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Week 10 Lecture 10

  • Attendance Updates
    Check-in on participants’ experiences, ensuring all voices are included and heard to enrich the learning environment. This will involve structured feedback sessions where students can share their perspectives on the course material, instructional strategies, and group dynamics. It’s important to create a safe space for expressing thoughts and feelings to foster an inclusive classroom atmosphere.

  • Focus of the Session
    The main focus will be on Comprehension Instruction, aimed at enhancing reading skills crucial for academic success. This component will involve exploring different techniques that readers utilize for better understanding texts, such as making connections, visualizing, and asking questions. In the following week, we will delve into Vocabulary Instruction, which is critical for supporting comprehension efforts as vocabulary knowledge directly impacts a student's ability to engage with texts meaningfully.

  • IRA Work
    Incorporate Intensive Reading Assessment (IRA) work as part of the session to align reading strategies with assessment requirements. This integration will help assess student readability and understanding, providing valuable insights into individual student needs. We will analyze students’ strengths and weaknesses in reading comprehension through a series of assessments that will guide instructional decisions and enable targeted support for each learner.

Class Meeting Schedule

  • Meeting Times:

    • April 10: Asynchronous Class - Students will engage with materials and discussions independently, allowing for personalized learning at their own pace. This flexibility can foster deeper engagement with content.

    • April 17: 5:30 PM - Scheduled live session to discuss reading strategies and IRA. This will include interactive components such as breakout discussions and Q&A sessions to reinforce learning.

    • April 24: 5:30 PM - Another live interaction focusing on advanced comprehension strategies, where participants can share experiences and refine their approaches in real-time.

    • Important Note:

    • May 1: Asynchronous Class - Students will have the flexibility to work at their own pace, ensuring they can reflect on their learning and master the material thoroughly.

    • Final Exam:

      • Foundational Reading Skills Portfolio due. This portfolio should showcase students' comprehension strategies learned throughout the course, including practical applications in real contexts, demonstrating not just knowledge but also the ability to illustrate learning progress and strategy application in various situations.

Reading Comprehension

Definition of Reading Strategies

  • What is a Reading Strategy?
    Intentional, mental actions readers take during reading that improve comprehension significantly. These include techniques like predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing that help readers understand and retain material better. The effectiveness of these strategies is often linked to students' ability to monitor their understanding and adapt their reading as necessary.

    • Importance for Teachers:
      To EXPLICITLY teach reading comprehension strategies so that students can internalize these skills and apply them independently. Providing direct instruction along with modeling can significantly influence students' ability to navigate complex texts successfully.

  • What Reading Strategies Are NOT:

    • They are not merely completing worksheets that lack engagement or active metacognition. Effective strategies go beyond rote memorization; they require active involvement and critical thinking from students.

    • Exercises without explicit instruction in thought processes during reading will not effectively enhance comprehension, as they fail to train students to reflect on their reading strategies and their effectiveness.

Effective Comprehension Strategy Instruction

  • Instructional Approach:

    • Explicitly teach various strategies:

    • Direct Explanation: Clearly articulate the purpose and process of each strategy, making sure students understand the how and why behind each method.

    • Modeling: Demonstrate strategies in action using think-aloud techniques during reading sessions, allowing students to see the thought process involved in applying these strategies.

    • Guided Practice: Provide structured opportunities for students to practice these strategies with teacher support, gradually releasing responsibility as they become more proficient.

    • Application: Allow students to work independently using their acquired strategies on various text types, ensuring they can transfer their skills to new contexts.

    • Cooperative Learning:

      • Engage students to work together on reading tasks, which fosters deeper understanding and collaboration, as they can revisit concepts in discussion with peers.

      • Facilitates sharing of text interpretations, enhancing the application of comprehension strategies among peers and building a community of learners.

Characteristics of Skilled Readers

  • Common Abilities of Skilled Readers:

    • Possess a clear purpose for reading, which helps focus their attention and guides their reading choices.

    • Ability to self-monitor their comprehension, recognizing when they do not understand and employing strategies to clarify.

    • Employ advanced word attack skills for accurate decoding, ensuring access to the text and enhancing fluency.

    • Maintain rich vocabulary and oral language knowledge, improving the ability to understand complex texts and engage in discussions.

    • Utilize background knowledge to aid comprehension, making connections between new and existing knowledge which deepens learning.

    • Demonstrate strong inferencing abilities and verbal reasoning skills, allowing them to derive deeper meanings from texts and respond to nuanced ideas.

    • Apply effective strategies for constructing and revising meaning as they read, responding adaptively to new information and modifying their understanding when necessary.

    • Possess intrinsic motivation to read and apply learning in various situations, valuing the act of reading as a source of enjoyment and knowledge.