https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6 Samantha Barth en-us 2019-02-13 14:03:30 UTC 2026-02-07 04:32:58 UTC hello@padlet.com barths https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330851077 A strategy that is been know to help readers activate prior knowledge and set a real purpose for reading is called previewing. This can be also called surveying. Students start by reading a selection's title, heading, introduction, and summary before they begin reading. They may also want to look at illustrations to get an overall idea of the selection. As reader's preview the text, they may also activate their prior knowledge of what they already know about the subject. 
This strategy will work with my students and will benefit all students because it is a simple strategy to put into place. We will start with picture books at the beginning of year, and eventually move on to more difficult nonfiction text types.

I teach this strategy at the beginning of the year when I teach the students how to pick a good fit book. I want students to start looking at all these parts of the text before they decide to read the book to make sure it in in their readiness level and is something they are interested in. I model and demonstrate how to use this strategy throughout the year with read alouds, our stories in the Journey Curriculum and any nonfiction articles we read online. I will assess the effectiveness of this strategy during guided practice, independent practice and during the teaching of our other comprehension strategies. I believe this strategy ties in nicely with activating prior knowledge and would teach them together to help use them to reinforce one another. 

]]> 2019-02-13 15:28:25 UTC https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330851077 barths https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330865442 According to researchers a major key to developing comprehension is building background knowledge. Comprehension involves relating the unknown to the known. It is important for students to become aware of what they already know about a subject so they can make connections as they read. This strategy benefits and works well with all students because  all students come to class with their own unique background information.  Being able to discuss their prior knowledge gives students a chance to interact with the text even more. 

I teach this strategy to my students at the beginning of the year closely tied in to the other pre-reading strategy of previewing. I explain to my students that their brains are like "files," or a file cabinet. All the information and experiences they have had in life are filed away in a particular file which makes up their prior knowledge. Before we begin reading any text I first model to students how to activate their prior knowledge. A great way to do this would be using a web on a white board. This way students can add ideas that they have and we can discuss what we already may know. I will be able to assess the effectiveness of this strategy by having students fill our their own webs regarding their prior knowledge. At times students even enjoy drawing pictures or telling short stories that they may have in relation to the text. ]]> 2019-02-13 15:50:42 UTC https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330865442 barths https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330933490 One of the comprehension strategies that I find most useful in my own reading is being able to determine the important details. Students need to know before reading any type of text what is their purpose of reading it. Once they understand the purpose of reading the material then they will be able to determine what details are most important. This skill will work and help all students with comprehension. The skill keeps readers from drowning in unneeded details. At times I have found it difficult with some students to be able to pull main idea and important information so we work on classifying pictures, words and short sentences first. 

I teach this strategy to my students when we work on identifying main ideas. We start small and I have students work on classifying pictures to finally being able to read a nonfiction text and pull out the main ideas. There are many different ways to asses students while working on this strategy. One of the ways I use most often is a graphic organizer or different sorting/classifying centers or rotations. ]]> 2019-02-13 17:37:46 UTC https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330933490 barths https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330941539 Many experts listed summarizing as the most effective comprehension strategy. Summarizing builds on the previous strategy of determining important details. It also improves comprehension and increases retention. Summarizing also helps students understand text structure which is a key to understanding the text and writing summaries. This strategy is considered a key 21st century skill that takes years to fully  develop and this strategy will work and be beneficial to all students. There are many different ways to differentiate instruction and assignments to help all students be able to create a successful summary. Retelling or giving an oral summary is a great way to begin demonstrating what this skill looks like. 

I will teach this strategy to my students by first starting with retelling. This is a great strategy to model while reading and use anchor paper to write down information. Students can mentally summarize information, verbally or come up with a written summary. Using graphic organizers or maps are a great tool to help organize information needed to put together a summary. I can assess the effectiveness of the strategy by having students read a story and after reading key sections summarize the material. We can work our way up to more difficult text the more experienced they become. ]]> 2019-02-13 17:49:56 UTC https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330941539 barths https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330962100 Checking is an important during reading and post reading strategy. Students should be able to tell if they are comprehending the material they are reading, and if they are not what is the reason behind the disruption. Students should be encouraged to check for understanding and whether their goals are being achieved. A great way to do this is by asking questions. This strategy works well with students and most benefit from this because it reminds them to stay on task and check in with themselves while reading and after reading. 

I teach this strategy to my students at the beginning of the year as well. Students need to be able to understand why they are not comprehending material. Is there an unknown term? Is there a confusing idea? Does the student lack prior knowledge regrading this topic? Did they take the time to preview the text? What are some of the main ideas or important details? Having students get in the habit of checking for their own understanding is a skill that will help them throughout life. One way to assess the effectiveness of this strategy would be having students answer questions at the end of the text to check their understanding or what it is they must have missed and why. ]]> 2019-02-13 18:22:07 UTC https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330962100 barths https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330977823 Looking back is one of the most valuable post-reading strategies but is very much underused. In my experience I have found that students know they can do it but are just lazy in wanting to go back to reread or look it up. I try to explain to the students that they might not have to reread the entire text but may have to skim back over the text and locate the portion that contains the information they need. Again this strategy works for all students and benefits them as well. Especially during NWEA testing. :) 

I teach this strategy at the beginning of the year as well so students have this in their "tool box," when they run across a problem with their reading comprehension. I explain that even adults use this skill and cannot remember everything. I then model it when I am unable to answer a question. Most of the time I will actually highlight the section that I go back to read to show the students that the answers are truly there if they are willing to look for them.I can assess the effectiveness of this strategy by providing material and questions for students to answer and highlight the text evidence where they found it.  ]]> 2019-02-13 18:49:06 UTC https://padlet.com/barths/s1o7evnj92t6/wish/330977823