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Comprehension Strategies for Your K-6 Literacy Classroom
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Comprehension Strategies for Your K-6 Literacy Classroom
Thinking Before, During, and After Reading

  • Divonna M. Stebick - Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA
  • Joy M. Dain - Carroll County Public School System, Westminster, MD, McDaniel College, Westminster, MD, Stebick & Dain


March 2007 | 176 pages | Corwin

"Invites readers on a meaningful adventure into classrooms where children actively think. Successfully brings comprehension strategy instruction to life through explicit frameworks for literacy instruction, authentic classroom examples, and high-quality instructional resources for K–6 teachers."
—From the Foreword by Debra A. Miller

"Focused and practical. The authors present a solid instructional model based on years of research. This book provides teaching tactics to help teachers, particularly those new to the profession, imagine how comprehension strategy instruction might actually look and sound in the elementary classroom."
—From the Afterword by Ellin Keene

"A resource unlike any I have encountered in my career. Both new and experienced teachers will use this book to aid their instruction, maximizing the most effective reading comprehension in their students."
—Jonathan Hart, Third-Grade Teacher, Copper Hill School, Ringoes, NJ

Enhance your thinking about teaching with these research-based comprehension strategies!

Teaching comprehension and insuring that students think about what they read can be a challenging task for educators. In reader-friendly terms, Comprehension Strategies for Your K–6 Literacy Classroom illustrates how teachers can effectively use six critical comprehension strategies to enhance student understanding: activating schema, questioning, visualizing, inferring, determining important ideas, and synthesizing.

Divonna M. Stebick and Joy M. Dain present a "before," "during," and "after" instructional framework that provides the three elements necessary for strategic comprehension learning to take place: explicit instruction through teacher modeling, guided practice, and independent application.

Combining theory with classroom research, this helpful resource:

  • Offers step-by-step direction, guiding teachers through sample lessons
  • Includes ready-to-use lessons that are easily adaptable and aligned with NCLB and NCTE standards
  • Provides real-life case studies illustrating classroom application
  • Uses hands-on activities and visual aids such as anchor charts, sketches, treasure chests, and builders' plans to capture students' attention and promote critical thinking

 
Foreword
 
Acknowledgments
 
Preface
 
About the Authors
 
Introduction
 
1. Reorganizing Our Thinking ~ Making Connections
Activating Prior Knowledge

 
Metacognition

 
Developing Schema

 
 
2. Interacting With the Text ~ Questioning
Guiding Students' Thinking

 
Gradually Releasing Students Into Self-Questioning

 
 
3. Directing a Movie in Your Mind ~ Visualizing
Mental Imagery

 
Modeling for Intermediate Readers

 
Teacher Reflections

 
 
4. Piecing the Clues Together ~ Inferring
Reading Between the Lines in an Inclusion Classroom

 
Putting Your Thoughts to Paper

 
 
5. Sifting Through and Locating the Nugget ~ Determining Importance
Importance Based Upon Purpose

 
Determining Importance During Guided Reading

 
Revisiting Texts

 
 
6. Organizing and Recreating New Ideas ~ Synthesizing
Changing Our Schema

 
Bloom's Taxonomy

 
 
7. Conclusion ~ The You Do Phase of Making the Invisible Visible
 
Afterword
 
Resources
a. Blank Frameworks & Instructional Resources

 
b. Thinking Organizers

 
c. Picture Book Reference Lists

 
 
References
 
Index

"The authors demonstrate excellent pragmatic examples for new and veteran teachers as they guide students through six stages of comprehension strategies. Definitely raises the bar for student comprehension strategies."

Sue Morgan, Special Education Coordinator
Akron Public Schools, OH

"This book provides teachers with specific instructional strategies designed to make students independent, thoughtful readers. Using these well-defined techniques will help students 'pack, repack, and reorganize' information in an efficient and meaningful way that will surely bring students to an optimal level of comprehension."

Marcia M. Talkovich, Program Specialist
Georgia Learning Resource System

"A resource unlike any I have encountered in my career.  Both novice and experienced teachers will use this book to aid instruction and maximize their students' reading comprehension."

Jonathan Hart, Third-Grade Teacher
Copper Hill School, Ringoes, New Jersey

"Focused and practical. The authors present a solid instructional model based on years of research. This book provides teaching tactics to help teachers, particularly those new to the profession, imagine how comprehension strategy instruction might actually look and sound in the elementary classroom."

From the Afterword by Ellin Keene

"Invites readers on a meaningful adventure into classrooms where children actively think. Successfully brings comprehension strategy instruction to life through explicit frameworks for literacy instruction, authentic classroom examples, and high-quality instructional resources for K–6 teachers."

From the Foreword by Debra A. Miller
Key features
  • Step-by-step direction, guiding teachers through sample lessons
  • Numerous ready-to-use lessons that are easily adaptable
  • Case studies illustrating classroom application
  • Comprehension strategies and lessons tested and refined in the classroom
  • All lessons are aligned with National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Standards
  • Strong research base

Purchasing options

For large school/district orders, volume discounts, availability and shipping times contact customer service at 800-233-9936
or order@corwin.com.

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ISBN: 9781412940436
CAD$ 47.95  CAD$ 32.95*

For large school/district orders, volume discounts, availability and shipping times contact customer service at 800-233-9936
or order@corwin.com.

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