After listening to the lectures and accessing the STAR Sheets & module resources, examine the attached case study, complete the questions at the bottomAntoni

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Background Student: Antonio Age: 9 .5 Grade: 4th Focus: Vocabulary Development

Scenario Antonio likes school and especially enjoys reading . However, he has a difficult time comprehending stories because of a limited vocabulary . Antonio’s teacher, Ms . Falk, has observed that he is able to read sight words and decode many unfamiliar words . Despite Ms . Falk’s “previewing” new vocabulary before each story, Antonio appears to need more instruction in the meaning of words . As she ponders possible strategies to assist Antonio, she realizes all of her students could benefit from the strategies . Consequently, she decides to implement a class-wide plan that will assist all students and specifically help Antonio reach the following instructional goal: • Given vocabulary words, Antonio will provide definitions .

Possible Strategies • Direct Instruction • Semantic Feature Analysis • Graphic Organizers

!! Assignment Assignment 1 . Read the STAR sheets for each of the three possible strategies . 2 . Describe each of the three strategies . 3 . Describe one activity for each of the three strategies and explain how it could be

used to assist Antonio in achieving his goal .

CASE STUDY Comprehension & Vocabulary: Grades 3-5

Level A • Case 1

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About the Strategy Direct instruction requires the teacher to directly teach the pronunciation and definitions of new vocabulary words in a highly organized manner and to directly teach comprehension strategies in a highly organized manner .

What the Research and Resources Say • When learning is difficult and novel, teachers must provide support for their students (Mercer,

Lane, Jordan, Allsopp, & Eisele, 1996) . • Teachers must model what they want students to learn, provide guided instruction,

independent instruction, and frequent feedback (NRC, 2000) . • Students must be given ample opportunities to practice the task in order to generalize the

strategy to other settings (Gersten, Baker, Pugach, Scanlon, & Chard, 2001) . • Students’ reading comprehension is maximized when they glean meaning from context .

Students can learn a small set of words to build their vocabulary if they are taught these words “well and deep”––they receive direct instruction on the words, their meanings, and they are exposed to these words in meaningful contexts for both reading and writing (Leu & Kinzer, 1999) .

• Direct instruction is highly structured and does not allow students to infer from or personalize the content; however, this technique has been especially effective for teaching reading and other subjects to students with disabilities (Gersten et al ., 2001) .

Types of Activities to Implement Pre-teaching Vocabulary One easy way to increase a student’s vocabulary is to pre-teach vocabulary before a passage is read . When pre-teaching vocabulary, it is important to teach the words within the context of the passage . Carnine, Silbert, & Kame’enui (1997) suggest the following method for teaching new vocabulary words: • State the definition and have students repeat the definition . • Provide students with examples and nonexamples of the word in sentences .

Example: When I’m happy I smile .

Non-example: When I’m angry I smile .

• Review the new words along with those previously learned to ensure students have the words in their long-term memories . One tool teachers use in preteaching vocabulary is the word web . See “Word in Context” below and Graphic Organizers STAR Sheet .

STAR SHEET Comprehension & Vocabulary: Grades 3–5

Direct Instruction

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Review and Practice Once students have explicitly been taught the new vocabulary terms, they must continue to practice them . Daily reviews can decrease in frequency, becoming weekly reviews when students become familiar with the vocabulary words . Review quizzes, repeated practice, and games, such as the self- correcting activities below, are tools teachers use to review and practice vocabulary with students . Review and practice activities can be completed with a peer, in small groups, or independently .

Examples of Teacher-Created Self-Correcting Materials

Matching Students are given a set of cards with vocabulary words written on one half of the cards and the corresponding definitions written on the other . Students match the vocabulary word with the correct definition . As seen in the example below, students can check their work by making sure the word and the definition have the same symbol in the upper right- hand corner .

Picture Cards Students are given a set of cards with vocabulary words written on the front of the cards and corresponding pictures drawn on the back . Students are shown the picture representation and provide the corresponding vocabulary word .

Deposition

Earthquake

the dropping off of bits of eroded rock

a sudden movement in the rocks that make

up Earth's crust

Hexagon

Trapezoid

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Modeling and Thinking Aloud Students can learn both new vocabulary and how to comprehend written passages by watching and listening to their teacher demonstrate these activities . Modeling and thinking aloud are effective strategies for all students but are even more effective when accompanied by the teacher giving supportive feedback as students attempt the same activities (Gersten et al ., 2001) Modeling and thinking aloud often are used in conjunction with other teaching strategies .

Example: Modeling – a teacher demonstrates how to play the matching activity outlined above, drawing attention to the pairing of vocabulary words with their definitions .

Example: Thinking aloud – a teacher explains how he or she learned the meaning of “warm-blooded” from the passage on whales provided in the Introduction, focusing his or her statements on the use of context to find meaning .

Keep in Mind • Direct instruction involves teaching students step-by-baby-step to the point of redundancy .

Though enormously effective for students who need the repetition, redundancy can be reached by some students very early leading to boredom or frustration . Consider how to provide engaging instruction to all students at the level they need .

• Direct instruction can be a challenge because it requires the teacher to break down an activity or skill she does automatically into its component parts in order to teach the skill to students . It may help to put yourself in the student’s shoes and try to imagine what it’s like to not understand or know how to do the task . Direct instruction also requires patience as you help students to build the composite skills so that they can eventually perform the skill as automatically as their peers .

Resources Carnine, D ., Silbert, J ., & Kame’enui , E . (1997) . Direct instruction reading (3rd ed .) . Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Merrill/ Prentice Hall . Gersten, R ., Baker, S ., Pugach, M ., Scanlon, D ., & Chard, D . (2001) . Contemporary research on

special education teaching . In V . Richardson (Ed .) Handbook of research on teaching (4th ed .), pp . 695–722 .

Leu, D .J ., & Kinzer, C . K . (1999) . Effective literacy instruction (4th ed .) . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall .

Mercer, C ., Lane, H ., Jordan, L ., Allsopp, D ., & Eisele, M . (1996) . Empowering teachers and students with instructional choices in inclusive settings . Remedial and Special Education, 17, 226–236 .

National Research Council (NRC) . (2000) . How people learn: Mind, experience, and school (Expanded ed .) . Washington, DC: National Academy Press .

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STAR SHEET Comprehension & Vocabulary: Grades 3–5

Semantic Feature Analysis

About the Strategy A Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) is a strategy that links a student’s prior knowledge with new information and new words by showing the relationships between words from a specific topic .

What the Research and Resources Say • Content teachers cannot leave development of vocabulary to chance (Greenwood, 2002) .

Difficulties in content area classes (e .g ., science, social studies) are common among students with a low vocabulary base (Pittelman, Heimlich, Berglund, & French, 1991) .

• Readers comprehend and learn when they are able to connect the new information in their reading material to what they already know (Greenwood, 2002) .

• Student discussion is essential when using a SFA (Bos & Anders, 1992) . • Discussion increases student participation, thus increasing their expressive language skills

(Pittelman, Heimlich, Berglund, & French, 1991) .

Types of Activities to Implement SFA Grid Pittelman et al . (1991) provide a seven-step process to develop a SFA: • Select a category that you will be teaching . • List three or four words or objects related to the category down the left side of the grid . • List three or four features in a row across the top of the grid . Discuss features with students

and encourage them to add other features . • Guide students through the matrix, having them determine if the words on the left side possess

the features listed . Students place a “+” if the word possesses the feature, a “-” sign if the word does not possess the feature, and a “?” if they are unsure of the relationship .

• Students suggest additional words and features . • Complete the grid by adding plus signs, minus signs, or question marks for the new words

and features . • Examine the grid and discuss relationships among the words .

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Types of Rocks

Igneous Metamorphic Sedimentary

Granite ? ? – Sandstone – – + Pumice + – – Shale ? – ?

Keep in Mind • Teachers must model how to complete a SFA prior to having students complete them

independently . • Completing SFAs as a group is a great activity to spark a great deal of discussion among

students . • Use SFAs to tap prior knowledge as well as to build vocabulary . • Allow students to recognize the relationships between features and words in the grid . Prompt

with questions as needed .

Resources Bos, C ., & Anders, P . L . (1992) . Using interactive teaching and learning strategies to promote text

comprehension and content learning for students with learning disabilties . International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 39(3), 225–238 .

Greenwood, S . C . (2002) . Making words matter: Vocabulary study in the content areas . The Clearing House, 75(5), 258–264 .

Pittelman, S . D ., Heimlich, J . E ., Berglund, R . L ., & French, M . P . (1991) . Semantic Feature Analysis: Classroom Application. Newark, DE: International Reading Association .

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STAR SHEET Comprehension & Vocabulary: Grades 3–5

Metacognitive Strategies

About the Strategy A metacognitive strategy is one that assists students in monitoring their own learning by asking themselves questions as they read a passage .

What the Research and Resources Say • The purpose of strategy instruction is to provide students with metacognitive tools that they

can use on their own (Swanson & DeLaPaz, 1998) . • Rather than teaching specific strategies to increase comprehension, several teachers monitor

comprehension by asking questions after students have read a passage (Levy, Coleman, & Alsman, 2002; Swanson & DeLaPaz, 1998) .

• One comprehension strategy should be taught at a time . Students should not be taught a second strategy until the first one has been mastered (Swanson & DeLaPaz, 1998) .

• Students must be taught when and where to use a strategy (Swanson & DeLaPaz, 1998) . • Students should be taught to question themselves before, during, and after reading a passage

(Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1997) . • Students with learning disabilities have difficulty connecting present strategies with new

situations and mentally organizing new material . In addition, when students with learning disabilities read, they ask themselves fewer questions about the reading (Gersten, Baker, Pugach, Scanlon, & Chard, 2001) .

Strategies to Implement Prior to teaching the strategies listed under the Types of Activities to Implement (next section), upper elementary students should be able to complete the following activities: • Prior to reading new material, teachers should activate and assess student’s prior knowledge .

This can be done by making predictions based on the title, a scanning of story pictures, or from past experiences with the topic, themes, or characters in the story .

• Students should be able to identify the main idea of a passage . If students have difficulty with identifying the main idea they should be taught how to locate the main idea (e .g ., often found in the first sentence or a repeating concept in the passage) .

• Students should be able to answer the who, what, when, where, and how questions of a story .

• Students should be able to retell stories they have read or listened to at their instructional levels .

• Students should have the skills to look back or reread a section if they don’t understand what they have read .

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Types of Activities to Implement Self-Questioning Wong & Jones (1982) developed a self-questioning strategy to assist students in comprehending reading passages . It is important that students are able to identify the main idea of the passage before using this strategy . The questions students are taught to ask themselves include: • What am I studying this passage for? • What is the main idea(s)? • What is a question I have about the main idea? • What is the answer to my question? • What previous knowledge can I use to gain more information?

Paraphrasing The Paraphrasing Strategy (Schumaker, Denton, & Deshler, 1993) is a comprehension strategy that helps students recall the main idea and details of passages read . The mnemonic for the Paraphrasing Strategy is RAP and the steps include: • Read a paragraph: students silently read a paragraph . • Ask yourself, “What are the main idea(s) and details?” After reading the paragraph, students

ask themselves “What were the main idea(s) and details? If needed, students should look back or reread the paragraph .

• Put the main idea and details in your own words: Students are required to put the main idea and details in their own words .

POSSE POSSE (Predict, Organize, Search, Summarize, and Evaluate) is a strategy that can be used with students in fourth grade and higher . The predict and organize steps are directed by the teacher prior to reading . • Predict – students are cued by saying “I predict that…” or “I’m remembering…” • Organize – students categorize their thoughts and organize them by saying “I think one

category may be…” and develop a semantic map . • A group leader is selected to facilitate the discussion during the Search and Summarize

phases . ◦ A section of the passage is read and discussed and then added to the new semantic map under the search section .

◦ The leader then asks questions to generate supporting details . Statements made by students might include “I think the main idea is…” or “My question about the main idea is…”

• Evaluation includes comparing, clarifying, and predicting . ◦ Students compare the map under “Organizing your thoughts” to the map under the “Summarize phase” by saying “I think we did (did not) predict this main idea .”

◦ Students clarify any new vocabulary or unclear information by asking “does anything need to be clarified?”

◦ Students predict what will happen in the next section .

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Keep in Mind • Most strategies will take 3 or more lessons before students are able to use the strategy

independently . • Students must be taught when and where to use the strategy . • Students must have mastery of the strategy and opportunities to apply the strategy in a variety

of settings and conditions for generalization to occur . • When teaching the strategies, text needs to be at an independent reading level . Emphasis is

on comprehension, not decoding .

Resources Gersten, R ., Baker, S ., Pugach, M ., Scanlon, D ., & Chard, D . (2001) . Contemporary research on

special education teaching. In V . Richardson (Ed .) Handbook of research on teaching (4th ed .), 695–722 .

Levy, S ., Coleman, M ., & Alsman, B . (2002) . Reading instruction for elementary students with emotional/behavioral disorders: What’s a teacher to do? Beyond Behavior, 11(3), 3–10 .

Mastropieri, M . A ., & Scruggs, T . E . (1997) . Best practices in promoting reading comprehension in students with learning disabilities: 1976 to 1996 . Remedial and Special Education, 18(4), 197–213 .

Schumaker, J . B ., Denton, P . H ., & Deshler, D . D . (1993) . The paraphrasing strategy (rev . ed .) (Learning Strategies Curriculum) . Lawrence: University of Kansas .

Swanson, P . N ., & De La Paz, S . (1998) . Teaching effective comprehension strategies to students with learning and reading disabilities . Intervention in School and Clinic, 33, 209–218 .

Wong, B . Y . L ., & Jones, W . (1982) . Increasing metacomprehension in learning disabled and normally achieving students through self-questioning training . Learning Disability Quarterly, 5, 228–240 .

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STAR SHEET Comprehension & Vocabulary: Grades 3–5

Graphic Organizers

About the Strategy Graphic organizers are visual displays that help students to organize their understanding of words or written passages . There are several types of graphic organizers including word webs and story maps .

What the Research and Resources Say • The purpose of teaching students to use graphic organizers is to provide students with

metacognitive tools that they can use on their own (Swanson & De La Paz, 1998) . • It is estimated that adults use some 10,000 words in their everyday conversations . Students

understand and comprehend between 20,000 and 24,000 at age 6 and more than 50,000 by age 12 (Owens, 2001) .

• The use of word mapping has been proven to increase a student’s vocabulary (Bos & Anders, 1990) .

• Teaching students to attend to story elements has been shown to enhance reading comprehension skills (Idol, 1987; Mathes, Fuchs, & Fuchs, 1997) .

• The visual framework of a graphic organizer provides an organizational format for reading text that has been shown to help children with learning disabilities increase comprehension skills (Babyak, Koorland, & Mathes, 2000; Idol, 1987) .

• Strategic readers connect what they know to what they are reading . Children at-risk for or with learning disabilities need direct instruction on attending to story details (Babyak, Koorland, & Mathes, 2000; Idol, 1987; Mathes, Fuchs, & Fuchs, 1997) .

Types of Graphic Organizers Word Webs Word webs are visual diagrams used to assist students in defining and recalling important vocabulary words . There are several types of word webs . One example uses synonyms and antonyms . The teacher presents the new vocabulary word in the center of the map and provides links for students to write in synonyms and antonyms . See example to the right . Another type of word map or word web uses descriptions . To create this type of word web, a teacher would provide students with a new vocabulary word and ask them to describe the word . For example, you might place the word “castle” in the center and ask students questions such as “What is it?”; “What does it look like?”; “Where do we find them?”; “Who lives in them?” and link the new word with students’ responses .

satisfactory

okay

standard

usual

normal

SynonymsAntonyms

unacceptable

annoying

improper

horrible

awful

acceptable Word

acceptable

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Story Maps Story maps are simple visual diagrams used to assist students in organizing and recalling important story elements . Story maps help students to think about what they are reading in order to increase their reading comprehension . To complete a story map, students fill in the corresponding information requested as or after they read . See example below . Story map shapes and structures can be adapted to fit the story context or can be designed to resemble the word web (on page 8) . Story maps are often used with picture books or single chapters of chapter books .

Setting

Outcome

Characters

Problem

Action

Prediction

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Story Matrix When reading chapter books, students can increase their comprehension by using a story matrix to connect the story maps of each chapter . Students complete a grid to outline the main elements of the book as they read or after reading each chapter . See example below . Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3… Chapter Title Grandfather Characters (Who?) • Grandfather

• Willy • Searchlight • Doc Smith • Rex

Setting (Where? When?) • Potato farm in

Wyoming • Morning

Main events (What? Why?) • Grandfather

doesn’t get out of bed • Willy goes to get Doc Smith to check on him • Grandfather has lost his will to live

Prediction (What’s next?) Willy finds out why

Grandfather has given up

Types of Activities to Implement Model-Lead-Test

This process can be used with any of the graphic organizers described in this section . • Model Phase: teacher reads a passage aloud and stops reading when they come to one

of the key elements (e .g ., character, setting, outcome) . She or he asks the students to identify the key element . The teacher then models writing the information on the (group) story map . Once the students understand the process, the teacher asks the students to continue reading and to complete their own maps .

• Lead Phase: students read the passage and complete their maps independently . Teacher reviews the completed maps with students and adds any missed information .

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• Test Phase: students read the passage and complete their story maps independently . Teacher then asks the following questions: “Who were the main characters?” “Where did the story take place?” “What was the main idea of the story?” “What was the problem in the story?” “How was the problem solved?” Other appropriate questions should be asked .

Keep in Mind: • Graphic organizers can be used as independent activities or as group activities in peer

tutoring or cooperative learning groups . • Teachers must model how to complete graphic organizers several times before students are

expected to complete them independently . • With story maps, make sure the story elements are easy to identify . Fade the use of story

maps as students are able to independently identify elements . • Some students will require completed story maps during the test portion of the Model-Lead-Test

activity .

Resources Babyak, A . E ., Koorland, M ., & Mathes, P . G . (2000) . The effects of story mapping instruction

on reading comprehension of students with behavioral disorders . Behavioral Disorders, 25(3), 239–258 .

Bos, C ., & Anders, P . L . (1990) . Using interactive teaching and learning strategies to promote text comprehension and content learning for students with learning disabilties . International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 39(3), 225–238 .

Idol, L . (1987) . Group story mapping: A comprehension strategy for both skilled and unskilled readers . Journal of Learning Disabilities, 20(4), 196–205 .

Mathes, P . G ., Fuchs, D ., & Fuchs, L . S . (1997) . Cooperative story mapping . Remedial and Special Education, 18(1), 20–27 .

Owens, Jr ., R . E . (2001) . Language disorders: A functional approach to assessment and intervention (5th ed .) . Columbus, OH: Merrill .

Swanson, P . N ., & De La Paz, S . (1998) . Teaching effective comprehension strategies to students with learning and reading disabilities . Intervention in School and Clinic, 33, 209–218 .