Reading Strategies for the Social Studies...

Reading Strategiesfor the Social

Studies Classroom

New York, New York Columbus, Ohio Chicago, Illinois Peoria, Illinois Woodland Hills, California

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Copyright © by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under theUnited States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in anyform or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission ofthe publisher.

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To the Teacher

Reading Strategies for the Social Studies Classroom presents unified scaffoldedlessons for students who are reading below grade level. These research-basedstrategies are designed to support comprehension as they help students becomemore fluent and competent readers.

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Table of ContentsTo the Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

Effective Teaching Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Reciprocal Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Recognizing Text Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Narrative Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Expository Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Exploring Expository Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Considerate Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Text Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Skills and Strategies for Reading Expository Texts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Effective Classroom Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Reading Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Independent Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Teaching Word Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Decoding and Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Strategies for Teaching and Reinforcing Phonic Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Activities to Reinforce Word Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Glossary of Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Consonants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Initial Consonant Blends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Final Consonant Blends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Consonant Digraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Alternate Consonant Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Silent Consonants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Vowels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Common Vowel Sounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Vowel Digraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Diphthongs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11R-Controlled Vowels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Variant Vowel Digraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Schwa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Word Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Word Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Homophones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Homographs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Synonyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Antonyms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Compound Words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

After Reading

During Reading

Before Reading

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Denotation/Connotation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Syllabication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Effective Vocabulary Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Strategies for Teaching Vocabulary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Using Context Clues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Using General Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Using Word Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Using Language Structure Clues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Using Classifying and Categorizing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Using Word Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Using a Concept-Definition Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Using a Semantic-Features Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Using Possible Sentences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Using Story Elements to Teach Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Teaching Active Reading Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Previewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Activating Prior Knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Predicting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Questioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Monitoring Comprehension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Visualizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Interpreting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Analyzing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Connecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Reviewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Evaluating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Teaching Reading and Thinking Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Identifying Main Idea and Supporting Details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Summarizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Making Inferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Drawing Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Understanding Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Determining Fact and Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Analyzing Cause-and-Effect Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Comparing and Contrasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Analyzing Problem and Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Reproducible Graphic Organizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31


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Effective Teaching MethodsThe following three approaches are among many that can help you teach readingto your students. Beginning as a whole-class activity and ultimately becomingsmall-group reading sessions, reciprocal teaching is a system of working through atext to maximize student involvement and comprehension. Modeling is a methodof presenting reading and thinking processes with the goal of having studentsapply these processes on their own. Exploring Expository Text provides keys tohelp students access informational texts.

Reciprocal TeachingReciprocal teaching (Palinscar and Brown, 1984) is a method of checking under-standing during reading that actively engages students, creating in them a feelingof investment in their own learning process. In reciprocal teaching, the teacherguides a group of students to apply four reading strategies in a prescribed way withthe goal of achieving comprehension of a segment of text. As students becomefamiliar with the process, the teacher’s role gradually changes from leader to facil-itator, and the students take over the process themselves, alternating in the roleof group leader. The order of the strategies may vary depending on teacher pref-erence. However, students should learn and use the strategies in a consistentorder. Here is a brief description of the reciprocal teaching process.

ModelingModeling is the process of demonstrating a thinking process. To model, theteacher usually first reads aloud a segment of text as students follow along intheir books. Then, in everyday language, the teacher reasons aloud. The pur-pose of modeling is for students to understand the steps that readers follow tosolve a reading problem or to analyze a text. The goal is to have students apply similar reasoning procedures during their own reading processes. The followingis an example of modeling that a teacher might use to demonstrate how usingcontext clues helps the reader to understand an unfamiliar word.

Questioning After students have read a portion of text, the leader asks the group questions about what they have just read. For student leaders, formulating such questions causes them to think about what the impor-tant ideas in the text were. Answering such questions causes all students in the group to review what they have learned and to look back to find answers to what they do not know.

Clarifying The leader points out places in the text that he or she found difficult and also invites group members to bring up anything that they found confusing. Students discuss these troublesome places and use information in the text and their own knowledge to clear up confusing points or difficult terms or concepts.

Summarizing The leader then summarizes the segment of text. Orally summarizing requires student leaders to actively evaluate ideas in the text and to determine the key ideas that should be included in a summary. Members of the group also must evaluate the significance of ideas. They respond by suggesting addi-tions or alterations to the summary that the leader has proposed.

Predicting The leader now makes predictions about what will happen next on the basis of what the group has already read. Group members partici-pate by suggesting changes to the predictions or by proposing new predictions. Students use their predictions to prepare themselves to read the next segment of text.

Reciprocal Teaching Process

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panies, Inc.Modeling I wonder what the word vacant means. From the first sentencein the passage we have just read, it seems that vacant is a kind of seat ona bus. The narrator goes on to say that she “took” the vacant seat. To takea seat means “to sit down.” The narrator would most likely sit only in anempty seat. So vacant probably means “empty.” Just to be sure, I’ll read alittle further. The second sentence shows the narrator’s surprise that peoplewere standing even though there was a vacant seat. In other words, peopleshould sit when there are vacant seats. This confirms that vacant means“empty,” and a vacant seat must be an empty seat.

To complete the modeling cycle, individual students are asked to think aloud,demonstrating their own thinking processes as they employ the reading strategyor skill. Reasoning aloud makes students more aware of what they actually doas they read. Listening to a student think aloud shows the teacher how the student’s abilities are developing and where the student needs support andguidance in applying the strategy (Duffy, Roehler, Herrmann, 1988).

Recognizing Text StructuresNoticing the way ideas are organized in a piece of writing helps students anticipatethe types of ideas they will encounter and prepares them to comprehend thetext, whether the text is narrative or expository.

In fictional narratives, readers can identify with characters and situations. Ahuman-interest connection potentially exists between readers and the text.While the concepts in expository writing can be equally interesting to stu-dents, there are special challenges in comprehending the text. The writingstyle, organization of ideas, and author’s objectives are among the differencesbetween narrative and expository writing.

Narrative Writing Narrative writing is writing that tells a story. The writingpiece can be fiction or nonfiction (as in a personal narrative or an autobiography).

As children hear and read narratives from their earliest home and school experiences, they begin to internalize the structure of stories. They have certainexpectations of how stories will be presented and what they will include. Forexample, they expect to find characters, a conflict, and action that resolvesthe conflict. Expecting certain kinds of information helps prepare students to comprehend the story.

This predictable story structure is called story grammar. Narrative stories aretypically structured to include the following:

• a beginning, a middle, and an end • characters, setting, plot, and theme • a conflict, a progression of events, and a resolution• chronological order

Expository Writing Expository writing is nonfiction writing that explains,informs, or persuades. Essays, articles, reports, and manuals are examples ofexpository writing. Expository writing whose primary purpose is to provide

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specific or technical information about a topic or event is sometimes calledinformational text. The most crucial informational text that students willencounter is found in content-area textbooks, such as science, social studies,and math textbooks. Examples of other kinds of informational texts are Website resources, reports, proposals, brochures, policy statements, manuals, andsets of instructions.

Exploring Expository TextsUnlike narratives, which usually fit a story-grammar structure, the organizationof ideas in expository writing may fit one of several text structures. Teachingstudents to recognize the text structure will help prepare them for reading andcomprehending the text (Armbruster, Anderson, and Ostertag, 1989).

The most common text structures are time order, compare-contrast, descrip-tion, cause-effect, and problem-solution. While an expository selection maymake use of a variety of text structures, almost always one overriding textstructure applies to the whole piece of writing. For example, an author maycompare and contrast two ideas in an essay with an overall cause-and-effecttext structure.

Sometimes signal words help the reader determine the text structure. The fol-lowing chart defines the text structures and lists examples of signal words thatapply to each.

As students read expository text, they can use various graphic organizers—concept webs and organizers for compare/contrast, cause-effect, problem-solution,and sequence—to help them deconstruct and analyze a text’s structure. Thesegraphic organizers not only teach students to expect certain types of ideas andorganizations in various types of text but also serve as a way to increase retention of what has been read. They can provide a kind of map or outlinethat can be used for reviewing the selection.

time orderText is structured in chronological or step-by-step order.

compare-contrastText is structured to show likenesses and differences.

descriptionText is structured to give qualities or characteristics of a subject; description causes readers to form mental pictures based on details in the text.

cause-effectText is structured to explain outcomes caused by various situations.

problem-solutionText is structured to present a problem and then show one or more solutions.

on, before, during, after, first, last, now, when, then, next, finally

in contrast to, in comparison with, on the other hand, similarly, both, like, unlike, different, too, not only

for example, characteristics of, a feature of, such as Details in spatial order: above, near, beside, in front of

Details in order of importance: first, most important

because, as a result, as a consequence, the effect was, since, due to, therefore, thus

because, if/then, as a result, therefore

Text Structure Signal Words


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Some expository texts are easier to comprehend than others, not because theconcept load is lighter but simply because the organization is clear and theflow of ideas is cohesive. Such text is called considerate text.

Considerate Text Considerate text is “text that facilitates understanding,learning, and remembering” (Armbruster and Anderson, 1985). Such text iswell organized overall, and it is well organized within paragraphs and sentences.Ideas are developed logically, and connective words and phrases (such as howev-er, and, thus, and as a result) are embedded to help the reader understand therelationship between ideas. Examples of characteristics that might be found inconsiderate text are clearly stated main ideas, specialized vocabulary defined atthe point of use, and unified paragraphs that do not contain extraneous ideas.Introductions as well as summaries that pull together main ideas also help makea text “considerate.”

Text Features Text features can also contribute to considerate text.

Text that does not contain the above named features can be difficult to navigate and comprehend. Such text is called “inconsiderate text.”

Skills and Strategies for Reading Expository TextsWhile all the active reading strategies listed on pages 20–23 are important forreading both narrative and expository texts, several strategies are especiallyhelpful for exploring expository writing. Among them are the skills and strate-gies listed below:

Suggested Strategies for

• Previewing

1. Have students preview the text’s structure. Noticing the organization ofideas will prepare them for the types of information they will receive.

2. Have students preview the concepts in the text by looking over the textfeatures such as headings and subheadings, charted information, illustra-tions, captions, and graphics (charts, maps, graphs).

3. Have students preview boldfaced terms and footnotes to become familiarwith the specialized vocabulary.

• Activating Prior Knowledge and Building Background

Prepare students to take in new knowledge by helping them bring to mindwhat they already know. Use the key concepts and boldfaced terms in thetext to frame general questions that get students thinking about the topic

Before Reading

• Headings and subheadings reveal the hierarchy of ideas in a segment of text.

• Boldfaced type points out key vocabulary and concepts.

• Footnotes and captioned illustrations and graphics clarify concepts.

• A logical layout highlights the author’s progression of ideas.

Text Features

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and sharing ideas. Then bolster their background knowledge by providingspecific information that will enhance their understanding of the subjectthey will explore.

• Setting a Purpose for Reading

Have students set a purpose for reading. For example, if a heading in thetext is What Happened to the Dinosaurs? have them decide on somethingthey would like to know related to this topic, such as Could what happenedto the dinosaurs happen again in modern times?


• Varying Reading Rate

Teach students to adjust their reading rate. They need to slow down whenthey encounter difficult concepts, connections to previous ideas, new vocab-ulary, or text that contains a great deal of information.

• Monitoring Comprehension

Students should be aware of their own reading process and notice when theyhave missed something. They can monitor comprehension by questioningthemselves as they read. If they do not understand an important idea, theyneed to reread, review, or read on to clarify what is unclear.

• Identifying Main Ideas

Students should identify main ideas as they read. Text features—such asheadings, subheadings, boldfaced terms, and graphics—are good indicatorsof main or key ideas.

• Tracking Information

Students can make sure they are processing the key ideas in their text bylisting these ideas as they read. They may make an actual list of ideas, createan outline, or write a series of notes. Another technique is to list main ideason a graphic organizer that addresses the overall text structure of the exposi-tory piece. A Venn diagram, problem-solution chart, concept web, or cause-effect chart can also be effective ways of listing main ideas and organizingthem so they will aid comprehension and retention.


• Reviewing

Students can use their lists, outlines, notes, graphic organizers, or the textfeatures in the text itself to review the critical ideas in what they have read.Through discussion, students can retell, analyze, and evaluate ideas toprocess and retain what they have read. Summarizing is another effectivemeans of pulling together key ideas.

After Reading

During Reading


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Effective Classroom Procedures

Reading ArrangementsClassroom reading arrangements provide varying degrees of support and guidanceto struggling readers. For example, reading with partners allows students to haveone-on-one assistance. Participating in choral reading allows students to gainconfidence as they take part in a group reading activity. Students might:

• read aloud to partners who can help with difficult words;

• read silently with partners, having partners “on-call” to help with difficultplaces in the text;

• read silently to themselves;

• take turns reading aloud in small groups;

• follow along in their books as the teacher, a volunteer, or a designated groupof students reads or as they listen to a taped reading;

• take turns reading in a whole-class activity;

• participate in choral reading to present a portion of text.

Independent ReadingWhile students will be experiencing literature through reading at school, theyshould also be encouraged to participate in independent reading. Following aresome suggestions to encourage independent reading.

• Set up a classroom library of books of special interest to your students. Youmight poll your students to create an inventory of books on subjects that areof interest to them.

• Assign time in the library for groups or individuals. Encourage students tolearn more about subject areas related to the reading selection, or have themexplore additional books by an author.

• Establish in-class discussion groups (literature groups) where students worktogether to focus on topics connected to the literature they are reading.

• Assign independent reading of at least thirty minutes a day, to be done outside of class.

• Have students create products to express what they have learned, noticed, orenjoyed. They can present their products to the class, in small groups, or topartners. Students may organize a classroom display of their work. Theseproducts may include• reports • demonstrations• posters • multigenre writing• collages • multimedia presentations• videos

• Encourage parents to listen to their students read at home. Via newsletters,suggest that parents read aloud with their students from the literature selections. Encourage parents to call attention to items in newspapers andmagazines that are of special interest to the family and to read these articleswith their students.

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Teaching Word Analysis

Decoding and EncodingPhonemic awareness is the awareness of the distinct sounds of language.Decoding is using the knowledge of sounds, and the letters and letter group-ings that represent those sounds, to pronounce a word. When students decode,they read printed words by calling to mind the sounds associated with letters.They then blend these sounds together to say the word. Encoding is using the knowledge of the correspondence of sounds and letters to spell words.

Phonics and multisyllabic word attack strategies make students aware of predictable connections between sounds and letters. By knowing the sounds to associate with various letters and letter patterns, students have the tools toattack a word they do not know. They know how to sound out a word, wherefeasible. They know how to break a larger word into syllables and morphemicunits and apply their knowledge of sound-letter correspondence to figure outhow to say each word part. By saying the word using the correctly associatedsounds, they may recognize the word and find that they already know itsmeaning.

Most middle school students should have had phonics instruction when theyfirst learned to read, but there may be gaps in their skills. Some students maybe reading-delayed for a variety of reasons.

For strategic intervention for students who have gaps in their skills, set aside a period of time each day to review multisyllabic, morphemic, and complexphonic elements. You might begin with reviewing the sounds of individualconsonants and the short vowels in one-syllable words. Progress gradually intomore complex phonics skills, such as identifying the syllables in a word andrecognizing special spelling patterns. The letter-sound correspondences, letterpatterns, and sample words in this section can help you prepare phonics les-sons for your students.

There are many ways to teach phonics and word attack strategies and toprogress through phonics skills. The chart below presents a logical progressionthrough phonics skills.

1. Initial Consonants

2. Final Consonants

3. Short Vowels

4. Long Vowels

5. Consonant Blends

6. Consonant Digraphs

7. Phonograms

8. Vowel Digraphs

9. Vowel Diphthongs

10. R-Controlled Vowels

11. Silent Letters

12. Syllabication and Morphemic Units


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Strategies for Teaching and Reinforcing Phonic Elements1. Write the letter or letters for the sound you are targeting on the board. Say

the sound associated with the letters and have students repeat the sound to you.

2. Write on the board several example words that contain the sound-spellingyou are teaching. For each word, review the phonemes, or sounds, in theword and then model blending the new sound with the other sounds in theword. Have students repeat the blending procedure for each word with you.Finally, say each word as you point to it on the board and have studentsread each word back to you.

3. Dictate several additional words with the sound-spelling you are targeting.Have students write these words. Ask individuals to read back the wordsthey have written.

4. Have one student, or several students simultaneously, write the words onthe board. Discuss the students’ spelling of these words and have themmake corrections as needed.

5. Reinforce the sound-spelling through various reading, writing, or speakingactivities, such as those suggested below.

Activities to Reinforce Word Analysis

• Have students find words with the targeted sound-spelling combination in a paragraph or segment of their literature selection; students should read these words aloud to a partner or within a group.

• Have students generate a list of words based on the example words and the sound-spelling correspondence taught; have them discuss these words in a group.

• Have students in a group discuss and sort words that have the specific sound-spelling you are targeting from a mix of words.

• Have students make flashcards of words that teach the appropriate phonics principle; have partners quiz each other on the words.

• Have small groups create cloze sentences that should be completed with words containing the targeted phonics elements. For example, if you are reviewing the gr blend, students might construct the following cloze sentence: Everyone had a gr____________ time at the party. After your review, groups may present their sentences to other groups for completion.

• Have students write sentences, paragraphs, poems, or riddles that make use of words that illustrate a particular phonics element.

• Have students syllabicate words on word cards. Then have them sort the word cards and identify the syllabication rule that applies to each group of words.

• Have students break away the prefixes and suffixes from each base word or root on a list of prefixed and suffixed words. Have students suggest to their partners what each word means, using their knowledge of the meanings of the base word or root, the suffixes, and the prefixes. Then have partners reconstruct the word and pronounce it.

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Glossary of Reading

ConsonantsConsonant Blends Consonant groupings in which each letter retains its own sound

Initial Consonant Blends

Final Consonant Blends

Consonant Digraphs Two consonants that together make one sound

chapter, chip, chomp, munch, chase, finch, chapped, ranch

shoelace, shore, shed, shade, refresh, flashlight, dashboard

thumb, thing, thunder, anthem, cloth, teeth, south, withhold

that, than, bathed, this, there, father, wither, either, soothing

wheeze, whimper, wheel, whisker, white, whisper, whenever

phone, photo, physician, alphabet, orphan, typhoon, graph

ring, opening, sung, clang, wrong, longer, kingdom, cling

/ch/ spelled ch

/sh/ spelled sh

/th/ spelled th

/TH/ spelled th

/hw/ spelled wh

/f/ spelled ph

/ng/ spelled ng

/kt/ spelled ct expect

/ft/ spelled ft craft

/ld/ spelled ld child

/lf/ spelled lf shelf

/lk/ spelled lk silk

/lp/ spelled lp gulp

/lt/ spelled lt wilt

/mp/ spelled mp lamp

/nd/ spelled nd depend

/nk/ spelled nk tank

/nt/ spelled nt sent

/sk/ spelled sk risk

/sp/ spelled sp clasp

/st/ spelled st east

/br/ spelled br brown

/kr/ spelled crcry

/dr/ spelled drdrip

/fr/ spelled frfrills

/gr/ spelled grgrin

/pr/ spelled prproud

/tr/ spelled tr try

/bl/ spelled blblue

/kl/ spelled clclown

/fl/ spelled flfly

/gl/ spelled glglad

/pl/ spelled plplease

/sl/ spelled slslip

/sk/ spelled scscoot

/sk/ spelled skskim

/sm/ spelled smsmall

/sn/ spelled snsnow

/sp/ spelled spspiral

/st/ spelled ststart

/sw/ spelled swswim

/skr/ spelled scr scramble

/skw/ spelled squ squirm

/spl/ spelled spl splint

/spr/ spelled spr spray

/str/ spelled strstripe

blends with r blends with l blends with s 3-letter blends


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Alternate Consonant Sounds The consonants c and g each have two possiblepronunciations.

Silent Consonants Two consonants in which one consonant is not sounded, oris silent.

VowelsCommon Vowel Sounds Vowel sounds are often referred to as long and short.

favor, acre, razor, radio, paper, pastry, stable, facial, hasty

me, frequency, legal, decode, cedar, legion, femur, senior, sequence

wild, pirate, idea, rival, tiger, microphone, rind, pliers, silence

over, old, proceeds, obedient, soda, romantic, notion, notice

unit, fugitive, utility, music, museum, humane, humidity, cuticle

tuba, tuna, duty, plumage, tulip, rumor, judo, judicial

apple, tax, fact, van, sat, shadow, castle, gallery, habit, accident

send, stress, bed, self, lens, web, tennis, pencil, beggar, freckles

slip, thick, rim, lid, bin, lift, finish, gimmick, income, rinse, film

knot, drop, bottle, nod, job, ponder, otter, object, property, lobster

strung, tumble, club, rustle, mud, umbrella, ruffle, rustic, umpire

/a_/ spelled a

/e_/ spelled e

/i_/ spelled i

/o_/ spelled o

/u_/ spelled u

/o_o_

/ spelled u

/a/ spelled a

/e/ spelled e

/i/ spelled i

/o/ spelled o

/u/ spelled u

gnat, gnaw, gnome, gnash, gnarled

knowledge, knot, knight, knob, kneepad, kneel, knuckle

write, wrap, wrench, wrath, wrong, wrinkle, wrist

rhino, rhapsody, rhubarb, rhyme, rhythm, rhombus

dumb, comb, succumb, crumb, thumb, numb, limb

/n/ spelled gn

/n/ spelled kn

/r/ spelled wr

/r/ spelled rh

/m/ spelled mb

cabin, captain, comma, cassette, collect, carry, second, because, rascal

cent, center, cedar, celery, ceremony, cellar, spice, prince, face, decide

gem, generous, gentle, gym, ginger, danger, genius, cage, bandage

goat, gain, get, golf, gasoline, beg, dog, fog, govern, lagoon, began

/k/ spelled c

/s/ spelled c

/j/ spelled g

/g/ spelled g

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Vowel Digraphs Pairs that make one sound

Diphthongs A vowel sound that glides from one vowel sound to another inthe same syllable

R-Controlled Vowels The unique sound of a vowel followed by the letter r

Variant Vowel Digraphs Two vowels that make a sound that is neither long nor short

Schwa The vowel sound often heard in an unstressed syllable

ago, alone, caboose, final, fatigue

shaken, item, frozen, eleven, legend

family, quantity, prodigy, fascinate

lemon, gallop, motor, today, opponent

circus, lecture, support, lettuce, status

/ / spelled a

/ / spelled e

/ / spelled i

/ / spelled o

/ / spelled u

e

e

e

e

e

look, bookcase, cookie, crook, hook, footprint, took, understood, wooden

soon, gloomy, bloom, tooth, troop, boot, food, school, cartoon

haunt, auto, August, launch, applaud, sauce, pauper, haul, faucet, fault

awful, awkward, hawk, draw, raw, yawn, claws, straw, crawl, dawn, pawn

/oo/ spelled oo

/o_o_

/ spelled oo

/aw/ spelled au

/aw/ spelled aw

cart, army, garment, tardy, harp, armor, partner, starch, garden

her, fern, herb, clerk, perk, germ, permanent, stern, herd, nerve

girl, first, bird, third, shirt, squirt, flirt, thirsty, circle, birth, thirty

fort, story, report, orbit, ordinary, storm, orchestra, horn, sport

burst, fur, duration, turn, curtsy, curb, curl, churn, furnish, turkey

/är/ spelled ar

/ûr/ spelled er

/ûr/ spelled ir

/ôr/ spelled or

/ûr/ spelled ur

oil, boil, coin, moist, turmoil, appoint, exploit, toil, disappointed, voice, poise

boy, joy, toy, annoy, voyage, loyal, employ, destroy, decoy, royal

down, towel, drowse, flower, powder, howling, frown, growl, crown

proud, sprout, noun, about, amount, slouch, doubt, vouch, round, blouse

/oi/ spelled oi

/oi/ spelled oy

/ow/ spelled ow

/ow/ spelled ou

pail, retail, waist, drain, obtain, faint, waitress, afraid, daily, rainbow

say, fray, subway, essay, holiday, delay, display, repayment, mayor, layer

steep, reed, screen, needle, teeth, freeze, freedom, leeway, gleeful

cream, leaf, east, pleat, grease, clean, heap, cease, lease, leave, peach

oak, toaster, throat, coast, float, foam, toad, roast, goal, roam

grown, throw, stowaway, mow, snowy, shows, slow, yellow

/a_/ spelled ai

/a_/ spelled ay

/e_/ spelled ee

/e_/ spelled ea

/o_/ spelled oa

/o_/ spelled ow


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Word FamiliesA word family is also called a phonogram. A core group of ending letters isused to make various words by simply changing the initial consonant or conso-nants. Word families are useful for phonemic awareness activities using substi-tution and blending. There are hundreds of word families. Ten common wordfamilies are shown below.

Word StudyHomophones (Sound-Alikes) Homophones are words that sound the same buthave different meanings and usually different spellings.

Homographs (Look-Alikes) Homographs are words that are spelled the samebut have different meanings and different origins. Some homographs have different pronunciations.

Synonyms Synonyms are words that have similar meanings.

Antonyms Antonyms are words that have opposite or nearly opposite meanings.

correct—wrong busy—idle dim—bright

bite, nibble, munch mistake, error, blunder run, dash, dart

bill (tells money owed) wound (an injury) fan (admirer)

bill (beak) wound (turned tightly) fan (cooling device)

bare (empty) base (foundation) sighs (exhalations)

bear (animal) bass (deep tone) size (amount)

cat, rat, hat, sat, chat, flat, gnat, scat, bat, pat, slat

back, sack, tack, black, snack, track, flack, knack, back

bank, rank, tank, crank, flank, thank, sank, clank, drank

day, say, gray, play, sway, tray, way, may, bray, stray

bell, fell, sell, tell, quell, shell, smell, well, spell, dell

lick, sick, brick, click, flick, trick, slick, tick, quick

light, night, sight, tight, bright, flight, knight, plight, fight

dock, lock, rock, sock, block, clock, mock, flock, stock

mop, top, chop, crop, drop, shop, stop, prop, flop, hop

bug, dug, hug, rug, tug, smug, snug, slug, mug, lug

at

ack

ank

ay

ell

ick

ight

ock

op

ug

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Compound Words A compound word is made up of distinct words.

Denotation/Connotation Denotation is a word’s dictionary definition.Connotation is an unstated, often emotional, association connected to the word.

House and home are synonyms, but home has a warm, personal meaning that isnot stated in its dictionary definition.

Syllabication A syllable is a spoken part of a word that contains a vowelsound. Breaking a word in syllables helps students decode longer words bysounding out each syllable.

Rule 1: When two consonants fall between two vowels, divide the syllables between the two consonants. However, never separate a blend, cluster, or digraph.

VC/CV bat/ter in/dex

Rule 2: In words with two vowels separated by a consonant, divide the syllables before or after the consonant. If you divide the syllables before the consonant, the first vowel has the long sound. If you divide the syllables after the consonant, the first vowel has the short sound.

V/CV spo/ken ba/con

VC/V com/ic sev/en

Rule 3: When a word ends with a consonant and an le, the consonant goes with le to form the final syllable.

V/C le ca/ble sta/ple trou/ble

Rule 4: A prefix or a suffix (except for common word endings such as -ed) usually forms a separate syllable.

Affixes prefix/base dis/charge

base/suffix joy/ous

Rule 5: Divide compound words between the distinct words.

Compound Words class/room blue/bird

My house is by the shore. My home is by the shore.

classroom blackbird merry-go-round

underground sunrise sparrow hawk


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Effective Vocabulary InstructionResearch tells us that general vocabulary knowledge is a critical component in determining how well readers understand text (Anderson and Freebody,1981). As students build both oral and print vocabulary knowledge, theyincrease their comprehension skills and their ability to read strategically.

The lessons in the Reading Strategies for the Social Studies Classroom pro-vide vocabulary activities that develop students’ knowledge of larger conceptsas well as their understanding of individual words. The vocabulary instructionprovides both direct and indirect ways for students to interact with wordsbefore, during, and after reading and encourages an ongoing curiosity aboutlanguage.

The key vocabulary terms provided are words and phrases critical for under-standing a selection. They may also be unfamiliar words that promise to be difficult. For struggling readers, it is especially useful to teach key vocabulary before students read. Activating prior knowledge and building background for new vocabulary give students a hook on which to hang what they learn.Reinforcement of key vocabulary during and after reading offers students addi-tional exposure to new words and concepts as well as to known words used innew ways.

Strategies for Teaching VocabularyBecause there is a clear connection between readers’ vocabulary knowledge and their ability to understand what they read, vocabulary instruction is essential to developing, strategic readers. Vocabulary learning is not a singular,isolated activity. Rather, students build vocabulary through repeated encounterswith words in rich oral and written contexts (Nagy, 1988). Teachers whoencourage active classroom discussions, who read aloud to students and havestudents read aloud, who encourage wide reading across content areas, and whoencourage students to use dictionaries and other word references to supportmeaning and usage reinforce listening, speaking, writing, and reading vocabu-lary skills. Each encounter with a word provides new clues to its meaning.Students’ understandings of those meanings build and deepen over time. Thestrategies here provide ways for teachers to offer students a variety of interactiveopportunities to become involved in the process of building vocabulary.

Using Context Clues Students can often determine the meaning of a wordthey don’t know by using context—the words and sentences that surround theunknown word. The following chart shows specific context clues for studentsto use as they read.

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Using General Context Sometimes the context does not provide a specific clueto the meaning of an unknown word; however, the general context containsclues. Direct students to study the main idea of a passage to see if it unlocksthe meaning of an unknown word.

ExamplesSince this was the boy’s first infraction of the rules, the principal lethim go with just a warning. (infraction: breaking or violating something)

A bad storm caused the ship to deviate from its course. It landedtwo hundred miles south of its intended destination. (deviate: turn aside from an established course)

Female crocodiles guard their nests and fight any predator that comes near. (predator: animal that preys on other animals)

Techniques for Using Context to Determine Meaning

• Ask students to look before, at, and after the unknown word for a context clue.

• Have students connect what they already know with what the authorhas written.

• Have students predict a possible meaning.

• Have them apply the meaning in the sentence.

• Ask students if their meaning makes sense. If not, have them try again.

Synonym Look for a synonym to the unknown word. You can often find synonyms in context when two things are compared.

Antonym Look for an antonym to the unknown word. Antonyms appear in context most often when two things are contrasted.

Definition Look for a phrase that defines or describes the unknown word. Commas, dashes, or parentheses often surround a phrase that gives this type of clue.

Example Look for examples that reveal the meaning of the unknown word.

The waiting passengers were disconcerted to hear their bus would be late. The bus driver seemed the most upset of all.

The service at this restaurant is quick. Is the service at that restaurant just as expeditious?

Yesterday Sam was despondent, but today he’s cheerful.

Trudy showed up for the interview looking neat and tidy, but Tony showed up looking disheveled.

Mark is interested in herpetology—the study of snakes.

In hieroglyphics, the writing of ancient Egypt, picture symbols are used to represent ideas.

He can’t decide which one of the martial arts to study—karate, judo, or tae kwon do.

Of all the marsupials, the kangaroo is probably the most familiar.

Type of Context Clue Examples


Using Words Parts (Structural Analysis)

Many words can be divided into parts: prefix, base word or root, and suffix.Knowing the meanings of common word parts can help readers unlock themeanings of unknown words.

PrefixesA prefix is a word part that comes before a base word or a root and changesthe meaning of the word.

SuffixesA suffix is a word part that comes after a base word or a root. It may changethe meaning of the word or the way the word is used in a sentence.

RootsA root is the part of a word that contains its basic meaning. Unlike a baseword, a root is not a word by itself. Many roots come from Greek or Latin.

bio

tele

dent

port

spec

life

distant

tooth

carry

look

biology, biography, biosphere

television, telescope, telegraph

dentist, trident, indent

porter, portable, transport

spectacles, introspective, circumspect

Root Meaning Examples

-less

-ish

-ful

-ist

-ous

without

like

full of

a person who

full of

careless, powerless, fearless, hopeless

greenish, childish, smallish, foolish

playful, thoughtful, joyful, helpful

biologist, artist, violinist, dentist

joyous, nervous, spacious, curious

Suffix Meaning Examples

dis-

re-

pre-

in-

non-

opposite of

back, again

before

not

without

disobey, displease, disown, dislike

return, rewrite, redo, relive

prejudge, prepay, preview, preheat

inactive, incorrect, inability, incomplete

nonfat, nonstop, nonresident, nonvoter

Prefix Meaning Examples

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Using Language Structure Clues

Look for passages that contain parallel structures—words arranged in similarways. Words that have parallel functions often contain clues to unknown words.

At the zoo, we saw a herd of zebras, a pride of lions, and a pack of wolvesin free-roaming environments. (Herd, pride, and pack are all words for groups of animals.)

The permanent pueblos of the Southwestern Indians were much differentfrom the temporary igloos of the Eskimos or the tepees of the Plains Indians. (Pueblos, igloos, and tepees are all words for Native American dwellings.)

Using Classifying and Categorizing Current research indicates that the brain isa pattern detector (Caine and Caine, 1994). Students enjoy sorting and group-ing items by similarities or separating items by differences. Word sorts—opensorts (where students choose how to label categories) and closed sorts (whereteachers provide the categories)—offer opportunities for students to organizeideas. Whenever students can see how words fit into a larger category, theyexpand their vocabulary knowledge.

Using Word Maps Many teachers routinely use maps to explore and teachvocabulary in the classroom. A map can be any kind of graphic that is designedto show relationships between words or concepts. A commonly used word mapor concept web shows a central bubble containing a key word or idea. Bubblesthat surround the center bubble may be used to show semantic relationships orto explain structure relationships.

Word M

apT35

Word Map


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Using a Concept-Definition Map A concept-definition map (Schwartz andRaphael, 1985) is a way to define a word visually. The top chart of the graphicasks What is it? The next chart asks What is it like? The last chart of the graphicasks What are some examples? Students use their prior knowledge about wordsand concepts to complete the map. As a group activity, a concept-definitionmap can be a powerful tool for building background.

Using a Semantic-Features Chart A semantic-features chart (Anders, Bos, andFilip, 1982; Johnson, Toms-Bronowski, and Pittleman, 1982) is a way to helpstudents focus on the discriminating features of items in a group. A semantic-features analysis asks students to complete a grid with marks to indicate a positive (+), negative (–), or possible (?) correlation.

Using Possible Sentences Possible Sentences (Beck and McKeown, 1983;Moore and Moore, 1986) is a strategy that allows students to speculate aboutword meanings. Especially useful for teaching selections dense with new

cat

dog

canary

fish

seal

+

+

–

–

?

–

–

+

–

–

+

+

–

–

?

Animals Fur Feathers Four legs

–

–

+

–

?

Two legs

T36 Concept Definition Map

Concept-Definition Map

What is it like?

What are some examples?

What is it?

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concepts or unfamiliar words, the activity requires teachers to choose aboutten key vocabulary terms and write them on the board. Teachers may con-struct sentences using the words either correctly or incorrectly. They then askstudents to comment on whether the sentences are “possible.” As an alterna-tive to providing sentences, teachers may ask that before reading a selection,students construct approximately five sentences from the key terms, takingeducated guesses about unfamiliar words or phrases. As students encounter thekey vocabulary during reading, they note each term’s usage in the selection’scontext. After reading, students return to their possible sentences to discussmeanings and to rewrite their own sentences as necessary.

Using Story Elements to Teach Vocabulary Fictional narratives and descrip-tions of real events share many of the same elements. They contain characters,settings, a problem or conflict, actions or events, and a resolution to the story’sproblem. They also contain a theme or message. These elements make up thestory’s structure. Students can use their anticipation of such structures andtheir knowledge of other stories to categorize key vocabulary words understory-element headings before they read (Blachowicz, 1986). Those categoriza-tions then become students’ predictions for what might happen in a selection.Conventional story maps also help students organize and remember fictionalworks by asking them to use story structure to keep track of key elements during reading.

T38 Vocabulary Story Map

Vocabulary Story Map

Characters Setting

Feeling Words Describing Words Action Words

Story Problem Words

Write one question you have about the story.


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Teaching Active Reading StrategiesIn the past, reading has been described as more of a skill than an active mentalprocess. We now know that reading is neither automatic nor passive. Readingis a highly interactive process in which students construct meaning from text(Anderson and Pearson, 1984). Readers do not passively receive an author’sideas.

No two students understand a selection exactly the same way, because eachbrings a unique background and set of experiences to the task (Rosenblatt,1978, 1994). Comprehension depends on those individual reader experiences.It also depends on the characteristics of the written text, the learning contextthat defines the reader’s task, and the strategies that are consciously applied bythe reader to construct meaning from printed words on a page.

We know that students learn what they are directly taught and what they havean opportunity to practice. The Reading Strategies for the Social StudiesClassroom provides carefully scaffolded unified lessons that develop students’strategic reading behaviors. Through explicit instruction, teachers model themost effective reading strategies and provide opportunities for students to prac-tice and eventually internalize the behaviors of effective readers.

Strategies are carefully thought out plans that readers use adaptively to makesense of what they read. The strategies that follow help students develop interactive reading behaviors that build comprehension of all types of text.

PreviewingWhen students preview or look over a selection before they read, they begin to activate what they already know. They also begin to see what they will need to know to make sense of the text. As students look at the title, illustra-tions, headings, picture captions, and graphics, teachers can guide students tooffer what they already know about a specific topic or about the author, genre,or ideas in the text. As students formulate questions about the text they arepreviewing, they can predict the selection’s content and thereby set a purposefor reading.

Activating Prior KnowledgeBy collectively discussing what students already know about a topic, teacherscan capitalize on opportunities to build background where student knowledgeis weak. They can also offer students a chance to learn from the prior knowl-edge of others. Most important, they actively cultivate the cognitive soil wherefuture knowledge can be planted. What students learn from the selection theyread is most effectively attached to what they already know. Using a KWLgraphic organizer (Ogle, 1986) helps students activate what they know,encourages them to generate questions about what they will read, and helpsthem record and review what they learn. Elaborated KWL organizers (Carrand Ogle, 1987) invite students to consider questions for further research andto specify where information will be found and how it will be organized.

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PredictingOne excellent way for readers to interact with text is to make an informedguess about what they will read. When students make predictions, they usetheir prior knowledge and the information they gather from previewing to create an expectation for what they will read. This expectation then providesa purpose for their reading and generates interest in the selection. As studentsread, they adjust or change their predictions on the basis of new informationthey encounter in the text, or they confirm that their prediction was accurate.In both instances, using the text to inform their predictions is essential.

QuestioningSeveral types of questioning are important in reading strategically. Studentsneed to ask general questions about the text before, during, and after theyread. They also need to question their own understanding of the content asthey read—that is, they need to conduct a running dialogue with themselves aspart of the metacognitive process of thinking about their own thinking. Thismetacognitive process will naturally lead students to ask specific questions toclarify text. Finally, students need to ask themselves questions about whatinformation is most important in a selection and about what concepts or information teachers will require them to know.

Monitoring ComprehensionResearch suggests that the most efficient readers have mental conversationswith themselves as they read (Dickson et al., 1998). They notice when some-thing does not make sense, and they apply fix-up strategies appropriate to theselection organization and to their own learning styles. Often good readers

T40 KWL Chart

KWL Chart

From Experience

Topic:

From Previewing

K - What I Already Know

W - What I Want to Learn

L - What I Learned

What I Want to Know More About How I Will Learn More


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accept a certain amount of ambiguity in the text and forge ahead, looking forways to clarify ideas as they read further. They may also decide to stop, rereada particular section, or adjust their reading rates. Students need to internalizea variety of fix-up strategies and to be able to use the strategies flexibly,depending on their own learning preferences, the structure of the text, or thedemands of the reading task.

VisualizingOne of the most powerful aids to comprehension, especially for younger read-ers, is visualizing (Pressley, 1977). Effective readers form mental pictures basedon a writer’s descriptions and on their own prior experiences. These mentalpictures help students understand what they read and increase their ability torecall the information for later use. Visualizing is helpful for both expositorytexts and descriptive fiction. Picturing the steps in a process is as powerful anaid to comprehension as is picturing the descriptive details about characters orsetting in a short story. Students often enjoy sketching what they see in theirmind’s eye as teachers read aloud.

InterpretingMore than just understanding and remembering the actual events in a story orthe information in a textbook, students need to use higher-level thinking skillsto attach meaning to events or to information. When students interpret, theyconstruct meaning from their own understandings about the world and aboutthe text.

AnalyzingWhen students look critically at the separate parts of a selection to under-stand the entire selection, they are analyzing. For example, students may breakapart a story to look at character, setting, plot, and theme to understand thestory as a whole. They may bring in outside information about the author tohelp with their analyses. In a nonfiction selection, students analyze the causesand effects of volcanoes to understand a selection on the eruption of MountSaint Helens. Whenever students use the organizational pattern of a piece ofwriting to help determine the main ideas and the author’s message, they areanalyzing text structure.

ConnectingStudents who actively connect what they read to events in their own lives aswell as to other selections they have read establish a conduit for constructingmeaning in text. By connecting ideas, emotions, and events to themselves, students also increase their enjoyment of a selection and increase their abilities to comprehend and recall information and ideas.

RespondingWhen students offer personal responses as they read, they are interacting witha text in an important way. Teachers can help students become engaged in a

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selection by asking questions about what students like, what they don’t like,what surprises them, and how they feel about characters in a story or ideas in anonfiction selection.

ReviewingAs students read, teachers should pause at various points to review. Periodicreview is especially important when students read informational text densewith new concepts. Reading guides help students negotiate their way throughdifficult text and keep struggling readers on task. These guides are also helpfulmodels to use when reviewing a selection. Outlines, charts, graphic organizers,and other visual aids help students organize information as they read and arealso valuable aids for reviewing information after reading.

EvaluatingAs students have access to increasingly larger amounts of print materials,including a variety of electronic resources, they need to be able to evaluatewhat they read. Evaluating requires making a judgment or forming an opinion.For example, students evaluate when they form an opinion about characters ina story. They evaluate when they judge a writer’s ability to use compellingdescription. They also evaluate expository texts—newspapers, editorials, adver-tisements, and essays—when they distinguish between fact and opinion. Toevaluate whether information is reliable, students should pose questions suchas Is the author qualified to write on this subject? Is the point of view biased? Is thereanother point of view not expressed here? Are opinions backed up with facts, statis-tics, and examples?


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Teaching Reading and Thinking SkillsEffective readers use the strategies described above to maneuver meaningfullythrough text. They apply these strategies flexibly and internalize good readingbehaviors so that those behaviors become automatic. To become independentreaders, however, students also need to acquire the reading and thinking skillsbuilt around and supported by those strategies. Teachers need to teach criticalreading and thinking skills and to explain why those skills are important.Teachers also need to know when and how to teach the skills.

Identifying Main Idea and Supporting DetailsTrying to find the main idea of a passage is a difficult task—it requires the criticalthinking skill of distinguishing between what is important and what is secondary.Determining supporting details means locating the ideas or examples that extendthe main idea or give additional information. Essentially readers determine anauthor’s purpose when they find main ideas in a selection. To do that, studentsneed to use information about how a particular text is structured (cause andeffect, compare and contrast, problem and solution, chronological order) andcombine that information with what they know about a topic, idea, or author.Teachers can help guide students to determine what is important in a selection bymodeling their own thought processes and by discussing how to use text structureto locate main ideas. Students should be reminded that the main idea of a para-graph is often found in the topic sentence; however, they will sometimes need toinfer the main idea of a paragraph by using prior knowledge and the informationpresented in the paragraph.

Teaching students to find main ideas and supporting details is helpful duringand after reading. It helps students prepare to summarize. By activating priorknowledge and previewing text before reading, students learn to anticipatewhat main ideas they will find.

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SummarizingSummarizing is a critical reading and thinking skill. To summarize, studentsneed to be able to determine the most important ideas in a selection and thenrestate those ideas in their own words and in a logical sequence.

Summarizing teaches students to reduce information and allows them torethink what they have read. As students summarize, they learn material moredeeply and can more easily retrieve what they have learned for subsequent academic tasks.

Techniques for Determining Main Ideas and Supporting Details

• Ask students to share prior knowledge about an author or a topic.

• Guide students to anticipate what might be important in a selection.

• Look at the text structure of a selection to see how the author organizesideas in a selection, for example, cause and effect, compare and contrast,or chronological order.

• Invite students to read one paragraph of text and ask questions such asWhat one idea are all the sentences in this paragraph about? How does thatidea fit in with what I know about this topic? About this author? About howthis selection is organized? What sentences add information to the most important idea?

• Remind students to look for headings, captions, illustrations, and othertext features to help them determine main ideas in a selection.

Main Idea/Details Chart T41

Details

+MainIdea


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Summarizing is a skill that can be used flexibly both as an oral and writtenactivity. Students can summarize as often as necessary to monitor their under-standing of a selection. Teachers should encourage students to summarize morefrequently when text material is difficult.

Making InferencesMaking inferences requires that students use their reason and their experienceto take educated guesses about what an author implies or suggests. Becausewriters often do not directly state what they want readers to know, makinginferences is essential to constructing meaning in a selection.

Selections that encourage character analysis or that suggest a theme for discus-sion provide good opportunities for students to learn to make inferences.

Drawing ConclusionsA conclusion is a general statement that can be made and explained with reasoning or with supporting details. Drawing conclusions is part of the processof inferring. For example, if students read three separate selections about tor-nadoes—a fictional story about a boy who loses his family in a tornado, aninformational selection about how weather forecasters chart wind speeds anddirectional paths of tornadoes, and an autobiographical piece by someone whosurvived a terrible tornado—they may conclude that tornadoes are monumen-

Techniques for Making Inferences

• Guide students to look for text clues. Encourage them to notice descrip-tions, dialogue, events, or relationships that might signal information awriter is suggesting.

• Ask students to think about what they already know–either from priortext clues or from their own experiences.

• As students read, ask questions that require them to think beyond theliteral events of a selection.

• Model your own process of inferring when you read aloud.

Techniques for Summarizing

• Ask students What is this passage about?

• Invite students to begin their summaries by answering who, what, where,when, why, and how?

• Remind students that only main ideas should be included in a summarybut that all the main ideas should be included.

• To determine if students have included all main ideas, ask: Can yoursummary be easily understood by someone who has not read the selection?

• To help students determine if they have included unnecessary informa-tion, ask: If this information were excluded, would your summary still soundcomplete?

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tal forces of nature that can inflict unimaginable damage. Students may drawconclusions about character traits of people in stories based on events and dialogue within a selection.

Drawing conclusions helps students see connections between ideas and events as they read and is useful both in constructing meaning in fiction andnonfiction and in analyzing and interpreting ideas.

Understanding SequenceThe order in which thoughts are arranged is called sequence. A good sequenceis logical. When writers present the steps in a scientific process or providetechnical directions for operating machinery, they follow a logical sequence.Cookbooks rely on a specific sequence to help readers follow a recipe. Somewriters choose to arrange their ideas by order of importance, placing the mostimportant idea either first or last. In narrative writing, chronological, or time,order is used most often.

If a written sequence is either illogical or incomplete, readers may fail to com-plete an important task, follow a complicated thought process, or understandevents as they occur.

One of the best ways for teachers to help students recognize sequence in a selec-tion is to teach them to look for signal words, transitional words and phrasesthat indicate chronological order, steps in a process, or order of importance.

Techniques for Identifying Sequence

• Have students preview the selection. Does the author intend to tell astory? To explain how something works? To present information?

• Ask students to consider what sequence might be most logical given thewriter’s purpose.

• Direct students to look for clues, or signal words, to help them determinesequence.

• Have students restate the sequence in their own words.

Techniques for Drawing Conclusions

• Ask students to notice specific details about characters, ideas, and information as they read.

• Invite students to use the information they have and their own priorknowledge to think about a larger or more general statement that might be made.

• Caution students not to overgeneralize and not to draw unsound conclusions based on insufficient or inaccurate information.


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Determining Fact and OpinionA fact is a statement that can be proved or tested. An opinion, on the otherhand, is a statement of belief that cannot be proved. Writers, though, canoften lend validity to their opinions by gathering support from experts and bysupporting opinions with facts.

The ability to distinguish fact from opinion has never been more importantthan it is today. Internet sites and other online resources provide a vastamount of information that is not always accurate. Whenever students readexpository texts, they need to determine whether they are reading fact or opinion.

Techniques for Determining Fact and Opinion

• Ask students what information is presented.

• Have students determine the source or sources of the information. Howis the information supported? Can it be proved? How reliable are sourcesused to prove statements?

• Is the author or source of information qualified to speak with authority?What are his or her credentials?

• Invite students to evaluate the motivation of the writer. Sometimes writersslant information to convince readers to agree with them.

Chronological order

Steps in a process

Order of importance

first, second, next, then, earlier, later, eventually, finally, last, earlier, later

first, then, add, proceed, finally

most important, least important, most significant, the chief reason, most meaningful

Sequence Signal Words

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Analyzing Cause-and-Effect RelationshipsA cause is an action or event that makes something happen; an effect is theresult of that action or event. A single cause (for example, a tornado) can pro-duce multiple effects. Similarly, a single effect (for example, a war) may haveseveral causes. Writers use clue words to indicate cause-and-effect relationships.

Students who can determine why something occurred and what happened as a result can more clearly see relationships that will allow them to interpret,analyze, and evaluate ideas in a selection.

Techniques for Analyzing Cause-and-Effect Relationships

• To help students find the cause in a passage, ask the question Why?

• To help students find the effect, ask the question What is the result?

• Ask students to look for clue words that signal cause-and-effect relation-ships, such as because, since, as a result, so, the reason that, and consequently.

• Caution students that just because one event precedes another, causalityis not necessarily established.

Cause and Effect/Problem and Solution Chart T43

Cause and Effect/Problem and Solution


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Comparing and ContrastingStudents who are able to see similarities and differences in events, people, andideas in text are better able to construct meaning from a selection. Comparingmeans to look at the ways items, people, or ideas are similar. Contrastingmeans to look at the ways things or people are different.

When writers compare items, they frequently use signal words such as both,same, alike, like, also, and similarly to provide clues.

Signal words such as unlike, but, although, yet, however, on the other hand, instead,and even though provide clues to contrasting items.

Writers may juxtapose two dissimilar characters or ideas to make each moredistinct. They may also compare an unfamiliar person or idea with someone orsomething familiar to help students understand and interpret what they read.

Techniques for Comparing and Contrasting

• Ask students to look carefully at the descriptions and other details anauthor includes in a selection.

• Have them look for clue words that signal that the author is comparingor contrasting items.

• Invite students to think about why a writer might compare or contrastthings or people. Is there a larger purpose or idea an author may wish toconvey?

• Tell students that sometimes there are no signal words to indicate comparison or contrast. Students must use descriptive details in thoseinstances to infer similarities or differences between items.

T44Venn D

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Both

Venn Diagram

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Analyzing Problem and SolutionIn both fiction and nonfiction, readers often need to identify a particular problem and its solution. Certainly story grammar is organized around a problem,or conflict, known as the plot and a series of events that lead to a solution, orresolution. Informational texts and other expository materials may also askreaders to reflect on a problem or challenge. Sometimes writers provide solu-tions they think are logical and appropriate, and sometimes they ask readers to consider what steps or actions might work to solve a particular problem.

Helping students identify and analyze a problem in a selection enables themto see the complexity of an issue or an idea that a writer presents. Askingthem to define, evaluate, or even determine a solution to a given problemgives students practice in thinking logically and systematically.

Reproducible Graphic OrganizersTo enhance your teaching of reading skills and strategies, see the reproduciblegraphic organizers that follow the bibliography.

Techniques for Analyzing Problem and Solution

• Ask students to identify through their reading the main problem in apassage or selection.

• Ask students how that problem is defined. Does a person in a story havethe problem? Is the problem part of an academic task (such as a mathproblem) or the beginning of the explanation of a process (such as a science experiment)?

• What logical steps or actions may be taken to solve the problem? Are possible or partial solutions presented? If so, what are they?

• What happens as a result of the steps or actions taken?

• What other actions may be taken to provide a more permanent solution?

• Ask students to evaluate why a solution did or did not work. How mightthey have solved the problem differently?


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Word Map 33

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34 Concept-Definition Map

Concept-Definition Map

What is it like?

What are some examples?

What is it?

Semantic Feature Analysis Grid 35

Sem

anti

c-Fe

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Gri

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Cate

gory

Features

36 Vocabulary Story Map

Vocabulary Story Map

Characters Setting

Feeling Words Describing Words Action Words

Story Problem Words

Write one question you have about the story.

Story Map 37

Story MapTitle:

Problem:

Solution:

Theme:

Event 1

Event 2

Event 3

Event 4

Event 5

Characters:

Setting:

38 KWL Chart

KWL Chart

From Experience

Topic:

From Previewing

K - What I Already Know

W - What I Want to Learn

L - What I Learned

What I Want to Know More About How I Will Learn More

Main Idea/Details Chart 39

Details

+MainIdea

40 Sequence Chart

1

2

3

4

Seq

uen

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t

Cause and Effect/Problem and Solution Chart 41

Cause and Effect/Problem and Solution

42 Venn Diagram

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