The Reading-Comprehension Trot

Begin this activity by reminding students of the vocabulary knowledge they gained during the before activity using a review game or word wall (see Preparation section).

The teacher will need to share the slideshow with students through the preferred learning management system. The teacher will provide the following instructions for students to complete the slideshow assignment.

For the vocabulary slides:

“You all have most of this information, but now we can take the general definition of the word and apply it to the text we are studying to give it more meaning. Here, you will find the word within your text, and jot that down word-for-word with appropriate text-citing dynamics. Then, it may ask you to put the word into a sentence that you come up with - that relates to the world around you, using words that are relevant in your day-to-day conversations. Let’s do the first one together, then I will give you time to complete the remaining two (2) on your own for this text.”

For the Venn Diagram slide:

“Now, let’s talk about the similarities and differences we’ve experienced between the characters/themes/settings/situations/conflicts/(whatever beginning antagonist/protagonist situation presented in the text)/etc. Provide an example from the selected text, and lead a class discussion on the similarities and differences in this component. Then, students will work with a partner to compare and contrast another text component (self or teacher selected). 

For the multiple-questioned comprehension questions:

“When answering questions on the plot of a text, we are presented with three different kinds of questions - and let’s think of it like a tree. 

A level 1 question is one that is surface-level as if I asked you what the color of a leaf is. You’d be able to put your finger on it and recall that information fast. Not having to think about the answer, not digging too deep, there the answer is, right there.

A level 2 question is one where we have to read between some lines, maybe like the trunk of a tree. If a statement is posed to you that says, ‘That tree is 58 years old, which means the elderly man has grown up with this tree his whole life in his yard.’ It took some background knowledge to know how old that tree is - that person, at some point, would have had to learn how to tell the age of a tree - because clearly, we can’t ask it! This takes some inference skills (making educated guesses/assumptions/statements based on all relevant information given). You can’t put your finger on the answer - it will take some research. This can be the most challenging kind of question.

A level 3 question, finally, is one that relates to the world around you. These are deep and full of emotion, like a tree’s roots. Normally, this question will include the pronoun ‘you’ in it. And for good measure, when we see these questions, let’s count the number of question marks we see in each question to know how many answers we should give back to it. Let’s do that to this first one, and then determine the kind of question it is.” 

Students and the teacher will dissect and answer the first question as a whole class before the students answer the second question individually. 

For the cause and effect activity:

“With this strategy, we have to remember the word ‘because.’ For example, ‘Because there was a hurricane, there are three things that could happen…’ Let’s list some things as a class. The hurricane is the cause, the effects being the results that happen because of it. In the text, because ___________________________ happened, then you are simply making smart predictions about what could happen next. Jot down three possible effects with a partner now.”

For the GIST (summarizing) activity:

“In this specific chunk of text, let’s together list the 3-5 major events that happened here.”

“Going through the guidelines of an effective summary, or gist, we know that we need to mention the title of what we are reading, the specific chapter if applicable, and then the objective of the excerpt. Then, list the 3-5 major events in a narrative manner, before finally making a statement on what the overall lesson or theme is in that chunk.”

The teacher should do the first summary, with the guidelines, with his/her class the first time, then have students complete their own GIST summary with the following chapters.