ocean looking for fish.

What do the birds eat inIceland?

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• Begin with passages that are read aloud by the teacheraccompanied by pictures to help students preview thepassage.

• Once children are reading independently, use passages withpictures closely related to the content and progress topassages that have fewer pictures.

• Once students learn to preview and predict, use passageswith content that is familiar to students and progress tomore complex and unfamiliar content.

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Chunking the Text Into Manageable Segments

It is important to determine how to divide the passage intomanageable segments before reading. Considerations in chunking the text will include:

•Appropriate stopping points for asking questions

•Specific vocabulary that might need to be reviewed

•Appropriate points for identifying text structure elements

•Opportunities to summarize the main ideas in the passage

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Important Skills in Reading Comprehension

1. Identifying text structure elements

2. Answering literal, inferential, and evaluative questions

3. Retelling the stories or main ideas of informational text

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Narrative Expository

• Tell stories thatusually follow afamiliar storystructure.

• Usually include thefollowing story elements:

Characters Setting Problems Solutions Theme

• Informational books

• Contain structures thatcan differ from one textto another and within asingle passage (e.g.,compare-contrast,description).

• Help studentsunderstand contentarea textbooks.

Text Structures

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An Example of Narrative Text Structure

In August, Henry andHenry’s big dog Mudge alwayswent camping. They went withHenry’s parents.

Henry’s mother had been aCamp Fire Girl, so she knew allabout camping. She knew how toset up a tent. She knew how tobuild a campfire. She knew how tocook camp food.

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An Example of Expository or Informational Text

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•Descriptive

•Sequence

•Cause/Effect

•Problem/Solution

•Compare/Contrast

•Enumerative

Common Types of Expository or Informational Texts

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Narrative and Expository Texts

Listening to and reading both types of texts helps students:

•Comprehend a variety of written materials.

•Build and extend background knowledge about a variety of topics.

•Develop vocabulary.

•Make connections to real life experiences.

•Learn how different texts are organized and written.

•Distinguish between different genre.

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How to Teach Text Structure: Design Considerations


Teacher actions should model how to identify a textstructure element in a story or informational text.

Example: After reading the first two paragraphs of StuartLittle, the teacher says: “They are telling me about a babythat looks like a mouse. His name is Stuart. That’s alsothe title of this book. I think Stuart is the main character.”

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Conspicuous Strategies (Continued)

Teacher actions should also model how to periodicallypause during reading and summarize the known textstructure elements.

Example: “I know that Stuart has a mom, a dad, and abrother George, and they live near a park in New YorkCity. So, I know the characters and the setting in thisstory.”

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• Teach each text structure element thoroughly beforeintegrating them with previously learned elements.

• Teach simple text structures (beginning, middle, end) inkindergarten. Progress to more complex text structures (maincharacter, setting, problem, solution) in first through thirdgrade.

• Once students demonstrate understanding of narrative textstructure, introduce simple expository text structures.

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Mediated Scaffolding (Continued)

• Use text structure maps and think sheets to assiststudents in mapping the critical elements of narrativeand expository texts.

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Who?

What?

When?

Where?

Why?

A Simple Story MapGrade 1Example

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Story Blocks for

Setting

Characters

Problem(s)

Solution

Theme

Grades 2-3Example

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Activity

• Read The Little Red Hen story in your handouts.

• Assemble into groups of 3 or 4.

• Map the story onto the accompanying story map.

• Discuss what parts your students would find difficultand why.

• Debrief.

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Teaching Literal, Inferential andEvaluative Question Answering

• Literal questions have responses that are directlystated in the text.

• Inferential questions have responses that are indirectlystated induced or require other information.

• Evaluative questions require the reader to formulate aresponse based on their opinion.

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Literal, Inferential or Evaluative?

• What are puppies likewhen they are born?

• Are puppies born blind?• Why do they stay close to

their mothers?• Would you like to have a

puppy?

Puppies are very smalland helpless when theyare born. They cannotsee until they are abouttwo weeks old. Duringthis time they stay veryclose to their mothers.

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Teaching Literal Question Answering:Design Considerations


• Teacher actions should model how to respond to a literalcomprehension question.

Example: After reading the first section of Stuart Little, theteacher says: “What are Stuart’s parents names? Theirnames are Mr. and Mrs. Little.”

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• Begin with literal questions that are directly stated(verbatim) in the passage.

• Ask the question immediately after the informationis given.

• Design questions directly stated but not verbatim.• Increase interval between where the information is

given and when the question is asked (end ofparagraph, end of story).

Teaching Literal Question Answering: Design Considerations

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Teaching Inferential Question Answering:Design Considerations


• Teacher actions should model explicitly how to respondto inferential comprehension questions.

Example: After reading the first two chapters of StuartLittle, the teacher asks: “How did Stuart’s size help hisfamily? His size is helpful because he is able to do lots ofthings that only a mouse could do.”

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Teaching Inferential Question Answering:Design Considerations

• Design questions that cannot be answered with verbatimresponses and/or use pronoun referents.

• Design inferential questions indirectly stated in the passage.

• Design inferential questions that can be induced fromrelationships not directly stated.

• Design questions in which other knowledge (not provided inthe passage) is required to respond.


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Teaching Evaluative Question Answering:Design Considerations


• Teacher actions should model explicitly how to respond to evaluative comprehension questions using opinion.

Example: After reading the first paragraph of chapter 3 inStuart Little, the teacher says “Stuart likes to be the firstone up in the morning. Do you like being the first one upin the morning in your house?”

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Teaching Evaluative Question Answering:Design Considerations

• Begin with questions that elicit an opinion fromstudents without requiring additional knowledge.

• Progress to questions that require students to integrateinformation from the passage with their knowledge andexperience to develop an opinion.

• Increase interval between where the information isgiven and the question is asked.


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Activity

• Assemble into groups of 3-4.

• Using The Little Red Hen

• Write 2 literal questions, 2 inferentialquestions, and 1 evaluative question.

• Pair and share your questions.

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Retelling Stories and Main Ideas

• Proficient readers periodically summarize text as theyread monitoring their understanding of the passage.

• Teaching children to retell occurrences in a story orthe main ideas of informational text helps thembecome more accurate in summarizing and monitoringtheir understanding.

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Teaching Retelling: Design Considerations

Teacher actions should model explicitly how to identifythe main idea of a text passage.

Example: After reading a paragraph from Stuart Little,the teacher says, “What was happening in this paragraph?Because Stuart is small, he helped his mom get her ringout of the drain.”


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Teaching Retelling: Design Considerations


• In the early stages (K-1), limit the amount of text to one ortwo sentences. Progress to more lengthy text passages byhaving students “tell what they’ve read about so far.”

• If students are unable to summarize a paragraph accuratelyreread the passage.

• Initially focus on accuracy of retelling. Progress to askingstudents to delimit their retells to the most importantinformation.

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•Strategic Integration

•Judicious Review

•Formal and Informal Assessment

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Teaching Text Structure


• Once students learn to accurately identify a textstructure element, integrate it with previously learnedelements.

• Integrate text structure elements into new stories andexpository texts.

• Use text structure in developing literal, inferential, andevaluative comprehension questions.

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Teaching Text Structure

Judicious Review

• Provide a range of activities that will require studentsto use the text structure elements they have learnedincluding oral and written summaries of stories.

• After reading stories with similar themes, have studentscompare elements of their text structures.

• Teach students to use text structure maps in planningtheir writing assignments.

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Teaching Literal, Inferential and Evaluative Question Answering


• Once students can consistently respond to literalquestions, include simple inferential questions.

• Increase the complexity of inferential questionsgradually as students demonstrate success.

• Integrate evaluative questions throughout story readingand independent passage reading.

• Integrate literal, inferential, and evaluative questionswith questions about text structure.

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Teaching Literal, Inferential andEvaluative Question Answering

Judicious review

• Once students learn to respond to all three question types,include all three in any passage reading activities.

• Encourage students to ask each other different questiontypes during literature discussions and during partnerreading.

• As you move to new passages, students may need to bereminded of what sources they need to use to answer thequestion (passage, their own knowledge, experiences,opinions).

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Teaching Retelling


• Once students learn to retell paragraphs, provideopportunities for retelling chapters and completestories orally and in writing.

• Once students learn to summarize the main ideas inexpository texts, provide opportunities to summarize inother contexts such as reading directions, content areatextbooks, mathematics problems, and school news.

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Teaching Retelling

Judicious Review

• Regular opportunities to retell parts of stories andexpository texts should be planned as part of readinginstruction.

• During group and partner reading, students should beencouraged to summarize major events in stories andmain ideas in expository texts.

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How do I know what students know?

Monitoring Students’ Progress

• Have discussions and conversations about textsthat include open-ended, more complexquestions.

• Observe students as they read and respond.

• Have students retell stories and monitor foraccuracy and completeness of responses.

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What should I look for in materials and programs?

• Explicitly teaches listening and reading comprehensionstrategies.

• Provides a range of examples for initial teaching and practice.

• Provides independent practice activities that parallelrequirements of instruction.

• Begins with pictures and simple sentences to teachcomprehension before moving to paragraphs and longer textpassages.

• Uses text passages in which the main idea or comprehensionunit is explicitly stated, clear, and in which the ideas follow alogical order.

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• Uses familiar vocabulary and passages at appropriatereadability levels for the learners.

• Uses familiar topics during initial learning.

• Uses familiar, simple syntactic structures and sentence types.

• Uses both narrative and expository texts.

• Progresses to more complex structures in which main ideas arenot explicit and passages are longer.

• Inserts questions at strategic intervals to reduce memory loadfor learners.

What should I look for in materials and programs?(continued)

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What should I look for in materials and programs?(continued)

• Teaches skill or strategy with the aid of carefully designedexamples and practice.

• Continues skill or strategy instruction across severalinstructional sessions to illustrate the applicability and utilityof the skill or strategy.

• Connects previously taught skills and strategies with newcontent and texts.

• Cumulatively builds repertoire of skills and strategies that areintroduced, applied, and integrated with appropriate texts andfor authentic purposes over the course of the year.

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ACore Programs

BSpecialized Programs

CTime/Grouping Condition

Basal Reading Programs

Reading Mastery

Ladders to Literacy

Language!

Reasoning and Writing

Corrective Reading Comprehension

Soar to Success

Junior Great Books

20-30 minutes small group teacher-directedinstruction

Small groups (3-4) forextended discussions and monitoring

Highly trained and skilled teachers

Models of Reading Program ImplementationsK-3

Guidelines - Teaching Comprehension in Early Reading

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