I appreciated the research note that 12 encounters are recommended to increase comprehension.

New ideas from this chapter include the routine for oral language (p. 134) and the keyword outline. This seems like a practical and efficient technique to support both comprehension and written expression.

Strategies for success was a section I stayed on a little longer because these strategies allow me as the teacher to understand my role in helping children understand what is being read, even the oral language acquisition, I dog-eared this page because this will be how I can set a path for creating background knowledge and vocabulary acquisition with my students and for my students.

Now, I'm very intentional about making sure my students understand what we are reading about. I will ask them if they know what a word means and will use technology to show them images. I also really love that my program uses background building in the oral reading procedure. Students are told what we're going to read about and are asked to share what they already know and what they thing we will learn. Then the text provides important vocabulary that students need to know and words to find in the text before reading that may be tricky.

My school has a very high hispanic population and we are expected to use EL strategies. One very popular strategy is TPR (total physical response) where students put an action to a new word to help remember it. Because I work with students at and below the 5th percentile on the MAP assessment, I am working on more of the SOR learning to read strategies. We really don't have the opportunity to work on comprehension. I did really like the paragraph shrinking procedure and will share it with the classroom teachers I work with.

I really like the strategy explained on page 134-135 Implement a Routine for Oral Language. It gives repeated exposure to the word, and it also allows for students to build connection. And there is a read aloud component that I have been building into my classroom more. On page 136, Kemeny explained the Text Talk strategy and the teacher created Text Talk lessons. The reason I am focusing on the oral language component is I work with students who are also impacted by word finding speech language delays and multilingual learners. These strategies are also for usage of more language and create opportunities to meaningfully build in more words into a students vocabulary. This is a nice way to start creating more diverse word choice and for students to be comfortable asking and answering more open ended questions. I also feel like it would help with multimeaning words and homophones.

Since reading this book, vocabulary is one area where I would rework my previous teaching strategies. I would definitely use Anita Archer’s model to introduce vocabulary.   I used slides in the past, but I would make it more of an active process using her four step model. I think the Three Column Note would be a good shift for third graders.  I used Frayer’s Model, but the Three Column Note would be better suited to 3rd grade.   I recently observed in a class where I suggested using the vocabulary skits with action words.   Students were motivated and the movement was great for all.   Since I was in a testing grade, I always modeled and taught academic vocabulary.  I would be more intentional about using vocabulary for everyday activities like classroom routines, behaviors, and performance.  

For background knowledge, I always did a unit on generate questions and summarizing.  I would certainly implement the paragraph shrinking and I like the anchor chart that was included.  Last, but not least, since attending the Explicit Instruction Training by Anita Archer, being aware of opportunities for students to respond and providing ample retrieval pratice will be at the forefront of instructional time. 

In my role as a K-2 reading specialist, my time with my tier 3 students is limited and we spend almost all of it on the word recognition strands of the reading rope. This chapter really got me thinking about comprehension and what I can do in my role to better address the language comprehension strands during my short time with my students.

New ideas from this chapter that I will be trying out with my students are keyword outlines, Anita Archer's explicit routine for teaching vocabulary, and generating questions. I have specific groups in mind to use each of these strategies with. I will use the keyword outlines with my tier 3 second graders. I think this will be beneficial for them because we will be addressing comprehension as well as writing skills - which are two areas the need help developing. They will also likely get some fluency practice because I suspect we will be rereading texts to select those key words.

I will use Anita Archer's explicit vocabulary routine with a tier 2 first grade group that I work with. It includes five students - three of them are ELL students, two of those ELL students are still building their vocabulary knowledge and I think they will really enjoy this strategy to learn new words.

Finally I will use generating questions with my tier 3 first graders. We have been working on what a sentence is and sentence comprehension. They have some difficulty identifying the difference between statements and questions. I think this strategy will help them with that as well as further developing their comprehension of text we are reading together.

Teaching and modeling academic and sophisticated vocabulary is a huge emphasis of my style of teaching and curriculum. Right or wrong, my school pivots from spelling (K-3) to vocabulary (without spelling or phonics focus) in grades 4-5. We use Wordly Wise to build this vocabulary. An additional practice I’ve used is having my students create a word card that shows a representation of an assigned word, each student gets a different word each week, and has to use the word in a sentence, showing meaning. These cards are then displayed in the room where other students lift the card to see the sentence on the back side. This gives an authentic audience and helps students learn from their peers' understanding. They are also so curious to see what their peers have done. Additionally, I encourage students to hunt for their Wordly Wise words in “real life”, identifying them when they spot them in a text or hear them in conversation. Students get bonus points using a Wordly Wise word when answering questions in class as well. I frequently use the words in our lessons or conversations as motivation. This translates to writing because I have the students aim to use current or past vocabulary words in their writing. We also put a heavy emphasis on using rich vocabulary in all of the written work they produce. We point out rich language and words in the texts we read aloud, always stopping to ask what they think it means, and then I fill in or correct any misconceptions they have. This has been a huge motivating factor in learning for my 4th graders.

The examples provided about paragraph shrinking and keywords outlines reminded me of Close Reading strategies that I use frequently from Sunday Cummins. Each year I teach my students how to identify “pasta words” to help them summarize and build sentences, orally and written. I have my students practice orally multiple times and with multiple versions of a sentence to build upon and make them stronger before putting them down on paper. I find that this repeated effort with the content also helps cement the concept and produces background knowledge for the future.

To address this, I plan to increase the use of rich, intentional read-alouds. Many of my students with IEPs are reading well below grade-level expectations, which can limit their access to comprehension-focused instruction when working solely within decodable or instructional-level texts. By incorporating grade-level read-alouds during targeted sessions, I can intentionally focus on comprehension skills while leveraging students’ strong background knowledge and oral language. My students have so much background knowledge to offer, and I love watching them teach others with confidence.

Building on this, I plan to consistently implement a structured vocabulary instructional routine during read-alouds. I will pre-select and mark key vocabulary within the text and provide explicit instruction through student-friendly explanations, acting out words, drawing representations, and using the words in discussion.

Additionally, I am working to be more intentional with my use of academic language during instructional conversations. To support this goal, I have posted reference pages (pp. 145–146) in my classroom as a visible reminder to model precise language and embed it consistently into discussions with students.

Finally, I plan to incorporate vocabulary skits into my phonics groups as a way to reinforce word meanings in an engaging and memorable way. These skits will allow students to actively use vocabulary in context, strengthening both expressive language and comprehension while maintaining high engagement.

Overall, these intentional instructional moves reflect my commitment to continuous growth and to providing students with equitable access to rigorous comprehension instruction.