1. Kingston Network of Schools 5 May 2010
Foundational Skills and Processes of Comprehension in the Early Years (P-4)
Kingston Network of Schools
5 May 2010
Julie Kerr
Educational Consultant

2. Instructional Level Text
Look at the text you have planned to use with a group of children this week/shortly.
Why did you choose this text?
What is your planned teaching focus?
Why? What evidence do you have?
Ask participants to look at the information they have brought on their own children and their own planned guided reading text.
How do they know this is instructional level?
What sort of text is it?
What are the literacy demands of this text?

3. Instructional Text Level
Name of text:
Type of text:
Broad band level / Instructional level
Language, layout and/or vocabulary challenges within this text
Planned teaching focus

4. Comprehension
Comprehending refers to the thinking readers do before, during and after reading.
Processing refers to the reader’s complex set of strategic actions, including the use of visible information in the text print and art and the thinking that readers do before, during and after reading.
Fountas and Pinnell, Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, 2006, page 16

5. Processing Visible and Invisible Information
In the Reader’s Head
Invisible Information
Language knowledge – phonology (sounds), vocabulary, syntax, (language structure), phrases, sentences, whole texts, literacy language
Content Knowledge – facts, concepts, categories
Personal knowledge – emotions, memories, images, culture
Textual knowledge – how texts are organised (narrative, expository), genre, literary elements (character, setting, plot)
In the text
Visible Information
Symbols and signs – letters, words
Print conventions – left to right, use of space, layout, font, punctuation, italics and boldface
Text tools – organisational tools (headings, table of contents), informational tools (captions, glossary, pronunciation guides)
Processing
a Written
Text
Fountas & Pinnell (2006) Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, p. 17

6. Reader Processing a Text
Visible
Information
Invisible
Knowledge
Of Print
Knowledge Of
Visual Signs
Of Language
Of Content
From Personal
Experience
Of Texts
Of Artistic
Of Tools
Fountas & Pinnell (2006) Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, p. 18

7. Processing a Written Text
Thinking
Within
the text
Ways of
Thinking
Thinking
Beyond
the text
Thinking
About
the text

8. Thinking Within the Text
Solving Words
Using a range of strategies to take words apart and understand what words mean.
Monitoring and correcting
Checking whether reading sounds right, looks right, and makes sense, and working to solve problems.
Searching for and using information
Searching for and using all kinds of information in a text.
Summarizing
Putting together and remembering important information and disregarding irrelevant information while reading.
Maintaining fluency
Integrating sources of information in a smoothly operating process that results in expressive, phrased reading.
Adjusting
Reading in different ways as appropriate to the purpose for reading and type of text.

9. Thinking Beyond the Text
Predicting
Using what is known to think about what will follow while reading continuous text.
Making Connections
Personal
World
Text
Searching for and using connections to knowledge gained through personal experiences, learning about the world, and reading other texts.
Inferring
Going beyond the literal meaning of a text tho think about what is not stated but is implied by the writer.
Synthesizing
Putting together information from the text and from the reader’s own background knowledge in order to create new understandings.

10. Thinking About the Text
Analysing
Examining elements of a text to know more about how it is constructed and noticing aspects of the writer’s craft.
Critiquing
Evaluating a text based on the readers’ personal, world, or text knowledge and thinking critically about the ideas in it.

11. Matching Children to Text
Easy Reading Level >94%
Instructional Reading Level – 94%
Hard Reading Level < 90%

13. Selecting Texts
Texts are selected at the instructional level of the students within the broad-banded Text Groups that support and challenge the reader.

14. When selecting texts, consider . . .
. . .the developmental stage of the learners and their identified needs.
The prior knowledge and experiences the learners bring to the text.
The learner’s interests.
The instructional approach being used.
The text type.
The supports and challenges in the text.
The specific text characteristics.

15. To select appropriate text . . .
you must be aware of:
the degree of difficulty of the text and
the balance between the supports and challenges identified in the text.
Running records will assist in selection of an instructional text.

16. The role of the teacher . . .
Is to assess the amount and type of support and suitability of the challenges for students when working with various texts.
Instructional text is one in which the student achieves 90-94% accuracy after being introduced to the material and having read the text prior to the running record being taken.

17. Considerations when selecting texts from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds . . .
Need to provide links to students’ understandings and experiences
Need for texts that contain regular language patterns
Text layout
Need to provide links to students’ understandings and experiences – teachers may need to plan activities so that all students have shared experiences.
Need for texts that contain regular language patterns – be aware of irregular syntax and the difficulties this can create, e.g. Being greedy the fish said In this example the order of the words is confusing and may not provide a recognisable structure for the learner. Students may not have sufficient knowledge to know if text “sounds right” and are therefore unable to use this prompt to check/self/correct reading.
Text layout – Students may be familiar with different text layout/conventions (e.g. Arabic, Chinese). Some text layout increases difficulty in reading such as sentences continue over the page and cartoons.
Possible Tense confusions – e.g. come/came, sit/sat
Suffixes – Suffixes are not pronounced or stressed in some languages, e.g. We water/watered the seeds; The bus stop/stopped.
Singular/plural irregularities – Confusion between singular and plural, e.g. I have a sore teeth.

18. Consideration should also be given to:
Possible tense confusions
Suffixes
Singular/plural irregularities
Need to provide links to students’ understandings and experiences – teachers may need to plan activities so that all students have shared experiences.
Need for texts that contain regular language patterns – be aware of irregular syntax and the difficulties this can create, e.g. Being greedy the fish said In this example the order of the words is confusing and may not provide a recognisable structure for the learner. Students may not have sufficient knowledge to know if text “sounds right” and are therefore unable to use this prompt to check/self/correct reading.
Text layout – Students may be familiar with different text layout/conventions (e.g. Arabic, Chinese). Some text layout increases difficulty in reading such as sentences continue over the page and cartoons.
Possible Tense confusions – e.g. come/came, sit/sat
Suffixes – Suffixes are not pronounced or stressed in some languages, e.g. We water/watered the seeds; The bus stop/stopped.
Singular/plural irregularities – Confusion between singular and plural, e.g. I have a sore teeth.

19. Matching Students to Text
Look at the assessment data on a group you have identified as being “similar” in reading needs
What is the instructional level(s) of the children in this group?
What evidence do you have?
What are their reading strengths?
What skills do they need to develop?
What instructional level text have you chosen for this week?
What will be the focus of your teaching?
What evidence do you have that this is important now?
What supporting activities will you plan for this group following the teacher focused group session? Why?

20. Group Brainstorming Time
Thinking Within the text
Thinking Beyond the text
Thinking About the text
Use your assessment records and the Text Characteristics document to work out what supports and challenges there are in your chosen instructional text.
Within your group, brainstorm the thinking that needs to be explicitly taught via this instructional text. (use the three categories)

21. Instructional Text Level
Name of text:
Type of text:
Broad band level / Instructional level
Language, layout and/or vocabulary challenges within this text
Planned teaching focus
Revised teaching focus
Thinking within the text
Thinking beyond the text
Thinking about the text