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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 1
Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts
Kathleen L. Davidson
Michigan State University
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 2
Section I: Brief Background and Reason for Project Focus
For this project I will be focusing on a student from my Reading for Enjoyment class,
Brennen. I chose to work with this student because she is very unique when it comes to her
reading background and skills. Brennen is motivated to read, which is apparent from her
participation in my Reading for Enjoyment class, but she still struggles with comprehension and
inference skills. One of the main components of students comprehending texts is their motivation
with texts. I know she has internal motivation as well as external motivation when reading
complex texts, so I need to look at what else she needs in order to be successful with her
comprehension of fictional complex texts.
Section II: Home and Family
Brennen is a 16 year old female and is currently a junior at our high school. Harper Creek
is a rural fringe school that is public. The school district is 92% white with the next highest
ethnicity being Hispanics at 3%. Many of the parents of students who attend Harper Creek work
in the Battle Creek area at either Kellogg or Post. This means we have a range of social classes
within the school district. The average reading score for our school district is a 17 for the ACT.
One of our school districts goals is to improve reading comprehension scores; this means that
our school has put different reading initiatives into place, like reading apprenticeship, to try to
help students be more successful.
Last year, as a sophomore, she took English three, which is a junior level English class.
The focus of English three is to prepare students for the upcoming ACT reading, writing, and
grammar tests. When taking practice ACT reading tests for the class, Brennen was on average
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 3
with our district reading levels. Brennen does not receive any supplementary or special education
services or supports from the school district.
Brennen, both her parents, stepfather, stepbrother, and half brother were all born in Battle
Creek, Michigan. They are all Caucasian native English speakers and none of them speak
another language. Brennens parents are divorced and she lives with her mother, stepfather,
stepbrother, and half brother. She visits her father on weekends.
At home, Brennen is an active reader much like her mother. Both she and her mother read
fiction books at home as a leisure activity. Some of Brennens favorite books are 13 Reasons
Why and The Lovely Bones. Her mother reads mostly fictional texts as well. As a child,
Brennens mother read to her before she went to sleep and Brennen can remember how much she
loved reading with her mother when she was younger. Today they still share books. For the
Reading for Enjoyment class she is taking with me, she did a project where her mother and her
read the same book and wrote reviews for that book. Brennens mothers love for reading has
definitely been passed down to her.
Her father also reads, but usually just informative texts, like newspapers. Brennens step-
father is not a big reader. She explained that she doesnt see him reading very often at all. When
he does read, he reads magazines. This is very similar to her step-brother and half-brother. She
commented that her brothers are very different from her when it comes to reading. She loves to
read and they struggle to get through books for school.
Section III: Emotional Climate
As stated above, Brennen is currently taking the English elective course Reading for
Enjoyment. Reading for Enjoyment is a class where students pick the novels they would like to
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 4
read, keep book logs, write reviews, do mini assignments related to the books their reading, and
complete projects for most of the books they read. This class is set up as a workshop type class.
Instead of lessons being taught every day, the students use most of the time in class reading and
working on assignments and projects. This class is set up for students to work independently and
motivate themselves when they are completing the reading, book logs, and reviews. There are
also several projects where students are required to work on their own like the writing activities.
For this project, students work independently to complete writing assignments to go along with
their books. The students choose different writing activities that are worth different point values
based on difficulty. For example, a writing activity where they discuss how a character is similar
to someone they know is only worth twenty points while a writing activity where they pretend
they are a character and write what they think about all the other characters from the book is
worth thirty points. There are also writing assignments where students will need to write even
more, three to five pages, which are worth fifty points. This type of assignment allows students
to push themselves to try harder assignments or complete easier assignments if they are not as
comfortable with writing.
While there are many assignments where the students can work alone, there are also
many times during the class where students are pushed to collaborate with other students from
the class. For example, one of the projects students can choose to complete for a novel they have
read is the book club project. For this project, a group of four students will work together to form
a book club. They will assign a reading schedule and hold meetings to discuss the book. After
finishing the book, they will work together to present the book to the class.
It is important that the reading for enjoyment class be set up in a way where students feel
comfortable not only working alone, but also within groups. John Guthrie writes that, when
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 5
teachers emphasize positive interpersonal relationships, student motivation increases (Guthrie,
2011, p.181). If the Reading for Enjoyment class was not set up in this way, students would not
feel comfortable sharing their books with others and therefore the class would be a failure.
So far Brennen has showed her motivation with reading through her participation in the
Reading for Enjoyment class. Brennen currently has a ninety percent in the class. She works hard
on the book reviews and book logs that she turns in for every book and has never scored less
than an eighty-five percent on any of these activities. She turns in quality work and is often
excited to discuss the books she is reading with classmates and me. For example, Brennen
participated in the book club project for the novel, The Kite Runner. She worked with three other
people from class and had great discussions of the novel where they provided great insight into
the book for the rest of the class. When evaluated by her peers, Brennen received a grade of an A
for participation. She stands out as a hard-working, self-motivated student within the Reading
for Enjoyment class.
Section IV: Literacy History
Brennen is currently in her junior year at Harper Creek High School. She currently has a
2.28 GPA and is ranked 134 out of 202 students in her class. She is planning to attend a
community college out of high school and then transferring to Western Michigan University,
where she will study special education.
Brennens parents both graduated from high school and got average grades much like
Brennen. Neither of her parents attended college right out of high school. Instead, they both went
into the workforce. Her father now owns a gym. Her mother attended Everest University last
year and attained an associates degree. She now works in property management.
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 6
When looking strictly at Brennens grades in English classes, she averages a grade of a
B-. She explained that the hardest part of English class, for her, is reading the required texts on
her own. When she reads she is easily overwhelmed by the text and once she feels overwhelmed,
she feels she cant understand any of the reading. She also stated that when a text is read in class
and discussed, she is much more comfortable with the reading.
When asked about her past reading, she explained that she has not always enjoyed
reading. She enjoyed reading books with her mother but did not enjoy reading alone in
elementary school. In middle school she began enjoying reading because she felt she choose the
books she wanted to read. She enjoys books that she chooses because she doesnt struggle when
reading them.
Brennen currently lives with her mother and she explained that most of the support she
gets for school is from her mother. Her mother will work with her after she gets home from work
if she needs help on homework from school. Paratore and Edwards writes that, students of
involved parents have high rates of school attendance, better social skills and behavior, higher
grades and test scores, lower rates of retention, and higher rates of high school graduation and
postsecondary education (Paratore, Edwards, 2011, p.437). Her mothers involvement in her
education has and will continue to have a positive effect on her schooling. She also explained
that her mother attends conferences for her and her siblings whenever she can. If she cannot
attend conferences, she will contact the teachers to get more insight on her kids education.
Brennen knows that her mother believes education is very important and that she needs to do
well in school.
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 7
Section V: Tests Given and Summary of Test Results
In order to get an understanding of Brennens strengths and weaknesses when it comes to
reading, I gave Brennen an ACT fiction and non-fiction reading tests. I chose to use the ACT
reading tests because Brennen is focused on studying for the ACT and improving her reading
skills so she can excel on this test in the spring. I chose to give both the fiction and non-fiction
because these tests require the students to use very different skills. I wanted to see which skills
and format Brennen needed the most help with.
For the reading pre-test, I gave Brennen an ACT prose fiction passage entitled The Egg
(Appendix C). I also gave her an ACT social studies passage entitled Defining the Poverty Line:
A Political Question (Appendix B). On the social studies passage, Brennen answered seven out
of ten questions correctly. Two of the questions that Brennen answered incorrectly were
comprehension questions and the other question was an inference question. On the prose fiction
passage, Brennen only answered two out of ten questions correctly. Four of the questions she
answered incorrectly were comprehension questions and four were inference questions.
Based on these results, I could see that Brennen was above average for our district when
answering questions on non-fiction passages. One of the reasons that she may have done well on
this because of her participation in my English three class last year. In English three, students are
exposed to ACT reading practice tests. The reading tests for the ACT consist of four passages,
three of which are non-fiction passages. As a result, most of the practice that Brennen was
exposed to was non-fiction. Duke, Pearson, Strachan, and Billman found that the volume of
experiences students have interacting with texts both in and out of the classroom significantly
correlates with their overall reading success (Duke, Pearson, Strachan, Billman, 2011, p. 58).
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 8
Because of the all the exposure Brennen got to non-fiction work during English three, she is
more likely to do better at comprehending non-fiction passages.
I also found that, for Brennen, I needed to focus on working with fiction comprehension
skills. Brennen struggled to identify main ideas and details from the passage when she took the
test. She also struggled to look beyond what the text was saying directly. I think that in order to
help Brennen be able to answer those inference questions, she first has to be able to identify main
ideas and supporting details. In order to help her, I need to teach her the reading strategies for
comprehending these texts. I need to provide her with a repertoire of strategies from which to
draw during independent readings tasks so that she can be successful, not just when working
with me, but also when she is working independently on the ACT test (Duke, Pearson, Strachan,
Billman, 2011, p. 63).
For the post test, I gave Brennen another prose fiction ACT passage to read, Football
Failures, and had her answer the questions after the reading (Appendix S). I was hoping to see
that she would take effective notes on her own to be able to answer the on the lines and between
the lines questions on the ACT passage. When looking just at the passage, Brennens note taking
skills have improved. She took notes of characters and who they were, the problem the
characters needed to solve, the conflict, and the resolution. These notes are much different than
the notes she took on the pre-test. One thing I noticed also about her notes is that she underlined
many things throughout the text, but she did not write down why she underlined them. One thing
we discussed during our lesson was that she needed to make note of why she was underlining
something so that it would be easier to answer the questions that follow the reading. This is an
area where Brennen can still improve.
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 9
When looking at the test Brennen took, I saw that she improved from the pre-test but she
still has work to do. On this post-test, Brennen answered four out of ten questions correctly. This
shows that she improved by answering two more questions correctly. While these are not the
gains I was hoping she would have, I can still say that I saw improvement. When looking at the
questions that she answered incorrectly, I noticed that most of those questions were inference, or
between the lines, questions. That tells me that the second lesson was not as successful as I
would have liked. When looking at the questions she answered correctly, I noticed that most of
the questions were on the line questions and that her notes could have helped her when
answering these questions. This tells me that the note taking activity did help her improve her
reading comprehension when reading complex texts. I also believe that if I allowed her to use the
graphic organizers given to her for both activities, it may have helped her. When she completed
the readings and questions on her own for both lessons and used the graphic organizers, she
performed much better when answer the questionsseven out of ten questions correct. The next
step to improving Brennens reading comprehension scores would be to teach her how to apply
the skills she learned without using the graphic organizers.
VI. Lesson Plan Matrix
Lesson Foci/Date Objectives (includeincluding performance,conditions, andcriterion. State the
Common Core StateStandardat the end ofeach objective.
Instructional materials
(what will use to deliverthe main objectives ofthe lesson)
On-going assessment
(to measure attainmentof objectives)
Note-taking strategies(2 day lesson) - Students will beable to take
effective notes to
improvecomprehension ofcomplex fiction
- Pre-test prosefiction passage
The Egg
- Prose fictionpassage #1TheSummer Sandwich
Students will beassessed through their
graphic organizers,
the response toquestions afterreading, discussion
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 10
texts. (CCSS
ReadingLiterature 11.10)
- Students will beable to identify
plot elements ofcomplex fictional
texts. (CCSSReading
Literature 11.1
Club
- Questions inresponse to Prose
fiction passage #1
- Prose fictionpassage #2TheStory of a Bad
Boy- Questions in
response to Prose
fiction passage #2
- Two note takinggraphic organizers
during the activity,
and also through thefinal ACT assessment.
Going beyond thesurface level with
reading to start
making inferenceswithin complex texts
- Students will beable to improve
comprehension of
complex fictionaltexts (CCSSReading
Literature 11.10)
- Students will beable to make
inferences when
reading complextexts (CCSS
Reading
Literature 11.1,
CCSS ReadingLiterature 11.
- Prose fictionpassage #1
Extreme Dad
-
Questions inresponse to prosefiction passage #1
- Prose fictionpassage #2Moving Day
- Questions inresponse to prosefiction passage #2
- Two graphicorganizers that
work studentsfrom looking at
surface level
details to goingdeeper with the
text
Students will beassessed through their
graphic organizers,
the response toquestions afterreading, discussion
during the activity,
and also through thefinal ACT assessment.
VII. Reflections on Your Differentiated Literacy Lesson Plans
When thinking about a way to help build Brennens knowledge for working with fictional
texts, I consulted Donna Ogle and Laura Langs chapter Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy
Instruction. They explained that one way to build knowledge is to take notes. When looking at
the notes that Brennen took during the pre-test on fictional texts, I saw that her notes were not
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helping her answer the questions that followed. In order to help her understand I developed the
note taking handout for her to use. I knew that I needed to work with her on this reading strategy
because students exposed to reading strategy instruction performed better than their peers
who had not learned strategies (Learned, Stockdill, Moje, 2011, p.172). I believed that if I
taught Brennen the strategy of effective note taking, she would improve her reading
comprehension.
To open up the first lesson with Brennen, I showed her the pre-test she took on the fiction
text The Egg. I asked her to look through the notes she took on the text and then report back to
me what she did when taking notes. She explained that she would read the first sentence of each
of the paragraphs. She would then make a note on the side of the paragraph writing down what it
meant to her in her own words. I then asked her how the note-taking strategy helped her. She
stated that her notes really didnt help her answer the questions after she read. This was evident
through the twenty percent she got correct on the fiction pre-test. Her notes were very vague and
when comparing them to what the questions were about, they would not help.
When moving into the lesson, I knew I wanted to open the lesson with Brennen doing a
think aloud about the notes she took. I knew that Brennen struggled and that her notes were a
weakness but I wanted to get more insight into her thought process but I also wanted her to look
closer and what she was doing when taking notes. Students need to engage in self assessment to
be able to monitor their own work, set appropriate goals, develop needed skills and strategies,
and improve learning (Valencia, 2011, p.389). By having Brennen look closer at her notes, she
was able to evaluate whether or not her notes worked for her and also look at how to improve her
note taking ability.
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I then told her that today we would be working on taking notes that would help her look
closer at the text and hopefully be able to answer those questions a little more easily. I first gave
her the graphic organizer where she would take some notes over the text (Appendix E). The
graphic organizer is a chart that contains six different elements of structure to look for when
reading a fictional text. The graphic organizer was made based off of the table 3.3 from Duke,
Pearson, Strachan, and Billmans chapter ofWhat Research has to Say about Reading
Instruction. They write that direct instruction around the structures commonly found in
different genres also benefits students, especially those who struggle with reading (Duke,
Pearson, Srachan, Billman, 2011, p.68). By teaching her to look for these structures within the
text, she would have an easier time pulling out key information from the text to answer the ACT
questions. Before we moved into the reading, I asked Brennen to go through and explain to me
what each of these elements is. She easily filled out the chart to identify what all the elements are
but struggled once she reached theme. She told me that theme was, what is conveyed through
the story. From that I asked her what she meant and she went on to explain that it was what the
author was trying to tell us through his story. In other words, theme is why the author was
writing his story.
After finding out that she understood the elements of the text we were reading, I had her
read the text and helped her with the note taking process. I wanted to make sure to work through
the text and strategy with her before moving on to her working alone because I knew that the
gradual release of responsibility model is what is recommended when teaching any
comprehension strategy (Duke, Pearson, Strachan, Billman, 2011, p.64). When going through
the reading, I would stop Brennen in the beginning to think through what we were doing together
but as we moved through the text, I let her take more responsibility with the note taking strategy.
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 13
I told Brennen, before reading, that while reading, she should look for the elements she just
defined. She will be taking notes on those elements. When then began reading the prose fiction
ACTpiece The Summer Sandwich Club (Appendix F). Brennen read the short story aloud
while we read together. After reading the first paragraph, I stopped her. I asked her if she needed
to take any notes. She asked me, Do you want me to highlight Maxwell? I asked her why she
would highlight it and she explained that it was a character. She then highlighted his name. Once
she highlighted it, I told her that to make her notes easier to understand when returning to the
reading later, I would also write down why you highlight it. She then wrote down that Maxwell
was a main character. She then moved on to highlight Katherine and circled mother so she would
remember why she highlighted it. After making some notes on the paragraph, I told Brennen to
return to the taking notes handout I had her fill out before. She began by filling in the characters
she met during the first paragraph. She wanted to move on after doing that. I then asked her if
there was anything else on that note taking sheet that she could fill in. She then went on to fill in
the setting.
After taking notes on the first paragraph, Brennen continued to read. After reading the
second paragraph, I stopped her again. She went back to her notes sheet and filled in the
narrators name, Jake. At this point she also added to the plot part of her note-taking sheet. We
then returned to the reading. This time, instead of stopping Brennen during the reading, she
stopped reading after few short paragraphs. She highlighted another character, the babysitter, and
noted that it was a minor character. She also returned to her notes sheet again because she said
she could add a lot mot to it now. She went on to add information about the character she
identified, plot points, the goal, and the problem. She went on to read the rest of the short story
and every time she ended reading a paragraph, she would stop to take notes. Sometimes the notes
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would be on the actual reading, and other times the notes were taken simply on the note taking
sheet. When looking at what Brennen wrote down on the notes sheet, it was evident that she
understood the story because all of the information she put onto her notes sheet was correct.
After she finished taking notes, I asked her how she felt about the reading. From having
Brennen in class, I know that she can get overwhelmed with readings sometimes. When she gets
overwhelmed, she struggles to pick out important details from the text and which was evident
from her reading test scores from last year. Today, after taking notes, when I asked Brennen
about her understanding of the reading, she said she felt good about what she read. To see how
much of an effect the note-taking had on her understanding of the reading, I had Brennen
complete the questions that are associated with the passage (Appendix G). Brennen answered
nine out of ten questions correct on the reading. The question that Brennen answered wrong was
a question about characterization. When going through the answers, I discussed with Brennen a
strategy for answering the question. I told her with questions that are answered with dialogue, it
is important to go back through the reading to look at the text surrounding the dialogue.
After working through this technique with Brennen, I wanted her to try using it on her
own. The second part of the lesson required Brennen to take what she learned and apply it to a
new reading. She read the article and took notes on the note taking sheet on her own (Appendix
H-I). After taking notes, she answered the questions that went along with the reading (Appendix
J). When working on her own, she was able to answer seven out of ten questions correctly.
When looking at the second lesson, I wanted to help Brennen move from being able to
identify surface level elements to making deeper connections with the text. Jim Burke writes that
Surface questions address literal aspects of the story for example, Where are they now?
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 15
and basic details such as vocabulary. Deep questions help establish and reveal the depths of
essential events (Burke, 2008, p.101). To help Brennen be able to answer inference questions on
the ACT, I need to help her answer the deep questions that help her understand the essential
events of the text. In order to do that, I found a graphic organizer that moved from surface level
questions on the text, to denser questions where students needed to make connections with the
text. When looking for a graphic organizer, I knew I needed to have one that moved gradually
from surface questions to deep questions. I needed to look for questions that Jeffrey Wilhelm
defines as on the lines questions and between the lines questions. On the lines questions are
factual, requiring students to find the spot right there in the text where the question is
answered (Wilhelm, 2007, p.120). Between the lines questions are interpretive questions
that require the reader to search for the various details in the text and think about the nature of
the connection between the details (Wilhelm, 2007, p. 120). The graphic organizer I used
contained both of these types of questions. The organizer has the students answer easier on the
lines questions first, before moving on the harder on the lines questions. It then has students
make connections to the text and finally has them answer between the lines questions.
I began the lesson by giving Brennen the text. I showed her the title, Moving Day and
had her begin by writing about moving (Appendix L). I did this activity because it would help
Brennen make easier text to self connections when doing the reading. Text to self connections
require the reader to bring her own knowledge and experiences to bear on a text (Wilhelm,
2007, p.122). In order for students to be able to make these connections, students must be
able to combine what they know and have experienced with whats in the text (Wilhelm, 2007,
p.122). To make this process easier, I used this activity as an opening to the lesson.
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 16
After finishing the writing, we moved on to the reading, Moving Day (Appendix M).
Brennen read the text aloud while I was beside her. While reading, Brennen stopped, on her own,
to take notes. While this lesson is focused on moving from surface questions and deeper
questions, I was happy to see that she was applying the knowledge she gained from the previous
lesson we completed together to this text. After reading the text, I gave her the graphic organizer
(Appendix N). She moved through the first level of questions, on the lines questions, with ease;
she answered every question without hesitation. When moving on to the next level of questions,
harder on the lines questions, she answered almost all easily. One question, How does she feel
about moving to the Midwest? was a little difficult for Brennen. She returned to the text, and
then was able to answer the question. She then moved on to the third level of questions. These
questions asked for Brennens opinion on the choice the main character made in the story.
Brennen was able to easily come up with support for both agreeing and disagreeing, but when it
came to adding a second reason, she struggled. She told me that she felt like any other reason she
would give would really just be additional support for the first reason. I explained to her that,
that would be ok because it is adding to her response. Brennen then moved on to the fourth level
of questions which are between the lines questions. These questions required Brennen to take
different aspects of the text and analyze them to see how they work together. Brennen was able
to answer all the questions but for two out of four she needed to return to the text to get help. The
final level of questions is when Brennen was able to make text to self connections. She could
easily answer these questions and used the opening activity when doing the questions.
After finishing the graphic organizer, I had Brennen answer the questions that went along
with the passage to identify if she understood the passage (Appendix O). Brennen was able to
answer nine out of ten questions correctly. She was able to answer both the on the lines questions
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 17
and the between the lines questions which made me believe that the lesson today helped. The one
question she answered incorrectly was a question that required knowledge of a particular phrase
and Brennen looked at the phrase in a straight forward manner rather in a metaphorical manner.
After finishing the lesson together, I once again had Brennen try doing the technique on
her own. She read the passage Extreme Dad (Appendix P), answered the questions on the
graphic organizer (Appendix Q), and answered the questions that went along with the passage
(Appendix R). From her graphic organizer and the questions that she answered to go along with
the passage, I could tell that Brennen understood the text. When looking at the graphic organizer,
Brennen was able to answer the questions correctly. She answered both the on the lines and the
between the lines questions correctly. She was also able to make text to self connections on the
organizer. The only thing Brennen did not answer on her own was the question over theme. She
had a hard time seeing the lesson that the son learned from his father. Brennen also performed
well on the questions; she answered seven out of ten questions correctly. One of the questions
that Brennen answered incorrectly was about the structure of the passage, which was not
something we covered. Another question that she answered incorrectly was an inference question
about his fathers reputation. While she could identify how the narrator felt about his fathers
reputation on the graphic organizer in her own words, she struggled to answer the question when
they were in someone elses words. Finally, she answered a question about characterization
incorrectly. This question was not brought up on the graphic organizer, which could be one of
the reasons that she struggled with it.
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VIII. Recommendations to Teachers and Parents/Caregivers
Dear Ms. Pourchez-Grey,
I am writing to you to inform you of Brennens performance in reading and to help you
help her with her reading comprehension. Brennen is a very hardworking student who loves
reading but also could use help with her comprehension of complex texts. Through ACT fiction
reading tests, I found that Brennen was performing below where she would like to be performing
for the ACT. She would like to score a twenty on the ACT and she is currently scoring between a
17 and 18.
When working with her I noticed that Brennen learned how to take effective notes when
reading through using a handout that she needed to take the notes on. When she answered
questions using the handout, she scored over what she would like to on the reading. When she
took a reading test without the handout, she did not perform as well. I believe that the best way
to work with Brennen would be to look at transferring the ideas from the note taking handout
onto the actual reading. If she could take notes like she did on the note taking handout just on the
reading, she would be performing very well.
In order to practice this skill, I would begin by having her use the handouts when doing
the reading. As she continues to practice the readings, have her put more of the information on
the actual reading than on the handout. When she becomes more and more comfortable taking
notes on the reading, have her practice without the handout. At first she may need help
remembering what to take notes of, but keep working with her and eventually she will remember
on her own. I think that if you follow this process, she will be able to comprehend the text better
and therefore perform better on that section of the ACT.
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Improving Comprehension of Complex Fictional Texts 19
If you have any further questions about how to help her, please feel free to contact me at
school. I am always here to help.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Davidson
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IX. Appendices of work
Appendix A
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Appendix B
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Appendix B
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Appendix C
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Appendix C
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Daily Lesson Plan #1
Date: October 19-20, 2012
Objectives for todays lesson:
Students will be able to understand how they take notes to better understand what they can do toimprove their note taking ability
Students will be able to take effective notes to improve comprehension of complex fiction texts.Students will be able to identify plot elements of complex fictional texts.
Rationale: Over the next two days the students will work to identify elements of a fictional text
through taking effective notes. When reading complex texts it is important for students to beable to identify what is important to take note of and what is not as important. If students make
note of this and can identify these elements, they will be able to comprehend the text with more
ease.
Materials & supplies needed:Pre-test fiction passageThe Egg
Prose fiction passage #1The Summer Sandwich ClubQuestions in response to Prose fiction passage #1
Prose fiction passage #2The Story of a Bad Boy
Questions in response to Prose fiction passage #2Two note taking graphic organizers
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event
Introduction to the lessonThe lesson on note-taking will begin with Brennenreflecting on the notes that she took on the fiction text she read for her pretest. She will
explain why she took the notes she did and why they were important. I will then explainthat taking effective notes while reading will help her better comprehend the text andtherefore be able to answer the follow up questions easier. (15-20 minutes)
Outline of key events during the lesson1. Brennen will then receive the note-taking graphic organizer. We will begin using the
sheet by identifying what each of the elements of a text is.
2. Once the graphic organizer is filled in, we will begin reading the passage. I will stopBrennen after each paragraph for the first two paragraphs. When we stop she will
take notes on both the reading and the handout. Once she begins reading the thirdparagraph, I will allow her to decide when we stop to take notes.
3. After taking notes on the first reading and filling in the taking notes graphicorganizer, I will have Brennen answer the questions that correspond to the reading.4. After she finishes, we will go through the questions and answers together to identifywhat information she knew and where she could still use help. I will also give her
tips to answering certain types of questions if she needs it.
5. The next day, I will have Brennen try reading and filling in the note taking sheet onher own.
6. When she finishes, she will once again answer the questions that follow the passage. 7. We will go through the answers to the questions together and identify where she can
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improve for next time.
Closing summary for the lessonBrennen and I will go over what went well when shetook notes on her own and what she can improve on.
Transition to next learning activityBrennen will continue to use these note takingtechniques when reading future ACT texts.
AssessmentBrennen will be assessed through the sets of questions that follow each reading
passage and also through the final post test.
Appendix D
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Appendix E
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Appendix F
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Appendix G
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Appendix H
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Appendix I
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Appendix J
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Daily Lesson Plan #2
Date: October 26-27, 2012
Objectives for todays lesson:
-
Students will be able to improve comprehension of complex fictional texts- Students will be able to make inferences when reading complex textsRationale: In order for students to do well on the ACT reading test (and to be able to make real
connections with a text) they must be able to go beyond surface level when answering questions
and look deeper at what is happening in a text.
Materials & supplies needed:- Prose fiction passage #1Extreme Dad- Questions in response to prose fiction passage #1- Prose fiction passage #2Moving Day-
Questions in response to prose fiction passage #2- Two graphic organizers that work students from looking at surface level details to goingdeeper with the text
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event
Introduction to the lessonThe lesson will open with Brennen doing a written responseto the idea of moving.
Outline of key events during the lesson1. After writing about moving, Brennen and I will read the prose fiction passage Moving
Day together.
2.
Once she finishes reading the passage, we will go though and answer the questions on thegraphic organizer. The questions are organized in a way that will move Brennen fromeasier on the lines questions to more difficult between the lines questions.
3. After she answers all the questions on the handout, she will move on to answer thequestions that go along with the passage.
4. When she finishes, we will go through the questions and her answers together. If she hadany problems with questions, we will go through and look at how she could have
answered those questions correctly.
5. Brennen will now practice the technique on her own. She will read the second fictionpassage, Extreme Dad on her own and complete the graphic organizer on her own.
6. When she finishes, she will complete the questions that go along with the passage.7.
We will again go through the questions and her answers together to see where she canimprove.
Closing summary for the lessonBrennen and I will discuss how the movement fromon the lines to the between the lines questions went for her. If she had issues, we will
look at how to work through those questions together.
AssessmentBrennen will be assessed through the questions she answered on the graphic
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organizer, the questions in response to the passage, and the post test.
Appendix K
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Appendix L
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Appendix M
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Appendix N
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Appendix O
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Appendix P
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Appendix Q
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Appendix R
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Appendix S
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Appendix S
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X. Bibliography
ACT.Defining the poverty line: a political question. 2008.
ACT. The Egg. 2008-
ACT.Extreme dad. 2008.
ACT.Football failures.2008.
ACT.Moving day. 2008.
ACT. The Story of a Bad Boy. 2008.
ACT. Summer Sandwich Club. 2008.
Burke, Jim. The English teachers' companion: a complete guide to classroom, curriculum, and
the profession. Third ed. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2008. Print.
Duke, Neil, P. David Pearson, Stephanie Strachan, and Alison Billman. "Essential elements of
fostering and teaching reading comprehension." What research has to say about reading
instruction. Fourth ed. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2011. 51-93. Print.
Guthrie, John. "Best practices in motivating students to read."Best practices in literacy
instruction. Fourth ed. New York, NY: The Guilford Press, 2011. 177-198. Print.
Learned, Julie, Darin Stockdill, and Elizabeth Moje. "Integrating reading strategies and
knowledge building in adolescent literacy instruction." What research has to say about reading
instruction. Fourth ed. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2011. 159-185. Print.
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Ogle, Donna, and Laura Lang. "Best practices in adolescent literacy instruction."Best practices
in literacy instruction. Fourth ed. New York, NY: The Guilford Press, 2011. 138-173. Print.
Paratore, Jeanne, and Patricia Edwards. "Parent-teacher partnerships that make a difference in
children's literacy achievement."Best practices in literacy instruction. Fourth ed. New York,
NY: The Guilford Press, 2011. 436-454. Print.
Valencia, Sheila. "Using assessment to improve teaching and learning." What research has to
say about reading instruction. Fourth ed. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2011.
379-405. Print.
Wilhelm, Jeffrey.Engaging readers & writers with inquiry. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2007.
Print.