Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller Teaching Comprehension

+ Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades -Summary by Melissa Ginn

+ Guiding Principles n Framework: 90 minutes of uninterrupted time Mini-Lesson 15 -20 minutes Time to read, respond and confer 45 -50 minutes Share time 15 -20 minutes

+ Proficient readers use Prior knowledge Visual/sensory images Inferences Questioning Finding most important ideas/themes Synthesizing

+ Gradual Release of Responsibility n 4 stages developed by Pearson and Gallagher n 1. Teacher modeling and explanation of a strategy n 2. Guided practice, where teachers gradually give students more responsibility for task completion n 3. Independent practice accompanied by feedback n 4. Application of the strategy in real reading situations

+ How teachers can help students be active, thoughtful, proficient readers and writers: n Teachers need to have a DEEP understanding of the strategy and know when and where it helps them as a reader n Think aloud with high-quality literature and well written nonfiction n Conference Regularly and offer honest feedback that moves each child forward n Use explicit language

+ How Teachers Help cont. n Teach strategy separately and in depth but then show they build on each other n Make thinking public with anchor charts n Demonstrate how strategies can be applied across the subjects n Create an environment where reading and writing is valued as a tool for gaining new knowledge and rethinking current knowledge

+ In September: n Create n Build a culture and climate for thinking relationships n Establish mutual trust n We want to teach the students to read but it is more important to teach them how to go after something if they really want it n Help them develop a growth mind-set not a fixed mind-set

+ Readers Workshop n In September it is less about teaching the students to read but more about modeling and teaching them what it is that good readers do, setting the tone for the workshop and establishing procedures and expectations for the workshop n Book selection should be good children’s literature that children will enjoy, with repetition, rhyme and can be used later as anchor books for reading and writing mini-lessons n Mini-lessons and sharing are to teach procedures, expectations and modeling reading behaviors

+ Where is phonics and word identification? n Miller believes it is best to teach decoding and comprehension at the same time n Morning message can be used to teach sentence structure, vocabulary, strategies for decoding n She develops an anchor chart with the students called “Thinking about Reading” they add new learning throughout the year

+ Schema n Readers activate their prior knowledge before, during and after reading n Readers use schema to make connections between the text and their lives, between one text to another and between the text and the world n Readers distinguish between connections that are meaningful and relevant and those that aren’t n Readers build, change, and revise their schema when they encounter new information in the text, engage in conversations with others and gain personal experience n Readers use schema to enhance their understanding

+ Creating Mental Images n Proficient readers create mental images during and after reading n They understand how creating images enhances comprehension n They use images to draw conclusions, create unique interpretations of the text, recall details, significant to the text, and recall a text after it has been read n Images from reading become part of the children’s writing n They adapt their images in response to shared images of others and revise them as they continue to read

+ Digging Deeper n As the year progresses she begins to take the students into deeper conversations n She uses book clubs with her primary students n The students make their thinking visible by responding to their reading using sticky notes, notebook entries, two-column notes, venn diagrams, webs, and story maps

+ Inferring n Readers determine meanings of unknown words by using their schema, paying attention to textual and picture clues, rereading and engaging in conversations n They make predictions about the text then confirm or contradict their predictions as they read n They use their prior knowledge and textual clues to draw conclusions and form unique interpretations of the text n They know to infer when the answers or not explicitly stated in the text n They create interpretations to enrich and deepen their experiences in a text

+ Asking Questions n Readers ask questions before, during and after reading n They ask to clarify meaning, speculate about a text, determine an author’s style, intent, content or format and locate specific answers in the text n They determine whether the answers can be found in the text or whether they will need to infer

+ Questioning cont. n They understand that many of the most intriguing questions are not answered explicitly in the text n They understand that listening to others can inspire new questions and new thinking n They understand that asking questions deepens their comprehension

+ Determining Importance in Nonfiction n Readers distinguish the difference between fiction and nonfiction n They distinguish between important and unimportant information to identify key ideas and themes as they read n They use their knowledge of text features to make predictions about text organization and content n They use text features to distinguish between important and unimportant information n They use knowledge to answer questions and synthesize information

+ Synthesis n Readers monitor overall meaning, important concepts and themes in text as they read, understanding that their thinking evolves in the process n They retell what they have read as a way to synthesize n They look for opportunities to share, recommend and criticize books they have read n They extend their synthesis of the literal meaning of a text to the inferential level n They synthesize to understand more clearly what they have read