I Read It, But I Don’t Get It

“Some kids are born good readers and some kids aren’t. I’ve always been a bad reader and I always will

be. It’s too late for me.”

By: Melissa Antonelli and Jaclyn Clark

Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers

Part 1: Setting the Stage FAKE READING

“I faked comprehension for years. I knew it would eventually catch up with me. But I didn’t know what to do. I thought I was just born a bad reader.”

• Cris Tovani Author– Influenced by Ken

Goodman and Frank Smith-- Involved in PEBC

Writter’s on Mosaic of Thought

“What do you do if you read every page but still have no idea what the book is about”

• Fake Reading– Establishing Expectation

• Cheating on book reports!

– Disarming the Defenses• “Struggling readers are

embarrassed”• Form used to bring out

literacy

• Realities of reading– Teacher are busy!– Resistive Readers (Lisa)– Word Callers (Mike)– Meaning from print8 out of 22 high school students can read the science textbook

Part 2: In Support of Strategic ReadingPurpose for Reading Access Tools

• Reader’s Purpose Affects Everything – Thinking aloud: making

sense of the text• Planning for think alouds

– Select a short piece of the text

– Foresee difficulties– Read and share thinking

telling students what you are doing

– Point out trigger words– Marking Text: teach codes

and have students practice– Double Entry Journals

Part 2: In support of Strategic Reading Continued

• Comprehension Constructors– Background knowledge– Read text– Write down questions while

reading– Write a response to text– Find answers to questions in

text• Modeling

– Share real world reasons for reading

– Monitor your own reading

Strategic ReadingTracking Confusion to its SourceWorld Monitoring: recognizing confusion– Voices while reading: reciting text,

talking to text– Camera playing – Catch wandering mind– Ability to retell– Clarify Literal Questions– Keep track of characters

• Listening to author• Hearing

– Reciting voice– Conversation voice– Interacting voice– Distracting voice

• Isolate Confusion and look for confusion signals

Fix It!• Strategies to start

– Connections: text to text, text to self, text to world

– Prediction– Stop and think about reading– Ask a question– Write about reading– Visualize – Print Conventions– Retell– Patterns in text structure– Adjust reading pace

“Algebra? This is chemistry! What do I need algebra for?”

• Connecting the new to the known– Importance of interrelated knowledge

(academic reading overlaps) – Differentiate between personal

knowledge and experience• Relate to readers• Visualize• Avoid boredom• Pay attention• Listen to others• Read actively

– Connection repairs connection• What Do You Wonder?

– Teach students how to ask questions about text

• Outlandish Responses: Taking the Inferences Too Far

– Not all responses to reading are correct

– Inference – Practice continually,– Personal stamp on text

• What’s the Plan?– One strategy doesn’t

work all the time– Strategies take time to

teach

Part 3: Access Tools

• Double Entry Diaries

• Comprehension Strategies

• Coding Sheets

Opinions• Opinion

– Great real life examples of how reading strategies are applied

– Strategies need to be modeled, repeated, and practiced

– These strategies are applicable to all readers

– Modeling must start with practice on the teacher’s part

– Confused readers must have ongoing help with strategies and guidance if original strategy doesn’t work

– Reading is interactive not passive

• Opinion Justified– Page 102: Story illustrates

inference with hippos and implication that one hippo is scared of a movie from his actions only

– Page 102 Practice, practice, practice

– Page 24 purpose is everything– Page 42 Listening to author’s

words

Citation

Tovani, C. (2000). I Read It, But I Don't Get It. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.