Metacognition in Literacy
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Comprehension
"Comprehension is powerful because the ability to construct meaning comes from the mind of the reader."
What is Comprehension?
The ability to understand the meaning of text.
Comprehension is apparent when the reader can...
- Interpret and evaluate events, dialogue, ideas, and information
- Connect information to what they already know
- Adjust current knowledge to include new ideas or look at those ideas in a different way - Determine and remember the most important points in the reading
- Read “between the lines” to understand underlying meanings
Comprehension Strategies
- Make Connections—Readers connect the topic or information to what they already know about themselves, about other texts, and about the world.
- Ask Questions—Readers ask themselves questions about the text, their reactions to it, and the author's purpose for writing it.
- Visualize—Readers make the printed word real and concrete by creating a “movie” of the text in their minds.
- Determine Text Importance—Readers (a) distinguish between what's essential versus what's interesting, (b) distinguish between fact and opinion, (c) determine cause-and-effect relationships, (d) compare and contrast ideas or information, (e) discern themes, opinions, or perspectives, (f) pinpoint problems and solutions, (g) name steps in a process, (h) locate information that answers specific questions, or (i) summarize.
- Make Inferences—Readers merge text clues with their prior knowledge and determine answers to questions that lead to conclusions about underlying themes or ideas.
- Synthesize—Readers combine new information with existing knowledge to form original ideas, new lines of thinking, or new creations.
When do you use these Strategies?
The best to use these strategies is when you think-aloud. By doing this we are modeling what good readers do. They are more likely to learn from the teacher modeling than just telling them. There are many times throughout the day where the teacher can model this. A teacher can model during shared reading and the teacher asks for help from the students. This keeps the students engaged in the reading. The most common way to use these strategies is when reading aloud to the class and the teacher will think aloud while the students just listen to their thoughts.
Students can take their learning and use it in small groups. These small groups can be extremely helpful for some students who can get scared speaking in front of a class. In a more intimate setting students will be more likely to share their thinking and more likely to have better discussions.
Students can take their learning and use it in small groups. These small groups can be extremely helpful for some students who can get scared speaking in front of a class. In a more intimate setting students will be more likely to share their thinking and more likely to have better discussions.
Focus Skills
Proficient readers actively:
- Retell
- Identify the main idea
- Determine the theme (fiction)
- Recognize story structure of the beginning, middle, and end
- Identify important characters
- Recognize problems and events leading to a solution
- Use context clues to understand figurative language
- Connect text to personal experiences
- Draw conclusions
- Make inferences
- Recognize and Analyze authors craft (word choice, dialogue, sentence structure, tone)