S CAFFOLDING

R EADING
C OMPREHENSION

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS

 Comprehension is the process of
Before simultaneously extracting and constructing
meaning through interaction and
involvement with written language. It
During consists of three elements:
 The reader
After
 The text
 The activity or purpose for reading
(Rand Reading Study Group, 2002)

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 What should
happen
before, during
and after
reading?

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 S CAFFOLDING READING IN
THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

The Scaffolding Reading in the

Elementary Grades modules
provide the instructional
routines and strategies teachers
need to help students extract
and construct meaning.
OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING
 B EFORE READING

 Teach the pronunciation of difficult to

Module
Contents read words
 Teach the meaning of critical,
unknown vocabulary words
 Teach or activate any necessary
background knowledge
 Preview the story or the article
OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING
 D URING READING

 Utilize passage reading procedures that

provide adequate reading practice
Module
 Ask appropriate questions during passage
Contents
reading
 Teach strategies that can be applied to
passage reading
 Use graphic organizers to enhance
comprehension

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 A FTER READING

 Provide intentional fluency building

Module practice
Contents
 Engage students in a discussion
 Have students answer written questions
 Provide engaging vocabulary practice
 Have students write summaries of what
they have read
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S NAPSHOTS OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL
PRACTICES AND ROUTINES

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B EFORE READING

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS,

EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING
 B EFORE READING

If students can read the

BIG
words in a passage accurately
IDEA and fluently, their reading
comprehension will be
enhanced.

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T EACH THE PRONUNCIATION OF
DIFFICULT TO READ WORDS .

Procedures for telling the word(s).

This word is ____________________ .

What word _____________________?
Spell and read the word. _________________

focus inspector glimpse spectator

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 A S TRATEGY M ODELED

Decoding Instruction, 1st Grade

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 If students understand the
BIG
meaning of critical
IDEA vocabulary in the passage,
their comprehension will be
enhanced.

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 T EACH THE MEANING OF
CRITICAL , UNKNOWN WORDS

 Tier One: Basic words

 Chair, bed, happy, house

 Tier Two: Words in general use, but not common

 Concentrate, absurd, fortunate, relieved, dignity

 Tier Three: Rare words limited to a specific domain

 Tundra, igneous rocks, weathering

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 K EY CONCEPTS IN TEACHING
CRITICAL , UNKNOWN WORDS

 Select words that are unknown and

critical to passage understanding.
 Select words students are likely to
encounter in the future
 Tier 2 words
 Academic vocabulary
 Student-friendly explanations

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 E XAMPLE : TEACHING
CRITICAL , UNKNOWN WORDS
Select three words for robust explicit instruction.

Reading Level: 2nd

Series: Harcourt Trophies
Passage: Lemonade for Sale

announced members neighborhood

arrived rebuild lemonade

glum squawked clubhouse

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 S TUDENT - FRIENDLY
EXPLANATIONS

 Dictionary Definition
 Relieved – (1) to free wholly from pain, stress,
pressure. (2) to lessen or alleviate, as pain or
pressure

 Student Friendly Explanation

 When something that is difficult is over or never
happened at all, you feel relieved.

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 S TUDENT FRIENDLY
DEFINITIONS

Dictionary Definition Student-Friendly Definition

Disgusting – to cause to feel

disgust; be sickening, repulsive, or
very distasteful to

Fragile – easily broken, damaged,

or destroyed

Gratitude – a feeling of thankful

appreciation for favors or benefits
received

Loitering- to linger in an aimless

way; spend time idly

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 A CTIVITY: CREATING STUDENT -
FRIENDLY EXPLANATIONS

 Gape - to open the mouth wide

involuntarily, as the result of hunger,
sleepiness, or absorbed attention
 Glimpse – 1) momentary or slight
appearance, 2) a vague idea; inkling.
 Scrutinize - to examine in detail with
careful or critical attention

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 C OLLINS C OBUILD S TUDENT
D ICTIONARY

http://www.elearnaid.com/coconewstdis.html
 A S TRATEGY

Vocabulary Instruction, 2nd Grade

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 If students have the
BIG
background knowledge
IDEA required by a passage, their
comprehension will be
enhanced.

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 T EACH OR ACTIVATE NECESSARY
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE .

Strategy #3 Example

 Prior to passage reading,

select and read aloud a book
that provides necessary
background knowledge
 Passage: Me and Uncle
Romie
 Background knowledge
needed: Life in a big city

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 A CTIVATING B ACKGROUND
K NOWLEDGE

Activate background knowledge using a

research validated strategy

Ask students Brainstorm the

Activate
questions and topics/questions
knowledge using
engage in a that might be
the KWL strategy
discussion covered

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

B-K-W-L-Q
Background Knowledge What we want Language Questions we
to know needed for can now
writing answer

Front load, front load, front load!!

(Adapted from Ogale’s KWL by J. Allen)

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 BIG If students preview a
passage, their
IDEA
comprehension is
enhanced.

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D URING READING

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS,

EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING
 Asking students questions
BIG
during passage reading has
IDEA proven effectiveness in
improving the comprehension
of students.

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 Q UESTIONING THE AUTHOR : A N
APPROACH FOR ENHANCING STUDENT
ENGAGEMENT WITH TEXT
( B EC K , M C K EOWN , H AMILTON & K UC AN , 1 9 9 7)

 Comprehension strategy to teach

students to construct meaning during
reading
 Queries, or discussion questions,
encourage students to engage with ideas
in text to build meaning
 Queries help teachers facilitate group
discussion and student-to-student
interaction

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 Q UERY EXAMPLES

 What is the author

trying to say?
 Why do you think
the author used the
following phrase?
 Does this make
sense to you?

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 Instruction in specific cognitive
BIG strategies can improve reading
IDEA comprehension for all students
and, most particularly, can assist
struggling readers.

(RAND Reading Study Group, 2002)

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 C OGNITIVE STRATEGIES

 Competent Readers Strategies

 Text Structure Strategies
 Fix-Up Strategies
 Reread

 Look back

 Read ahead

 Restate in your own words

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 BIG
The ability to identify and take
IDEA advantage of text
organization can contribute
to students’ comprehension.
(Dickson, Simmons, & Kameenui, 1998)

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 T EXT ORGANIZATION

 Story Grammar
 Title, author, setting, main characters, conflict
resolution, events, conclusion

 Patterns of Expository Text

 Each paragraph is a body of knowledge

 Determine topic of paragraph

 Determine critical supporting details

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 S TRATEGY E XAMPLE

 Paragraph Shrinking
 Name the who or what.
 Tell the most important thing about the
who or what.
 Say the main idea in 10 words or less.

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 The main effect of graphic
BIG organizers appears to be on
IDEA the improvement of the
reader’s memory for the
content that has been read.

(Dickson, Simmons, & Kameenui, 1998)

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 G RAPHIC ORGANIZERS

 Narrative Text (Story Maps)

 Expository Text (Flow charts,

compare/contrast)

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A FTER READING

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS,

EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING
 BIG Fluency is related to
reading comprehension.
IDEA

(Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998; Fuchs, Fuchs, & Maxwell, 1988)

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 FLUENCY

 Repeated Reading
 Cold-timing
 Accuracy Practice
 Fluency Building
 Hot-timing

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 BIG Engaging students in a
discussion can increase
IDEA
their depth of text
processing and subsequent
comprehension.

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 DISCUSSION

 Teach discussion behavior.

Looks Like Sounds Like
Facing peers Using a pleasant voice

Making eye contact Sharing opinions and

supporting facts

Participating Sharing positive

comments
Listening Staying on topic
OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING
  Writing about what you have
BIG
read can improve your
IDEA comprehension.
 Expressing your ideas in
writing helps the reader
organize ideas.
OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING
  Writing about what you have
BIG
read can improve your
IDEA comprehension.
 Expressing your ideas in
writing helps the reader
organize ideas.
OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING
 Students must
 Read,
 And read,
 And read,
 And read,
 And read some more!
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WVDE L ESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Reading Lesson Plan

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING

 C ONTACT I NFORMATION

Phyllis Veith, Assistant Director, Office of Special

Programs

pveith@access.k12.wv.us

Linda Palenchar, Coordinator, Office of Special

Programs

lpalench@access.k12.wv.us

OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS, EXTENDED AND EARLY LEARNING