Science of Reading - Language Comprehension End of the Rope

Just as there has been a lot of debate and research on phonics, there has been equally as much research on how comprehension happens. For many years, teachers have been told to teach one skill at a time with multiple books. I know I have spent weeks on the main idea only to have them take an assessment and not get it at all? Anyone else?

The truth is, the research shows that the opposite is true. What are students are lacking is background knowledge and flexibility of verbal reasoning, not to mention VOCABULARY!!!

People, we have been told the wrong information for years!!!

So what should we do?

I have just completed the second book of LETRS and let me tell you...it's a game-changer.

What our kids need -

Units of study around a central topic that connects ideas, concepts, and vocabulary while building background knowledge in science, social studies, the arts, or social-emotional skills. These units should take 2-3 weeks.
Close Reading of Complex Text - listening to a teacher read aloud a text first while going back for second and third reads to dive deeper into what the text says, how the text works and what the text means.
Explicit Vocabulary instruction
Analysis of sentence structures so we understand what the text says - you wouldn't believe how many sentences our students don't fully understand
Verbal Reasoning - higher-level thinking is important for ALL kids!
Literacy knowledge - teaching multiple strategies with one text or within a three-week unit

teaching strategies and skills
questioning
cooperative learning
written responses
visible thinking strategies

I can't wait to start this journey with you to look deeper at each part of language comprehension through lesson planning, resources, and more!

Stay tuned!!!

Comments

A New Way of thinking about comprehension

How many times have we, teachers, worried about testing to determine whether our students understand a comprehension skill or strategy? In LETRS, Moats and Tolman talk about the many hidden mental activities that happen in comprehension. In other words, comprehension is more of a process than a product. Well, that makes sense. So what are those processes of comprehension ? Monitoring comprehension - my favorite strategy for this is STP (Stop, Think, Paraphrase) Reading with appropriate pace - pacing actually correlates to understanding text Making inferences as you read - what are the characters thinking or feeling? Making a mental model to organize thinking and understanding Making connections in the text with views and background knowledge How can we support those processes of comprehension? Reading multiple texts around one topic helps to build background knowledge. In another blog I will talk moe about this critical com...

Vocabulary - it's more crucial than you may think!

Just like phonics, direct, explicit instruction is the best way to teach vocabulary. Explicitly teach a New Word - pronounce, write and read the word tell students what it means - using student friendly definition, props or actions say the words multiple times while giving examples, sentences, or asking questions using it ask yes or no questions ask students to use the words during the day How to Practice Vocabulary Words dimensions of word knowledge - look at synonyms, antonyms, categories of examples, multiple meanings, etc.. Four Squares are great graphic organizers for analyzing words in depth. Multiple Meanings - one of the biggest confusions with students are words that have more than one meaning. As you get into the Upper Grades, there becomes more and more examples in grade level text. One way to practice, is by taking the word and using a web to show the various meanings. Classification into Categories - sometimes we spend more ...

Winter Read Aloud using the Science of Reading for Comprehension

Winter Read Aloud I found this book recently and fell in love with it for many reasons - family relationships diverse family (from Lebanon) sensory details - which connects to onomatopoeias character traits and points of view and most of all SNOW... In switching from the old idea of reading multiple books for exposure to isolated skills, I designed this mini-unit around the fundamentals of the comprehension side of the Science of Reading. Verbal reasoning is woven into the unit in several ways. T his unit includes opportunities for inferencing as well as Visible Thinking Routines like See, Think, Wonder , and the Circle of Viewpoints. Some are used to build background knowledge and some are used to reflect on the learning. The lessons are broken into three parts - Before Reading Background Knowledge - this book can be read in isolation or with other winter read-aloud books to build knowledge about ...

The OTHER end of the Reading Rope - science of reading

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