Building Comprehension with Discussion Webs and Response Journals (and Documenting Comprehension Strategy Use) EDC423 Dr. Julie Coiro.

Building Comprehension with Discussion Webs and Response

Journals (and Documenting Comprehension Strategy Use)

EDC423

Dr. Julie Coiro

1. Understanding Comprehension

2. Planning Comprehension Instruction

3. Deepening Comprehension & Building Fluency, Vocabulary, & Written Response

Today’s Learning Objectives

1. Identify meaningful aspects of reading response to build comprehension 2. Describe what and how you would document reading performance and growth over time (in a response-based program) 3. Describe the purpose of a Discussion Web and how it fosters comprehension in unique ways4. Practice documenting response type and comprehension strategy use in student journal entries and using this data to inform your feedback and instruction

Reading Response

Goal = Build comprehension (thinking) and to make it visible! – During (Process) > Think-aloud & charts to

scaffold and organize thinking– After (Product) > Responding through writing and

the arts

Meaningful Responses = – So what? What makes a text memorable?– Personal response and long-term knowledge

goals

Think, Pair, Share: What’s memorable to you?

Think about all the different ways you have responded to books, movies, and field trips in and out of school. Think silently for one minute and then work with a partner for three minutes to brainstorm the “response” activities that have been most memorable to you. What makes these memorable?

What responses make your reading/viewing experiences

memorable? Journal responses – personal ungraded

Hands-on projects – choice; redesign book cover

Wanting to do it again – to relive the experience

Scavenger hunt – learning that’s fun!

Drama – costumes -

Patterns of Response to Literature

Hancock, Chapter 1

What reader responses are worth documenting?

Document program opportunities AND individual student performance (linked to specific book titles over the course of the year)– Listening behavior – Contact with Books (browsing, attention, proximity)– Impulse to Share (partner read, share/discuss) – Actions and Drama (readers theater, role playing) – Art, Music, and Constructed Products (draw,cook) – Oral Response (retell, lit conversations, prompts) – Written Response (response journals, adapting

writing using literature models) Hancock p. 421 and 423

After-Reading Response Activities

(attempts to reflect natural conversations)

Literature Circles: To reflect open, natural conversations about books (use roles to scaffold the experience for beginners)

Discussion Webs: To view ideas from more than one perspective and make sound decisions informed by evidence

How might you document learning and progress using literature circles?

Developing Higher-Level and Open-Ended Questions for Guided Reading Discussion

Discussion Webs– Avoid the tendency to dominate conversation by

giving students a voice – Students think individually and then meet with

partner to work toward consensus – 1. Prepare students for the reading– 2. After reading, pose a key question and students

discuss pros and cons with supportive evidence – 3. Student pairs meet with another pair, discuss

further, and come to consensus

Discussion Webs

See Alvermann 1991 Reading Teacher article on our wikispace

Discussion Webs

Discussion Web Consensus Summary

Discussion Web Ideas for Pictures of Hollis Woods? Example: End of Ch. 5 (p. 54) Should Hollis stay with Josie? (yes, no and why)

Try It Out: End of Ch. 8 (p. 76) Brainstorm a good discussion web question students might answer in a small group center while you work with other students in guided reading groups. Consider one answer to each side.

A challenge: How can we document learning from response activities?

How can we measure growth and link student responses to our instruction?

How can the quality of responses inform our teaching? (formative assessment)

How can we involve students in the process?

How might you document reader response?

Teacher Anecdotal Records - observations (stickies, mailing labels) accumulated by date (pair with students’ personal reflections over time)Daily reading logs (track # and type of books) Literature Circle Conversations (peer and self evaluation)Sticker Guided Reflections that involve students and move beyond letter grades Literature response files (track varied types of prompts and responses and graph results)

Student Conference Notes

Sticker Self-Assessment System in Response Journals

Sticker Self-Assessment System

Literature Response Journals (Hancock, 2008, p. 278-279)

How do you begin to design literature journal prompts? – Experiential prompts (connect to personal

experiences) – Aesthetic prompts (emotional interactions and

character feelings) – Cognitive prompts (inferences, M&MDAVIS)– Interpretative prompts (personal judgment

about meaning/message & characters) Consider these ideas for varied writing assignments and/or discussions in small group centers!

What kinds of responses might you get?

Personal meaning-making responses– Monitoring understanding – I see that…– Making inferences – I think..– Making, validating, or invalidating predictions – I predict …– Expressing wonder or confusion – I wonder…

Character and plot involvement– Character interaction – 1st person – If I were him…– Character assessment/judgment – That character is..– Story Involvement – pos/neg reactions as the plot unfolds…

Literary evaluation– Literary criticism – author’s craft or style

Keep a checklist of the opportunities you create AND the ways students respond

Activity: Documenting Response and Strategy Use in Literature Journals

1. Trade your Book Activity 4 (Hollis Woods journal entries) with a partner 2. Look for evidence of Hancock’s response categories (Personal Meaning, Char/Plot, Lit Eval); code all in the margin with PM, CP, and/or LE3. Look for evidence of M&MDAVIS strategy use; code all strategies in the margin with a single letter for each4. Note patterns of individual readers; Then write a short summary of observations in your own notebook and what you might teach next

5. Discuss patterns across the group as a whole

Coding Categories for Literature Response Journals

PM: Personal meaning-making responses – Monitoring understanding– Making inferences– Making, validating, or invalidating

predictions– Expressing wonder or confusion

CP: Character and plot involvement– Character interaction or

assessment/judgment– Story Involvement

LE: Literary evaluation– Literary criticism

Hancock article (1993)

Comprehension Strategy UseM: MonitoringMC: Making connectionsD: Determining Impt. IdeasA: Asking QuestionsV: VisualizingI: InferencingS: Summarizing

Cornett (2010)

Documenting Response Diversity and Strategy Use

PMPersMon

CPCharPlot

LELit

Eval

Mon MC DI Ask Vis Inf Sum

How would this data inform the feedback you give to a particular student? What you teach next? To whom?

Documenting Response Diversity and Strategy Use

7822

3557

0000

0040

3143

0010

0010

1001

0100

0130

PMPersMon

CPCharPlot

LELit

Eval

Mon MC DI Ask Vis Inf Sum

How would this data inform the feedback you give to a particular student? What you teach next? To whom?

Documenting Response Diversity and Strategy Use

562

335

100

001

744

101

122

001

111

011

PMPersMon

CPCharPlot

LELit

Eval

Mon MC DI Ask Vis Inf Sum

How do these reflect the Common Core Standards?What do we need more of (even as college students)??

Homework

Nov. 14: Building Comprehension with Explicit Vocabulary Instruction – SKIM Ch 8 Cornett - Vocab Instruction (p. 222-257)– READ Beck & McKeown (2002) – Bring two Tier 2 words from each chapter (p. 147-166) – READ ELL Vocabulary Handout

Coming Up – Digital Wonder Projects (11/19-11/26) – Wonder, Explore, Learn, Synthesize, Apply, and Share

Nov. 26: Quiz 2 (Organizing instruction, building fluency, building vocabulary, literature circles, response journals)