Comprehension+Strategies


 * Visualization:** Have a mental picture in your head while you read.

**Admit Slip:** Ask questions before you begin reading about what will happen next. This can be before you read the book, or before you read the next chapter, or before you read the next page.

Example: Will Andy forgive Keisha for the fight they had?

**Prediction:** Guess what will happen next.

Example: Andy will forgive Keisha, but they will not get back together.

**Reciprocal Teaching:**Use four roles: Predictor, Questioner (this person asks a CLARIFYING question), clarifier, and summarizer.

**Graphic Organizers:** A visual representation of your thoughts

**Context Clues:** Using the words around the unfamiliar word to determine its meaning. To use this write down the sentence that contains the word, and then write down your guess of what the word means.

**Cause & Effect:** Something happens as a result of something else

**Inferences**: An educated guess about something not stated explicitly

Example: A character in the novel always raises her hand when the teacher asks a question. From this the reader can infer she is smart.

Think-Pair-Share: Ask a thought-provoking question related to something in the novel. Dialogue it out with a partner, and then share with the class or group.

**Think-Aloud:** Stop and answer the following questions in detail. Do I understand what I just read; Do I have a clear picture in my head, Are my predictions accurate or do I need to adjust them? Do not just answer yes or no. If the answer is a yes, then elaborate and explain.

**Summary:** When creating a summary of the reading, the students should include 3 main events, problem, and solution.

**Clarifying Question:** Ask a question about something you do not understand. This is different from an admit slip question. An admit slip is engaging your interest by asking what will happen next; a clarifying question is asking something you don’t understand. These are the types of questions students should ask in reciprocal teaching.

Example: Why did Andy break up with Keisha?

**Annotations:** Taking notes in the margin. There are 3 types: reader response, questions, and interpretation. Interpretation is where you make sense of a certain line—writing down what you think it means. Reader response is just a personal reaction.

**Connections:**Connect to the novel in 3 ways: text to self, personal connection to a situation or character; text to text, connect the novel to another novel, movie, or song,; text to world, connect the novel to an EVENT in the word.

A lot of students mess up on text to world. If a character has low self-esteem, they will say a text to world connection is a lot of people in the world struggle with self-esteem; that is incorrect. It must be connecting to an event.

Example: If a black character stands up for his rights the students could connect that to Rosa Parks.