1. Comprehenion Strategies

2. Inferencing  Inferring is the process of creating a personal meaning from text. It involves a mental process of combining what is read with relevant prior knowledge.  The reader's unique interpretation of text is the product of this blending. When proficient readers infer, they create a meaning that is not necessarily stated explicitly in the text.  The process implies that readers actively search for, or are aware of, implicit meaning. Inferences are revised based on the inferences and interpretations of other readers. Therefore, it is very important to provide students with multiple opportunities to discuss texts in a variety of settings.

3. Example of Inferring  Consider the term "ate" in the following examples:  The boy ate the apple in the pie. The acid ate the metal. His guilt ate into him. The stapler ate staples  The word ate means different things in each of these sentences. ·  * took in solid food as nourishment * caused to rust or disintegrate * produced worry or anxiety * used up  The same sequence of letters— a t e —denotes more than one concept.  Whether we think of these various meanings of "ate" as different meanings of the same word or as the meanings of four different words, we still have to recognize the appropriate meaning in any given context. As we read, our brain calls up possible meanings. With barely a pause, we infer an appropriate meaning in each of the remarks

4. Visualization  When we read a story, magazine, information text, CD, or video, the writer relies upon us to create pictures in our minds. These pictures help us to understand what we are reading.  "That very night in Max's room a forest grew and grew and grew until his ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around."  As I read that passage, I thought about the words and I imagined what the characters looked like, what they were doing, and what their surroundings were like. I shared with students that I imagined a window with a moon shining through it. Saplings began to sprout and quickly grew leaves and stems. (The scene was like those time-lapse photography images you see on the Discovery Channel.) I saw little vines spreading their tendrils down the walls and across the ceiling. Before I knew it, the entire room was green and leafy, and much darker than before.

5. Connecting Strategies  Making Connections is a strategy that can assist i connections between:  Text and self  Text and text  Text and world

6. Explanation of Connecting Strategies  Text-to-self connections are highly personal connections that a reader makes between a piece of reading material and the reader’s own experiences or life. An example of a text-to-self connection might be, "This story reminds me of a vacation we took to my grandfather’s farm.  Sometimes when reading, readers are reminded of other things that they have read, other books by the same author, stories from a similar genre, or perhaps on the same topic. These types of connections are text-to-text connections  Text-to-world connections are the larger connections that a reader brings to a reading situation. We all have ideas about how the world works that goes far beyond our own personal experiences

7. Questioning  Questions with different purposes can be asked and answered before, during, and after reading.  Before students read, they often use questions to activate prior knowledge, make predictions, and wonder about big ideas that are not answered in the text.  During reading, students form questions to compare and generalize, identify the theme, and clarify meaning.  After they read, students use questioning to locate information, understand and remember events and characters, and identify the theme.

8. Examples of Questioning  KWL (Know Want Learn) Students organize their information about a topic using a three-column chart.  K stands for Know. What do I already know about this topic?  W stands for Will or Want. What do I think I will learn about this topic? What do I want to know about this topic?  L stands for Learned. What have I learned about this topic

9. Determining Importance  Not all information presented by an author is of equal importance.  This includes:   Distinguishing between important and unimportant information to identify key ideas or themes   Determining topic and main idea   Determining author’s message   Utilizing knowledge of narrative or expository text features/structures   Determining relevance

10. Summarizing  when readers summarize, they "identify key elements and condense important information into their own words during and after reading to solidify meaning." The site offers  a simpler definition: "Tell what’s important."

11. Examples of Summarizing  At the most basic level, summarizing covers the 5 W’s and H.  *who? *what? *when? *where? *why? *how?  At the more complex levels you need to make clear distinctions between what material is relevant and vital to the story line vs. other parts that are just details of “fluff” added to the story for detail.

12. Synthesizing  Synthesising takes the process of summarizing one step further.  Instead of just restating the important points from text, synthesising involves combining ideas and allowing an evolving understanding of text.  It is putting together different parts or elements to make a new whole.