Friday Favorites - Comprehension (4/25)

Reading comprehension is huge in the middle grades. This is a time in which students go from learning to read in elementary school, to reading to learn. At this point, students are expected to read, understand what they read, and remember what they read. This is a primary mode for gaining information. Therefore, if a student does not have comprehension skills in the middle grades, they fall behind in all of their classes.

This is why I chose comprehension for this week's Friday Favorites.

Here are a couple of ways to practice comprehension or to enhance comprehension and retention of knowledge in any subject area:

Double Entry Journals

This is a simple way to help students make connections to what they are reading. It also helps to build background knowledge or to bring forth background knowledge that may be in the back of a student's mind. To do this, students first draw a line down the middle of their paper. On the left side of their paper they put important quotes from the assigned reading. You may assign quotes depending upon the amount of scaffolding your students need. On the right side students write their thoughts, questions, add missing information, facts, etc. It is important for students to share their double entry journals as well. I like to have my students share their journals in small groups before calling on individual students to share with the whole class. While discussing, students may want to add in anything that they did not think of before.

Note Taking, Note Making - From the book Science and Writing Connections by Robin Lee Harris Freedman

This is a note taking strategy that allows for students to make connections and ask questions. The picture shows you how to set up Note Taking, Note Making notes. On the left side, students take notes from reading, a presentation, or a discussion. On the right side, students write their reactions, ask questions, ideas for further exploration, or any other comments that they wish. Lastly, they complete a summary statement at the bottom of their notes.

It is important to teach students how to set up their notes, and have a few practice runs before they are responsible for creating their own notes. Therefore, the first couple of times you use this method, set up your own notes on the board or projector. Then you may want to provide an example and walk through the note taking process with your students a time or two. After that, (as good scaffolding goes) take up the notes and make comments. Then you can start taking up notes less and less until you do not take them up at all. At this point it is all up to the students.

This could also be used as a formative assessment. The right side of the notes provides information about student understanding. You could use this to create heterogeneous or homogeneous groupings based on readiness or interest. You could also definitely tell if students have misconceptions by using this method.

Checking Comprehension -

This is a great activity to check comprehension. It also goes well with the above two activities. Another wonderful pinspiration! For this activity, students toss a ball around with different questions written on it related to comprehension. The teacher designates the protocol for which question the students must answer. I would go with the right thumb, personally.

Example questions for a science classroom:

• What observations did you make while reading?
• What science concepts did you read about?
• What scientific vocabulary did you see?
• What kind of data was collected?
• What conclusion did you draw from the reading?
• How does this relate to your life?
• Can you think of other examples?