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According to the National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC), " Reading is an activity with a purpose ."  Understanding the author's purpose for writing a selection helps the reader adjust his reading rate to focus on comprehension. To discuss  author's purpose for writing we use PIE (persuade, inform, entertain).  Understanding the purpose seems easy, but when it comes to understanding the main idea it's often a different story. Last year I polled my students to see exactly WHY they read WITHOUT summarizing, which we call, Checking for Understanding....here are the results (in no particular order) 1.   To be the first one done  2.   Forget to do it 3.   It's too much work 4.   Takes too long 5.   Don't feel like it 6.   Don't think it's important 7.   Just want to get the reading done 8.   Story is boring 9.   Don't like to read 10. Just to get it done What to do about it?   Since I compi...

photo © 2008 Chris connelly | more info (via: Wylio )   “It ain’t over til it’s over” was the phrase coined by Yogi Berra .  Spoken like a true sportsman or classroom teacher!   We all know that even when the kids have finished reading a story they’re “ not really done ”.  We read. We discuss. We assess.  There are all kinds of other activities that we can initiate to make sure the students have made connections to their reading.  This is Part 3 in the "Activating Prior Knowledge" series.  In the Before reading post, it was suggested to use an Anticipation Guide .  If used, it would be a great (quick) assessment to see if the kids can answer those questions correctly now .  (They love getting them all right too!!).  Also, in the Before post as an alternative to the KWL chart - a Word Cloud was suggested.  How about make a new word cloud to share what was learned.  (The kids love comparing them!) ...

They're Reading - Now What? What are the strategies that you employ while your students are reading? Is there a way to incorporate technology as a way to help students with their comprehension? Focusing on making connections and activating prior knowledge DURING reading is just as important as tapping into the prior knowledge BEFORE reading . Check out these ' during reading ' ideas at All America Re ads . You probably already utilize many of these tactics. Using graphic organizers helps our students solidify their understanding through pictorial or structural designs. They aid our student's comprehension. One way to add a new twist to graphic organizers is to pair these time-tested tools with technology. Excel Spreadsheet: An Excel spreadsheet , for example could be created and filled in while reading. The example I have created below is about the characters in our reading story. Students can complete the charts individually, with a partner or whole group. ...

Do you remember “Back to the Future?” with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd? The unusual time machine Doc Brown rigged up was a Delorean car! It was just on T.V. last week. Why didn’t I think to use a clip from that movie as a way to activate my students' prior knowledge about time traveling? Or use a clip with Phineas and Ferb? Or share a clip from the Magic School Bus Goes Back in Time? These clips would have certainly engaged my students and had them really thinking about our next r eading story instead of me asking them: “Do you know anything about time machines?” Activating Prior-Knowledge or Building Background Knowledge is a ‘must’ and just good teaching practice for building comprehension. It can be done before, during and after reading in any content area. According to Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann “ It has been known for some time that one of the most effective ways to improve comprehension is to "activate mental files" b...