1. Comprehension Part I- Book Knowledge Part II- Reading Comprehension Strategies
This publication is based on the Kindergarten Teacher Reading Academy, ©2002 University of Texas System and the Texas Education Agency, which has been reprinted and modified with their permission. 1

2. Book Knowledge general knowledge of print and book concepts
enhanced as children participate in teacher read-alouds and other literacy-related activities
Book
knowledge
is . . .

3. Print Concepts Include knowing… that print is read from left to right
what a letter is
what a word is
what a sentence is
that there are spaces between words
the function of capital letters and punctuation marks
that oral language can be written and then read
Include knowing…

4. Book Concepts Include understanding… that a book is for reading
the function and location of a book’s front, back, top, and bottom
how to turn the pages properly
where to begin reading
the functions of print and pictures
title, author, and illustrator
Include understanding…

5. Grouping for Instruction
Teach print and book concepts with the whole class, in flexible small groups, or one-on-one, depending on children’s abilities and needs.

6. Book Knowledge Instruction
Model how to read and handle books
Discuss parts of books
Teach concepts of print

7. Scaffolding Instruction
Children enter school with differing literacy-related experiences and knowledge, usually because of their differing experiences with books and print at home.
By differentiating instruction, and providing scaffolded support, you can meet the diverse needs of your students.

8. Progress Monitoring Regularly monitor daily reading activities
Use checklists to record and document progress

9. Remember . . .

10. Comprehension Part II Reading Comprehension Strategies
This publication is based on K-2 Teacher Reading Academies, ©2002 University of Texas System and the Texas Education Agency, which has been reprinted and modified with their permission.

11. Survey of Knowledge Text Expository texts Text structure Genres
Metacognition
Strategic readers
Explicit questions
Implicit questions
Expository texts
Genres
Comprehension
Narrative texts
Strategies
Think Aloud

12. Effective Reading Instruction

13. Comprehension
“Intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between text and reader.”
-Harris & Hodges, 1995
“Enhanced when readers actively relate ideas in print to their own knowledge and experiences and construct mental representations in memory.”
-National Reading Panel, 2000

14. Research-Based Comprehension Instruction
Monitor their comprehension
Summarize
Recognize story structure
Use graphic organizers
Answer and generate questions
Comprehension instruction can include showing students how to . . .

15. Effective Comprehension Instruction
Includes:
Helping students understand narrative and expository texts
Helping students to become strategic, metacognitive readers so they will understand what they read
Teaching comprehension strategies
Incorporating a variety of activities to improve comprehension before, during, and after reading
Promoting wide reading
Scaffolding questions to promote higher order thinking skills

16. Comprehension Strategies
Plans or procedures that readers use and apply when they hear text read aloud, when they read text with a teacher, or when they read independently.
Comprehension
strategies
are . . .

17. What Is Listening Comprehension?
Refers to children’s understanding of stories and other texts that are read aloud to them
Lays the foundation for children to later be able to “understand what they read, remember what they read, and communicate with others about what they read”
—National Institute for Literacy, 2001, p. 48
Listening Comprehension . . .

18. Listening Comprehension . . .
. . . is enhanced as children listen to stories that are read aloud, participate in discussions of stories, and engage in other literacy-related activities.

19. Listening Comprehension Instruction
Make predictions
Answer questions about the book’s content
Read and talk along
Share their own interests related to the book content
Ask questions of you and their peers
Reenact or retell the story
When you read aloud, encourage children to . . .

20. Progress Monitoring: Listening Comprehension
Some informal ways of knowing if children understand what is being read to them are:
asking questions that will help children clarify the text
having discussions about the text
observing children’s behavior and listening to their responses
having children retell or dramatize the story
Reading inventories usually measure children’s listening comprehension

21. Read-Aloud Sessions
Teacher read-alouds help children “gain the knowledge and language skill that will enable good comprehension later on. Reading aloud increases background knowledge, builds vocabulary, and familiarizes children with the language in books.”
—Hall & Moats, 2000, p. 33

22. Benefits of Read-Aloud Sessions

23. Effective Read-Aloud Sessions: Before Reading
Schedule time for read-aloud sessions
Use a variety of grouping formats including one-on-one, small groups, and whole class
Select different types of books
Activate and build background knowledge
Teach new words and concepts

24. Effective Read-Aloud Sessions: During Reading
Stop a few times for reactions, comments, predictions, and questions
Avoid long discussions
It’s the talk that surrounds (before and after) the reading aloud of books that is so important for enhancing children’s oral language, vocabulary development, and listening comprehension.

25. Effective Read-Aloud Sessions: After Reading
Engage children in discussions which go beyond literal comprehension
Focus on rare and challenging words
Repeat-read favorite books
Provide opportunities for story retell and dramatization

26. Planning a Read-Aloud Session
Select one of the children’s books you brought to the Institute
Before reading:
List vocabulary words to teach
During reading:
Write one prediction question and one follow-up question
After reading:
Develop several statements using the cloze procedure to prompt children to use new vocabulary words

27. Text Talk “Background Knowledge”
Present questions that elicit greater language production and explicitly teach sophisticated vocabulary found in books.
“Background Knowledge”
How can you help children learn to focus on background knowledge that specifically relates to story information?
Why is this important?

28. Motivating Children to Read
Sharing books by “reading” with peers
Retelling stories that have been read aloud
Drawing and writing about books
Checking out books to read at home
Promote a variety of literacy activities….

29. Teaching Comprehension Strategies
Model and discuss:
— What a given strategy is and why it’s important
— How, when, and where to use a strategy
— Which strategies work best in certain instances
— How to apply different strategies to different types of texts and reading situations
Provide extensive practice

30. Comprehension Framework
Before
During
After
Reading

31. Before Reading Set a purpose for reading Preview the text to:
Activate and build students’ background knowledge
Introduce vocabulary
Help students make predictions

32. Before Reading: Preview Text to Make Predictions
Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)
Before reading, set a purpose for reading and make predictions about the content of the text
Then, read, stop, check predictions, and make more predictions

33. Before Reading: Activate and Use Background Knowledge
Help students make connections between the content of what they read and their real-life experiences.
Brainstorming
Webbing

34. Understanding Different Types of Texts
Narrative Texts
Expository Texts
tell stories
follow a familiar story structure
include short stories, folktales, tall tales, myths, fables, legends, autobiographies, biographies, fantasies, historical fiction, mysteries, science fiction, plays
explain information or tell about topics
provide a framework for comprehension of content-area textbooks
include informational books, content-area textbooks, newspapers, magazines, brochures, catalogues

35. Reading Aloud Different Types of Texts
Make connections to real-life experiences and build background knowledge
Increase their vocabulary and understand different types of books
Reading narrative and expository texts aloud to children helps them:

36. Teaching Narrative Story Structure
The setting and a character or characters with a problem to solve or goal to achieve, introduced at the beginning of a story
A series of plot episodes in the middle of a story
The resolution of the problem or the attainment of the goal, at the end of the story
Story elements generally include:

37. Narrative Story Maps
Asking questions within the framework of a story map helps students visually organize and focus on the key story elements in narrative texts.

38. Teaching Expository Text Structure
Organizational structure of expository texts can differ from one text to another and sometimes within a single passage.

39. Narrative and Expository Cards
Are used before, during, and after reading narrative and expository texts
Before
During
After

40. Graphic Organizers
Can guide students’ thinking and help them remember important elements and information in both narrative and expository texts
Can be used before, during, and after reading

41. During Reading
Stop for reactions, comments, questions, and predictions
Avoid too many interruptions

42. During Reading (cont.) Students:
The goal of comprehension - monitoring instruction is to develop students’ awareness of their own understanding of what they are reading.
Students:
know if they are understanding what they read
know what they can do to correct comprehension difficulties

43. During Reading: Self-Monitoring Comprehension Strategies
can help students learn how to monitor or check their own understanding
Think Alouds . . .

44. Monitoring Understanding
By thinking aloud, you can model what good readers do to help monitor their understanding of what they are reading.
How you picture in our mind what is happening in a story or book
How you reread certain parts
How you stop and summarize what has happened
How you regularly make predictions
Model:

45. After Reading Help students:
determine important or main ideas and summarize
draw conclusions and make inferences
focus on story structure and themes

46. After Reading: Determining Main Ideas and Summarizing
Determining main ideas involves recognizing the most important ideas of paragraphs or sections of a text
Summarizing links the main ideas together
Graphic organizers can help students remember and organize important information

47. After Reading: Get the Gist
Explain what “get the gist” means
Have students read one paragraph or section of a text at a time
Help students determine the main idea:
Who or what is the paragraph about?
Tell the most important thing about the who or what
Tell the main idea in 10 words or less

48. After Reading: Summarizing
Summaries are brief, concise statements of the main ideas and most important information
Summarizing requires readers to:
First, identify the main ideas of individual paragraphs or sections of a text
Then, link the main ideas together into a summary of what was read

49. Reciprocal Teaching: Multiple-Strategy Instruction
Is defined as a dialogue between teachers and students for the purpose of jointly constructing the meaning of text.
The steps include:
Summarizing
Questioning
Clarifying
Predicting
Palinscar, 1986

50. Improving Comprehension
Asking questions to develop both basic and higher order thinking skills
Having meaningful discussions
Using graphic organizers
can help students develop and extend meaning and make connections to personal experiences before, during, and after reading

51. Scaffolding: Using Different Types of Questions
Literal Questions
Encourage students to become aware of the information in the text.
Open-ended Questions
Encourage students to extend their thinking about the text and to elaborate as they discuss the text.

52. Continuum of Questions and Responses
Ask questions before, during, and after reading
Simple
Complex
Explicit
Who? What? When? Where?
Implicit
How? Why? What if?
Responses:
Responses:
Move away from what can be seen on the page
Analyze and elaborate information
Focus on thinking about what has been read and prior knowledge (making inferences)
Make connections
Recall facts, events, and names
Focus on information in the text
Rephrase text that has just been read

53. Answering/Asking Different Types of Questions
SIMPLE
Level One Text to Text:
involve responses that can be found word-for-word in the text (literal)
Level Two Text to Text:
can be answered by looking in the text, but the answers are more complex and require a response of one sentence or more
Level Three Text to Self or Text to World:
cannot be answered by looking in the text; they require students to think about what they have read, think about what they already know, and think about how it all fits together
COMPLEX

54. Scaffolding to Higher Thinking Levels
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Evaluation
Synthesis
Level 2
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Level 1
Knowledge

55. Using Self-Monitoring Comprehension Strategies
Choose one of the children’s books you brought to the Institute
Fold your Thinking Aloud sign in half
Take turns reading one page at a time
Use the Reading for Understanding strategy card

56. Kentucky Standards: Program of Studies
Reading (1.2) Arts and Humanities (2.24, 2.25)
Meaning of text
Vocabulary
Experience with text
Monitoring
Retelling
Summarizing
Text structure

57. Kentucky Standards: Core Content
Literature
subdomain 1
Persuasion
subdomain 3
Reading Skills enable students to comprehend all types of reading materials.
The coding numbers assigned to each bullet reflect that reading skills are assessed through all four types of reading. To complete the code, replace the x with the appropriate subdomain number (e.g., 1 for literature, 2 for information).
RD-E-x.0.1
Use word recognition strategies (e.g., phonetic principles, context clues, structural analysis) to determine pronunciations and meanings of words in passages.
RD-E-x.0.2
Use knowledge of synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, and compound words for comprehension.
Literary Reading includes whole texts and excerpts from materials such as short stories, novels, essays, poetry, plays, and scripts. The reading materials represent various historical and cultural perspectives.
RD-E-1.0.6
Explain the meaning of a passage taken from texts appropriate for elementary school students.
RD-E-1.0.7
Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays.
RD-E-1.0.8
Describe characters, plot, setting, and problem/solution of a passage.
RD-E-1.0.9
Explain a character’s actions based on a passage.
RD-E
Connect literature to students’ lives and real world issues.
Informational Reading includes whole texts and excerpts from materials such as journals, magazines, newspaper articles, letters, brochures, reference materials, essays, nonfiction books, and electronic texts.
RD-E-2.0.6
Use text features (e.g., pictures, lists, tables, charts, graphs, tables of contents, indexes, glossaries, headings, captions) to understand a passage.
RD-E-2.0.7
Identify the organizational pattern in a passage: sequence, cause and effect, and/or comparison and contrast.
RD-E-2.0.8
Identify main ideas and details that support them.
RD-E-2.0.9
Make predictions and draw conclusions based on what is read.
RD-E
Connect the content of a passage to students’ lives and/or real world issues.
Persuasive Reading includes whole texts and excerpts from materials such as magazine and newspaper articles, brochures, letters, proposals, speeches, editorials, electronic texts, essays, opinion columns, and advertisements.
RD-E-3.0.6
Identify an author’s opinion about a subject.
RD-E-3.0.7
Identify fact and/or opinion.
RD-E-3.0.8
Identify information that is supported by fact.
Practical/Workplace Reading includes whole texts and excerpts from materials such as articles, letters, memos, brochures, electronic texts, warranties, recipes, forms, consumer texts, manuals, schedules, and directions.
RD-E-4.0.6
Locate and apply information for authentic purposes.
RD-E-4.0.7
Follow the directions in a passage.
RD-E-4.0.8
Explain why the correct sequence is important.
RD-E-4.0.9
Interpret specialized vocabulary (words and terms specific to understanding the content) found in practical/workplace passages.
RD-E
Identify text features and organizational aids (e.g., bold face print, italics, illustrations) that provide additional clarity.
RD-E-x.0.3
Know that some words have multiple meanings and identify the correct meaning as the word is used.
RD-E-x.0.4
Recognize the meaning of a word when a prefix or suffix has been added to a base word.
RD-E-x.0.5
Recognize the purpose of capitalization, punctuation, boldface type, italics, and indentations used by the author.
Reading Skills
(assessed across all reading types)
Information
subdomain 2
Practical/
Workplace
subdomain 4

58. The Importance of Comprehension
“Even teachers in the primary grades can begin to build the foundation for reading comprehension. Reading is a complex process that develops over time emphasize text comprehension from the beginning, rather than waiting until students have mastered ‘the basics’ of reading Beginning readers, as well as more advanced readers, must understand that the ultimate goal of reading is comprehension.”
—National Institute for Literacy, 2001, p. 55

59. Remember . . .
“Comprehension is the reason for reading Research over 30 years has shown that instruction in comprehension can help students understand what they read, remember what they read, and communicate with others about what they read.”
—National Institute for Literacy, 2001, p. 48