PDF Activating Comprehension: Non-Fiction in the Classroom

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ActivatingComprehension: Non-FictionintheClassroom

byCarolEinstein

Comprehensionisthereasonforreading.According toPutReadingFirst:TheResearchBlocksfor TeachingChildrentoRead,goodreadersare purposefulandactive,butitisoftendifficulttoearnand maintainastudent'sinterestinatext.Oneofthebest waystoengagestudentsinreadingandlearningisthrough nonfiction.Muchresearchhasbeendoneonwhyandhow studentscanbestcomprehendatext,butlesshasbeensaid aboutwhatkindsoftextscanbestaidthedevelopmentof comprehensionskills.Besidestheusualtradebook,basal reader,ormagazinearticle,therearemanyothertextson manyinterestingtopics,anendlessvarietyofpeople,places, andthingstoreadabout.Nonfictioncanhelpstudentslearn toreadpurposefullyandactively,todevelopstrategies,to interactdirectlywithatext--whileexploringnewpeople andplaces,investigatingnewideasabouttheworldaround them.

Luckily,Ihadparentswhowerealwaystellingme interestingstoriesaboutpeople,places,andhistoricalevents. Unfortunately,inourhecticworldparentsdon'talwayshave timetotellstories.Asteachers,wecanmakethesestories ofpositiverolemodelsandsignificanteventsadynamic partofthecurriculum.WhenIstartedteachingreading comprehension,manyofmystudentssaidtheywishedthere weremorebooksaboutwomenwhohadlivedlongago. Thenmystudentstoldmethattheywouldlikesomestories aboutmen,too,andaboutpeoplelivingrightnowwhohad madeadifferenceintheworld.

WhenIfirststartedplanningmybiographyseries,Ithought allmysubjectswouldbedeceased.Afterallit'seasierforthe author;noonewillpopupandquestionyou,andtherewill benounpleasantsurprises.Butaftertalkingtoanumberof childrenIdecidedthathalfthesubjectsinmybooksshould beliving.Toasecond,third,orevenfourthgrader,fifty yearsmightaswellbeseveralhundred.Andwhenasked, mostchildrenwilltellyouthattheymuchpreferreading aboutsomethingthatishappeningnow,notsomethingthat happenedlongago.Ialsofoundthatoncestudentsbecome interestedinreadingaboutlivingpeople,theyaremore willingtoreadaboutanimportantpersonofthepast.Ifeel

thesamewayaboutplacesandevents.Getyourstudents interestedincurrenteventsorneighborhoodorcityissues, andthenyouwillseethathistoricalplacesandeventsgain newsignificance,anewlife.

Sohowcanyouusenonfictiontodevelopcomprehension skills?Thevitallyimportantfirststepisforyoutoshow andshareyourenthusiasmnotonlyfortheperson,place, oreventyou'regoingtoreadabout,butalsofortheactivity ofreadingitself.Researchshowsthatmotivatedteachers motivatechildren.Modelingenthusiasmandappreciation forreadingiseverimportantinteachingchildrentoenjoy readinganddevelopingstudents'literacyhorizons.Youneed tobeacheerleaderforyoursubject.

Thenextstepispre-reading.Beforeyourstudentsbegin readingatext,introduceanychallengingvocabularyin advance.TheNationalReadingPanel(2000)reportsthat thecomplexprocessofreadingcomprehensioncannot beunderstoodwithout"acleardescriptionoftherole thatvocabularydevelopmentandvocabularyinstruction playintheunderstandingofwhathasbeenread."Weall knowfromourownexperiencethatsometimesonecan understandthemeaningofawordthroughitscontext,but oftenonecannot,especiallyifitisacontent-areawordin acontentareawithwhichoneisnotfamiliar.Beforeyour classreadsastoryaboutwomenworkersofWorldWarII, youshouldpre-readthetextandrecordthechallenging words:discrimination,distract,welding,riveter,andfoundry. Writethemontheboardandpronouncethemclearly.Then askifanyoneknowswhattheymean.Ifnoonedoes,write thedefinition.IntheClaimstoFameandEinstein'sWho, What,andWhereseries,vocabularywordsanddefinitions followthepassage.Itishelpfultomodelthesewordsina sentenceorhavestudentscreatesentencesusingthenew words.Thelargerthereader'svocabulary,theeasieritisto fullyunderstandatext(NRP,2000).

Inordertohelpdevelopautomaticity,Iliketocreate personalwordboxes,smallfileboxesofwordcards,formy students.Studentsgivethedefinitionofthewordonthe cardandusethewordinasentencefivetimesinarow.If



ActivatingComprehension:Non-FictionintheClassroom?1

thestudentcandothiscorrectly,Iputacheckmarkonthe card.Whenthestudentgetsfivecheckmarksinarow,Isay thatthewordisautomatic,andit'splacedatthebackofthe fileboxinan"automatic"sectiontobereviewedlateron. Mystudentsareveryproudoftheirboxesandmanyofthem don'twanttodiscardtheirautomaticwords.Theysavethem fromyeartoyearastheybecomemoreandmorefluentand betterabletocomprehendandappreciatewhattheyread.

Teachersneedtomakestudentsactiveparticipantsin thelearningprocessrightfromthebeginning.Themost effectivewayisbypersonalizingtheassignment,andoneof themosteffectivemethodsforachievingthis,asreportingin ReadingFirst,isbyengagingthestudents'priorknowledge. TheK-W-LmodeldevelopedbyDonnaOgleisanexcellent strategytousewhenreadingnonfictiontexts.Thisthreestepprocessasksthestudents:

? Whatdoyouknow?

? Whatdoyouwanttoknow?

? Whatdidyoulearn?

Beforestudentsreadastory,askthemwhattheyknowabout thesubject.IfyouarereadingaboutJerryYang,thefounder ofYahoo!,askyourstudentswhattheyknowaboutsearching theInternet.Next,askthemwhattheywouldliketoknow aboutit.Afteryouhavereadthestory,askthemtorecall whattheyhavejustlearned.Thesearecrucialexercisesto helpengagestudentsinthesubjectmatter,andmodeling isextremelyimportantinK-W-L.Thinkaloudsoyour studentscanlistentoyourexactthinkingprocess.Provide questionsforthestudentstoconsider.InClaimstoFame andEinstein'sWho,What,andWhere,Ihaveprovidedsome modelquestionsforstudentstoaskthemselvesbeforethey evenbeginreading.Beforestudentsreadthestoryabout womenduringWorldWarII,Iask"Whathaveyoudone tohelpyourcommunityoryourcountry?"Beforestudents readaboutthetranscontinentalrailroad,Iask"Whyis itimportantforacountrytohaveagoodtransportation system?"Beforetheyreadapassageaboutthebattleto endsegregation,Iask"Whenyouseesomethingunfair happening,whatdoyoudo?"Activatingpriorknowledgeof thesubjectnotonlymakesstudentsthinkaboutwhatthey areabouttoread,butalsohelpsteachersunderstandand appreciatewhateachchildbringstothereadingexperience.

YoucanusetheK-W-Lstrategybefore,during,andafter reading.Youmightwanttoasksomechildrentoreadtheir answersaloud.Demonstratehowyouwouldanswersuch questionsandverbalizeyourthoughtprocesses.Onceyour studentshavelearnedthisstrategythroughmodelingand practice,youcanhavethemworkinsmallgroups,inpairs, orindividually,andapplyittoallkindsoftexts.

Rememberthattextcomprehensionisbothpurposefuland active.Withhigh-interestnonfictiontextsandstrategies suchasK-W-L,wegivestudentsapurposeforreading andlearning.Wealsomustencourageourstudentsto beactivereadersinordertoachievetheirpurpose,toget theverymostfromatext,andwecandothisbyteaching themspecificstrategiesproventoincreasecomprehension (Armbrusteretal.,2000;Snow,2000).TheNational ReadingPanel(2000)outlinesthemostimportantofthese scientifically-provenstrategies,including:

? comprehensionmonitoring

? summarizing

? questionanswering

? questiongenerating

Monitoringone'sowncomprehensionisadifficulttask becauseitinvolvesmetacognition,orthinkingaboutone's thoughtprocess.Thisstrategyinvolvesallthestagesof reading,fromthinkingaboutwhatyoualreadyknowabout thesubject,toadjustingyourreadingspeedofthetext,to "fixing-up"anyproblemsthatyouencounterasyoutryto understandwhatyouhaveread.Onemonitoringapproach thathasworkedwellwithmystudentsiscoding.Encourage studentstomark-uptheirtexts:putachecknexttoparts theyfindinterestingandaquestionmarknexttosomething theydon'tunderstand.Studentscanputastarbeside importantideasandwriteinthemarginaboutwhytheideas areimportant.

Modelingisaveryimportantstepinteachingtheskillof activereading.Isuggestyoureadaloudfromatransparency textandthink-aloudasyourstudentsfollowintheirbooks. Asyouread,modelhowtomonitoryourcomprehension andinteractwiththetextbycodingit.

Anotherprovenstrategyissummarizing.Encourage studentstopauseaftertheyarethroughreadingtothink aboutwhattheyhavejustread.Askthemtoretellthestory.

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Iftheyhavetroublerecallingwhattheyread,theyshould rereadthestoryagain,thistimemoreslowlyandactively, monitoringtheircomprehensionalongtheway.Ifstudents havedifficultlyrecallingtheentirepassage,havethem pausemid-text(oraftereveryparagraphifthestudentis stillstruggling)andhavethemsummarizethetextupto thatpoint.Youmighthavestudentswritetheirsummaries down,asthisoftenhelpsthemretaintheinformation. Havestudentssharetheirinformationwithapartneror thereadinggroup.Somestudentsmayhaverecalledan importantelementthatanotherstudenthasmissed.

Oneofthemostimportantcomponentsofeffective instructioninreadingcomprehensionisquestioning.As theyread,studentsshouldbeself-monitoringbyquestioning themselvesaboutthetextaswellasquestioningtheauthor. Askingquestionshelpsthemtofocus,understand,and rememberthetext.Questioningisalsooneoftheonlyways toassesscomprehension,andachievementtestsattachvery highstakestostudents'abilitytofindanswersinatext. Evenwhenthespecificgoalofthetestistoassessknowledge inthecontentareas,saysareportbyCatherineSnow (2000),thetestsactuallyreflectastudent'sskillsinreading comprehension.

Studentsareexpectedtoanswerquestionsthatrequire knowledgeofdetail,sequence,mainidea,andinference. Teachersshouldunderstandthestrategiesthathelpstudents understandhowandwheretofindtheseanswersinatext, andthentoexpresstheiranswersinaclear,effectiveway thatdemonstrateswhattheyhavelearned.Oneofthemost importantpurposesforreadingnonfictionistoanswer specificquestions(HarveyandGoudvis,2000).

Ialwaysaskmystudentstowriteanswersthatare completesentences,asitprovidescontexttoandhelps themremembertheiranswers.Ialwaysalsostresshow importantitisforthestudentstolookbackatthepassage fortheanswertoaparticularquestion,thenunderlineor highlighttheexactinformationifitisadetailquestion,or theinformationneededtoinferananswer.Searchingatext forinformationisaskillthatstudentswillusethroughout theirlifetimes,nottomentionwhenreadingpassagesfor informationonstandardizedtests.

Inordertofindanswerswithinatext,itisimportant toteachstudentstodistinguishbetweenessentialand nonessentialinformation.Thisstrategyof"determining importance"isbestintroducedwithnonfiction(Harvey

andGoudvis,2000).Thetaskofdeterminingimportance andfindinganswersgohandinhand,andcanoftencause difficultyforsomestudents.Fortunately,thereareseveral strategiesstudentscanusetohelpinthetask.Encourage yourstudentstolookcarefullyatthefirstandlastlinesof eachparagraph,whichoftencontainimportantinformation. Trainyourstudentstopayattentiontoandcodeany informationthattakesthembysurprise,asitisprobably neworimportant.Nonfictiontextsoftencontaincuesthat willsignalimportantinformation.Encourageyourstudents tolookcarefullyforthefollowingsignals.

? italicorboldprint

? cuewordsorphrasessuchasforexample,forinstance, mostimportant,therefore,ontheotherhand,etc.

? illustrationsandphotographs

Itisalsoworthwhiletoteachthespecificexpositorypatterns thatnonfictionformscantake:causeandeffect,problem andsolution,comparisonandcontrast,etc.Studentswillbe abletofindandconstructmeaningmoreeasilywhenthey arefamiliarwiththestructureandknowwhattoexpectof thetext,whetheritisatradebookortextbook,anewspaper articleorastandardizedtestpassage.

Becausenonfictionoftenfollowsaspecificexpository pattern,itcanalsobeusedtosparkstudents'writing skills.Ifaperson,place,oreventinterestsyourstudents, encouragethemtofurtherexplorethetopicinwriting.In Einstein'sWho,What,andWhere,writingexercisesfollowthe passageandcomprehensionquestions.Afterapassageabout theGreatWallofChina,Iaskstudentstoimaginetheyare areporterworkingonanarticleforatravelmagazine.After apassageabouttheUniversalDeclarationofHumanRights, Iaskstudentstocompileabillofstudents'rights,sequence theminorderoftheirimportance,andwritealettertothe schoolboardpersuadingthemtoacceptthebill.Aftera passageaboutGabrielGarciaMarquez,Iaskstudentsto writeastoryinwhichmagicalthingshappenineveryday life.

Nonfictionisoftenanexcellentwaytointroduceand developlanguageandcriticalthinkingskills,essential componentsofgoodreadingcomprehension.Whenmy studentsreadaboutJerryYanginClaimstoFameBook2, theylearnthatheusedcategoriestobuildhissearchengine. Afterthispassage,thestudentscategorizeitemsasstates, insects,orjewelry.Yourstudentscandothisindividually,



ActivatingComprehension:Non-FictionintheClassroom?3

withpartners,orinsmallgroups.Youcandevelopextension activitiesthatrequirestudentstoplaceitemsincategories theycreatethemselves,composetablesandchartsinaword processingdocument,orstudyandmapthecategorieson theYahoo!pages.

Nonfictiontextscanhelpencourageourstudentstothink aboutthewordstheyuseintheirownwriting,tobeprecise writers,andtovarytheirwordusage.Afterall,thereare manymoreinterestingandexactadjectivesbesidesgood orbad.AfterapassageaboutFerdinandMagellan,Iask studentstoprovidefouradjectivestodescribehimandthree otherimportantfiguresinthetext.Exercisesinimportant languageconceptssuchassynonymsandantonyms, homophones,homographs,similesandmetaphors,and idiomsandproverbswilldeepenstudents'appreciationofa textandhelpthembecomebetterreadersandwriters.

Nonfictionstudiesareinherentlycross-curricular,andhave aplaceinalmosteveryaspectofthecurriculum,notjustin reading.ApassageabouttheSilkRoadcanbereadinsocial studiesclass,MarieSklodowskaCurieinscience,orLudwig vanBeethoveninmusic.Guidedbythecarefulmodeling oftheteacher,nonfictioncomprehensioncanbeeasily

incorporatedintheclassroom,insmallcooperativegroups, orinremedialsituations,wherestudentscanexploreatext andemploytheseeverimportantstrategiesone-on-onewith theirinstructors.

EmilyDickinsononcesaid"Thereisnofrigatelikeabook totakeuslandsaway."Thisiscertainlytrueoffiction,but itisalsotrueofnonfiction.Thereissomethingveryspecial aboutarealperson,place,orevent.Ithappened.Itisthe truth.Nonfictiongiveschildrenknowledge.Andknowledge giveschildrendreams.

AboutTheAuthor CarolEinsteinreceivedherM.A.andM.Ed.fromColumbia Universityandhassignificantexperienceasaneducator inbothpublicandprivateschools.Shehastaughtsecond grade,hasworkedasareadingspecialistforgrades1?7,and isnowaneducationaltherapist.Herpublicationsinclude ReadingforContent;ClaimstoFame;Einstein'sWho,What, andWhere(EducatorsPublishingService);andBeYour OwnReadingSpecialist:AGuideforTeachersofGrades1?3 (ModernLearningPress).

References

Armbruster,B.,Lehr,F.,&Osborn,J.(2001).PutReadingFirst: TheResearchBuildingBlocksforTeachingChildrentoRead.Jessup, MD:NationalInstituteforLiteracy. Harvey,S.,Goudvis,A.(2000).Strategiesthatwork:Teaching comprehensiontoenhanceunderstanding.Portland,ME:Stenhouse Publishers. NationalReadingPanel.(2000).ReportoftheNationalReading Panel:Teachingchildrentoread:Anevidence-basedassessmentofthe scientificresearchliteratureonreadinganditsimplicationsforreading instruction.Washington,D.C.:NationalInstituteofChildHealth andHumanDevelopment.NationalInstitutesofHealth.

Ogle,D.(1986).K-W-L:Ateachingmodelthatdevelopsactive readingofexpositorytext.ReadingTeacher,39.6.,564-570. Snow,Catherine.(2002).ReadingforUnderstanding:Towardan R&DPrograminReadingComprehension.SantaMonica,CA: RANDReadingStudyGroup.

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ThisarticleoriginallyappearedintheAprilaqq2003issueofEPSUpdate,the electronicnewsletterfromEducatorsPublishingService.Formoreinformation,visit .Formoreinformation,call1.800.225.5750.

?2003EducatorsPublishingService,adivisionofDeltaEducation,LLC.Permissionis grantedtoreproducethisarticle.



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