Transcript Searching for Meaning

Searching for Meaning
Determining Importance
“If we want children to be
deeply engaged in
conversations about issues
of great significance in
books, we must not only
teach them how to read, but
show them how to reason.”
Ellin Keene
“We have an abundance of
information, but information
alone is meaningless. It has to
be thought about and organized
and then internalized, and then
maybe you will end up with
knowledge.”
7 Keys to Comprehension, Susan Zimmermann
How Do I Determine What
Is Important When I
Read?
Clue One: Readers determine what
is important based on their purpose
for reading.
When reading difficult text without a purpose,
students express complaints such as
• I just say the words so I can be done.
• I can’t relate to the topic.
• I daydream and my mind wanders.
• I can’t stay focused.
• I get bored.
Why Is It Important to Have a
Purpose?
1. Read “The House” and circle with pencil
whatever you think is important.
2. Read the piece again and use a pink highlighter to
mark places in the text that a robber would find
important.
3. Read the piece a third time and mark with a
yellow highlighter any places in the story that a
prospective home buyer might think are
important.
4. What did you notice about the three times you
highlighted?
Clue Two: Readers determine
what is important in text at
the word, sentence, and text
levels.
• Word Level: Contentives are
words that hold the meaning in
any sentence.
• Sentence Level: There are
usually key sentences that carry
the weight of meaning for a
passage or section.
• Text Level: There are key ideas,
concepts, themes in the text.
Clue Three: When determining
importance in informational
text, think of the following:
• What clues does the author provide to
allow the reader to construct meaning
from the text?
• What clue words will help me when I
read?
• Which information is unimportant and
which ideas are key to constructing
meaning?
“I read everything the same
way. It doesn’t matter if it is
my science book or Sports
Illustrated. What’s the
point? Reading is reading.”
Luke, grade 10, I Read It, but I Don’t Get It
Fiction
•Not a real story-the
story is make-believe
•Pictures are drawings
•Stories have a
beginning, middle, and
ending
•Tell a story
•Characters are people
and animals
Nonfiction
•The story is real-it
actually exists
•There are photographs
in the book
•Tells us information
•Teaches us something
•Has lots of conventionphotographs, labels,
types of print (bold),
close-ups, etc.
Getting My Mind Ready to Read:
Applying Comprehension Strategies to Fiction and Nonfiction
Strategy Getting My Mind Ready to Getting My Mind Ready
Read Fiction
to Read Informational
Text
Guessing/
Predicting
What will probably happen in this
story?
What will I probably learn from
this text?
Connecting
What experiences have I had or
what other books have I read that
might relate to this story in some
way?
What do I already know about
this topic?
Questioning What will the problem be?
How will the problem get solved?
What questions will this text
probably answer? Are there
subheadings that I can turn into
questions?
DeterminWhat other clues do I notice in
ing
this story that can help me: Do I
Importance know anything about the author or
the topic?Are there many pages?
What clues do I notice in the
way this text is written that
might help me: Subheading?
Bolded or italicized words?
What Does Content Area
Reading Require?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Knowledge of specialized vocabulary
Background knowledge
Study and memory techniques
Comprehension strategies for nonfiction texts
Monitoring meaning
Knowledge of sources and the reliability of them
The ability to overcome a personal lack of
interest in the subject area and/or reading and
writing to learn.
Tools for Teaching Content Literacy by Janet Allen
Which Nonfiction Features
Signal Importance?
• Fonts and
effects
• Cue words and
phrases
• Text
structures
• Graphics
• Text
organizers
• Illustrations
and
photographs
Nonfiction Conventions
Convention
Purpose
1. Photographs – pictures
in the book
Helps reader understand what
something looks like
2. Labels-words that
identify parts of a
picture
Helps the reader identify the
parts of a picture
3. Types of print- ways
words are written
The words are bigger so you
know that they are more
important
4. Captions-speech
bubbles
Helps reader understand the
photo
5. Close-ups-photographs
Helps reader see small details
Four Secrets to Figuring
Out Main Idea
• Put yourself in the author’s place.
• Examine the words and phrases (the details) for
clues to what is important.
• Ask questions about what, in your experience,
the clues combined seem to say about what is
valued.
• Decide what the main idea is by saying, “If I
had written this and said things this way, what
would that say about what I thought was
important?”
How Does Overviewing, Skimming
and Scanning the Text, Help
Understanding?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Activating prior knowledge
Noting characteristics of text length and structure
Noting important headings and subheadings
Determining what to read and in what order
Determining what to pay careful attention to
Determining what to ignore
Deciding if the text is worth careful reading or
just skimming
Skimming and Scanning
First Impressions
Fast Facts
Final Thoughts
Tools for Teaching Content Literacy by Janet Allen
What Guidelines Are There for
Highlighting the Text?
• Look carefully at the first and last line of each
paragraph. Important information is often
contained there.
• Highlight only necessary words and phrases, not
entire sentences.
• Don’t get thrown off by interesting details.
• Make notes in the margin to emphasize a
pertinent highlighted word or phrase.
• Note cue words.
• Pay attention to nonfiction features.
• When finished, no more than half the paragraph
should be highlighted.
Highlight and Revisit
Quote
highlighted
Reason for
highlighting
New or deeper
thinking
Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, Cris Tovani
Text Codes
• l – Important
• L- Learned Something New
• *- Interesting or
important information or
face
• AHA!- Big Idea Surfaces
• S- Surprising!
• S!!!- Shocking
• !!!- Exciting
Discerning What Is Interesting from
What Is Important
What’s Interesting
What’s Important
Sifting the Topic from the Details
Topic
Details
Personal
Response
*Record headings
*Include details
supporting the
topic
*Add to the back
of sheet when
students are
ready
Reading Persuasive Material Carefully to Form
an Opinion
Evidence For
Evidence
Against
Personal
Opinion
Clue Four: When determining
importance in fiction, think of the
following:
• Notice what the character says or does that
provides what is important to him/her.
• Pay attention to the actions, motives, and
feelings of the character.
• Think about what the author did to make the
character believable.
• Decide which characters are primary and
which are secondary. Compare and contrast
those characters.
• Notice when the setting changes in a story.
• Decide if the setting is an integral part of the
story or if it could have taken place anywhere.
• Determine the theme(s) of the story.
• Determine which details contribute to the
problem and/or the solution to it.
• Pay attention to the conflict. Characterize it as
character vs. character, character vs. nature,
character vs. society, or character vs. self.
• Notice the clues that the author provides to let
the reader know what is going to happen next.
• See if and how the author builds suspense.
• Decide what seems realistic and what does not.
• Think of the tone of the story.
• Contemplate what the author’s
purpose was for writing the story.
• Decide from what point of view the
story is told.
• Think about the plot structure and
characterize it as episodic,
progressive, or are there parallel
plots that build at the same time.
Constructing Meaning by Nancy Boyles
Identifying the Theme
Theme
Evidence for Theme
Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
Determining Important Events
Important Event
Evidence from the
Text
Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
Character Analysis
Character’s Motivation
Evidence from Text
Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
What Is Important in the Text?
What is important and
what is interesting to
me?
What is the author’s
message? What is he
trying to say?
I Read It, but I Don’t Get It by Cris Tovani
Clue Five: When Determining
Importance in Poetry, Think of
the Following:
•Note any clues in the title that may help
determine importance.
•Think about the poet and any other works that
may provide information about the poet’s style.
•Conclude what you think the poet’s purpose was.
•Determine the meanings of key words
and phrases.
Determining Importance in
Poetry (continued)
• Construct meaning from any use of
figurative language.
• Decide upon messages or themes of the
poem, whether they are overtly stated or
hidden.
• Reflect upon feelings after reading
the poem.
How Do I Know If a Student
Has Successfully Solved the
Mystery of Determining
Importance in Reading?
Assessing with the Major
Point Interview for Readers
• Are there some parts of this text that are
more important than the others? Which ones?
Why do you think they were the most
important?
• What do you think the author thought was most
important so far in this text? Why do you think
so?
• We have just discussed important parts of the
text. (Restate child’s response.) What do you
understand now that you didn’t understand
before?
“Good strategy lessons
are not over until
students have
discussed their
learning process.”
Nancy N. Boyles