1. Explicit Reading Comprehension Strategies Laural Johnson
Iredell Statesville Schools, Coddle Creek Elementary
Internet Log in information
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2. Welcome Laural Johnson Laural_Johnson@iss.k12.nc.us
Special Education Teacher
Session Materials are here:

3. Agenda Governor’s Teacher Network My Research and the Results
Metacognitive Activity
Schema Activity
Visualizing Activity
Questions and Feedback

4. What is the Governor’s Teacher Network?
A talented group of 450 outstanding teachers were selected from 1400 applicants for
Teachers identify instructional needs, create innovative digital instructional resources and design professional development to support key Race to the Top initiatives in Home Base.
Network Teachers continue their current educator roles in their schools and districts and serve in one of two pathways.

5. What is the Governor’s Teacher Network?
Pathway 1 Teachers : Professional Development
Teachers will create professional development sessions and materials (face-to-face, webinars and online modules) to address classroom instructional needs and increase the PD offerings in the state-wide Professional Development system in Home Base

6. What is the Governor’s Teacher Network?
Pathway 2 Teachers : Instructional Resources
Create instructional sequences for Home Base aligned to the NC Standard Course of Study (unit plans, lesson plans, assessment components).
Produce resources available to all NC teachers through Schoolnet in Home Base.

7. What is Action Research?
Classroom and school research conducted by teachers to:
Positively impact student outcomes
Identify and promote effective instructional practices
Create opportunities for teachers to become reflective practitioners
Share research results with other educators
Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2014

8. Action Research Across North Carolina
Literacy Strategies for AIG readers Close Reading in Social Studies
STEAM in the science classroom Assessment Data
Achieving school-wide literacy Written Comprehension in Third Grade
Middle Grades Attendance RtI support for struggling students
Technology increased assessment scores Parent-Teacher Relationships
Social-Emotional Learning
Vocabulary, Word Walls, and Fluency
Classroom Management with Journaling
Explicit Vocabulary Instruction of Tier 2 Words
Strength in Structure
Engagement in the Social Studies Classroom
Using Cognitive Thinking Skills
Writing in 8th grade math class
Criterion-based assessment for AIG
Engaging at-risk middle school boys with reading
Authentic Daily Cumulative Math Review
Whole Group Reading Activities
Foundational Mathematical Skills- Grade 3
Silent Reading Strategies in Kindergarten

9. My Action Research Plan
Purpose - Improve Exceptional Children's reading comprehension skills using explicit reading comprehension strategies.
Participants - students with learning disabilities who read 1-2 grade levels below their current grade.
Plan - Provide explicit reading comprehension strategies in activating prior knowledge, questioning, visualizing, and inferring.
Results - 1 student exited EC, 1 student met their reading goal, 1 student making progress, but still working on the goal
My students are 4th graders who read years below their grade level. Using Stephanie Harvey's book "Strategies that Work" as a model, I provided explicit reading comprehension skill instruction in the resource room 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week from August through December, 2014.Each strategy was taught over a 3 – 5 day period. Each strategy was first modeled by the teacher, and then practiced by the students with guidance from the teacher, and finally, each student applied the strategy independently with a reading passage on their independent reading level. 2 of 3 students met their reading comprehension IEP goals.

10. Teaching Reading Comprehension Explicitly
Skillful readers naturally employ metacognitive behaviors as they read. (Swanson & De La Paz, 1998)
Students with learning disabilities benefit from modeling, discussing, and applying strategies such as metacognition, activating prior knowledge and summarizing. (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1997)
Focusing on explicit comprehension strategies benefits the poor reader, but not the average reader (North Central Regional Educational Lab., Oak Brook, (November, 2002))
I started thinking the wording that is used in IEPs. Even with modifications, Suzy needs direct, explicit instruction… What did that mean? Explicit. Explicit is an adjective. It means information is stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt.: "the speaker's intentions were not made explicit".synonyms:clear plain, straightforward, crystal clear easily understandable. ; for example, as they read a passage, they use self-questioning techniques to monitor their understanding of the material or "look back" to locate important information and reread the section” (Swanson & De La Paz, 1998). Proficient readers intuitively think about their reading and make connections with the text. 3 - Useful to students in RTI Tiers 2 and 3

11. How you teach your students to think about what they are reading ?
I wasn’t doing this.I have focused most of my reading instruction on word attack, fluency, and reading book on the students independent reading level. I was asking my students to read, read, read and to respond to comprehension questions. Don’t all kids just “get it”. There are lots of products to teach sequencing, compare and contrast, etc. Share your thoughts with the teachers you are sitting with and then go to and post your response(s).

12. Metacognition .
Reading is thinking. You notice, you wonder, you feel. Students who struggle with reading comprehension need explicit instruction in how to listen to their inner voice when they are reading. We used lots of sticky notes as we explored how we use metacognition when reading. I learned to make more thoughtful choices about the books we would read in small group. I didn’t want them to struggle with the words. I wanted them to focus on their thinking while they were reading. I wanted the subject of the books to be interesting to them. We read a lot of animal stories and topics that 3rd and 4th graders would find funny (stinky feet).

13. Let’s make Salad Have you ever seen a kid fake read?
Struggling readers need explicit instruction to
Think AND Read.
“The Reading Salad”
Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor.
An explicit experience in metacognition using wordless picture books.
Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
Activity 1 - Metacognition: Notice your inner voice.As we began to think about our thinking as we read, I chose wordless picture books, Goodnight , Gorilla and “Journey” because I didn’t want my readers to be distracted by the words. I really wanted them to notice the difference between what they are thinking and what they are reading. When students think about their thinking, they are using metacognition. After we read this book together, I saw this video which connects to the world.Turn and Talk: What did you notice about your own thinking? How can this help your students in Tier 2 or Tier 3?

14. Metacognition What happens when I’m not listening to my inner voice.
What happens when I don’t know and when “aha” happens
Stop, think, and react
Choose books that will interest your students.
Students need to leave evidence of their thinking. sticky notes with ? Huh? or oh, yeah!, a smiley face or a frown, a star. Give students time to turn and talk before they write. I chose passages or text that were easy to read. I wanted to focus on the strategy, not decoding.

15. Schema
Students need to merge their thinking with new information in order to learn, understand, and remember the information (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007)
Is it important to you or is it helpful for understanding the story?
The more background knowledge we have the better we are able to construct meaning.
Text to World Connection
What I learned is that my special ed students don’t have a lot of schema about a lot of things. Again, I tried to choose books that had a topic they would be familiar with when reading. After working on metacognition, my students were making connections on every page and we had to stop talk about whether the connection is important to you or is it important to help understand the story. There were a lot of “aha” moments about their thinking in relation to understanding the bigger picture of a story.

16. Schema
.Rethinking Misconceptions - explicitly teach students to leave their misconceptions behind.
Struggling readers need to understand how pre -reading activities will benefit them.
An explicit experience using Schema with
“ Why Do Feet Stink?”(
What I learned is that my special ed students don’t have a lot of schema about many things. Again, I tried to choose books that had a topic they would be familiar with when reading. After working on metacognition, my students were making connections on every page and we had to stop talk about whether the connection is important to you or is it important to help understand the story. There were a lot of “aha” moments about their thinking in relation to understanding the bigger picture of a story.

17. Schema .
What I learned is that my special ed students don’t have a lot of schema about a lot of things. Again, I tried to choose books that had a topic they would be familiar with when reading. After working on metacognition, my students were making connections on every page and we had to stop talk about whether the connection is important to you or is it important to help understand the story. There were a lot of “aha” moments about their thinking in relation to understanding the bigger picture of a story. At your table, you will need 1 person to record “What we think we know”, “New info”, and “Makes me Wonder. Before you read jot down what you think you know. As the reader reads, make note of new learning. After reading, record new info and questions you still wonder about?

18. Visualizing and Inferring
Constructing meaning with a mental image
Drawing Conclusions
Merging schema with clues in the text to construct an idea that isn’t stated explicitly
“...Taking the words of the text and mixing them with the reader’s background to create pictures in the mind.”

19. Visualizing and Inferring
Merge schema with text clues (to come up with an idea that is not explicitly stated, or to fill in missing information. to make predictions, to interpret meaning of language, draw conclusions, infer relationships.
Struggling readers need multiple opportunities to practice their visualizing strengths.
An explicit experience in visualizing using Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, Chapter 3, First paragraph (Harvey & Goudvis)
Read aloud first paragraph of Chapter 3 of Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. After listening, turn and talk and describe what your saw. Then, sketch what you visualized. Each person brings their own set of schema to create a mental image. Share examples of students work. Another great visualization tool is the wordless picture book, Good Dog, Carl. About midway through the book, the baby is sitting at the top of a laundry chute and Carl is sitting behind her. This is a wonderful place to stop and have students draw what they predict/visualize happening next. “Visualizing strengths inferential thinking” (Harvey & Goudvis)

20. Questions

21. Feedback
Insert link to feedback form to evaluate effectiveness of presentation.

22. References
Harvey, Stephanie, and Anne Goudvis. Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding. York, Me.: Stenhouse, Print.
Dole, J. A., & Pearson, D. Explicit Comprehension Instruction: A Review Of Research And A New Conceptualization Of Instruction. The Elementary School Journal, 151.
Sencibaugh, J. M. (2007, March 22). Meta-Analysis of Reading Comprehension Interventions for Students with Learning Disabilities: Strategies and Implications.Reading Improvement.
North Central Regional Educational Lab., Oak Brook, (November, 2002) IL. Reading Comprehension Instruction in Grades 4-8., Guides Classroom Teacher (052) Guides Non-Clasroom (05)
White, E., & Williams, G. (n.d.). Charlotte's Web.
This information was provided by KidsHealth®, one of the largest resources online for medically reviewed health information written for parents, kids, and teens. For more articles like this, visit KidsHealth.org or TeensHealth.org. © The Nemours Foundation/KidsHealth®. All rights reserved
Rathmann, P. (1993). Goodnight, Gorilla (Imagination library ed.). New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

23. Conclusion of Presentation
Thank you for your participation.
Contact Information:
Laural Johnson
Coddle Creek Elementary
Iredell-Statesville Schools