Developing Higher Order Reading Skills
Extending Reading Skills
How do good readers read?
 Good readers read quickly, often recognizing whole words
instantly; poor readers often read so slowly that they lose
meaning.
 Good readers guess difficult words when necessary, using the
context to help; poor readers often assume they must read every
word.
 Good readers read to extract meaning; poor readers often lose
sight of the whole purpose of reading
 Good readers predict what will come next by reading groups of
words and phrases; poor readers concentrate on reading single
words, losing sight of the context.
 Good readers adapt the way they read to the purpose; poor
readers often use one strategy whenever they read, irrespective of
the purpose of the reading task.
Adapting teaching methods to ensure active involvement with the text:
 Introduce activities which combine subject skills with reading
skills e.g. scanning for information.
 Give pupils an overview of material before they start to read,
SQ3r/KWL.
 Identify the key points or the most important parts of the text
(DARTS).
 Provide pupils with guidance on the most appropriate ways to
read the text.
 Provide a glossary of new/difficult/technical words.
DARTS
DIRECTED ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TEXTS
UNDERLINING
Here you would underline
KEY WORDS or phrases
Use this when you want
to read closely and
remember MAIN or
KEY ideas
LABELLING
Here you choose one
word or a short phase
which describes what the
passage is about
Use this when you want to
Focus on the MAIN
POINT of the passage
EXTRACTING
Select the KEY POINTS
to write out in another
form; such as a list or
table.
Use this when you want
to make notes or
summarise information
PUTTING IT ALL
TOGETHER
This is where you put
together all the
information you have
extracted from all
the texts you have used.
Here is where you bring
together all your ideas and
information into a single
piece of writing, a graph
or table and present it in
the
SQ3R
Information Finding System
SQ3R is a system you can use to find that vital information for your latest piece of work. You know what
it’s like; you’re in the Resources Room or in the library and all those books are just sitting there and not
being very helpful. Well here’s the way to beat that problem and improve your work!
SURVEY
Look at the title, subheading, pictures,
check out the index and chapter headings,
read first and last paragraphs. Get a
general idea if what you need is in the
book
QUESTION
What do I need to know?
Have I found what I need?
Do I need more facts or general
information?
READ
Now is the time to begin a more detailed
read of the passage or chapter.
Keep looking for facts and information
REVIEW
Write down the KEYWORDS and make
Notes. Make a summary of important
passages.
Have you found everything you need?
WRITE
Now you have all the information you
need it’s time to write it up.
This must be in your own words.
Make sure you do not leave out anything
important!
??
X
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A Guide to question setting
A comprehension exercise oral or written which will really probe understanding should include questions
from most or all of these five levels:
1 .
Literal comprehension which requires a pupil to locate facts, ideas, particular information,
a sequence of events, similarities and differences, characteristics of a person etc which are
explicitly stated in the passage.
e.g.
2.
Reorganisation which requires a pupil to analyse, synthesise and/or organize the ideas or
information which is explicitly stated in the passage.
e.g.
3
What else might the author have included to make the passage more interesting to boys?
What sort of person is Mr Jones?
What do you think will happen next?
How would the boy behave if he were in a different place/time/situation?
Why did the girl behave as she did?
Why does the author use the word …………?
What does the author mean by the phrase, ‘foxy eyes’ or any other figurative expression?
Evaluation which requires the pupil to make a judgment based either on the passage alone or on
his/her prior knowledge and experience.
e.g.
5.
Classifying; placing people, things, places and/or events into categories.
Summarising; condensing the contest of the passage, using direct quotation or paraphrased
statements.
Synthesising; bringing together ideas or information from more than one source/section of
the passage.
Inferential comprehension which requires a pupil to use the ideas and information in the passage,
his or her intuition and his of her personal experience as a basis for making conjectures of
hypotheses.
e.g.
4.
What is the boy’s name?
Who was taller, Susan or John?
Which child was the most polite?
What did the children do at the park?
Could this really happen?
Does this make sense?
What is the author trying to make you think when he says ………..?
Is the information accurate? Does it agree with what you have found out/from other
sources?
Does the boy behave in an appropriate way?
Is the character right or wrong to act as s/he does in view of the situation described?
Is the character’s behaviour right or wrong according to you beliefs?
Appreciation which requires an emotional and/or aesthetic response from the pupil to the
content and style of the passage.
e.g.
How did the passage make you feel?
Which character did you like best/most sympathise with?
Which character would you most like to be? Why?
Which description did you find most lifelike/frightening/effective?
Which words most helped you to imagine what was happening?
K
W
L
What do I know?
What do I want to know?
What have I learned?
BEGINNING AND LESS
ABLE READERS
MORE FLUENT READERS
Focus of teaching
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Handling books appropriately
Demonstrating directionalty and
one-one correspondence
Concepts about print
Sight recognition of frequent
words
Use of initial letter sounds to
identify words
Awareness of rhyming words
Identifying main events in a story
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Introduce title, cover and discuss
expectations
Quickly work through book page
by page looking at pictures, talking
through sequence, language
patterns, settings, characters,
significant events etc in the text
Demonstrate book handling, point
out and use print concepts in the
process
Identify:
- Known words, i.e. words
met in previous text
- New words, i.e. those
with special significance locate them in the text,
ensure children can
recognise them
Children read aloud at their own
pace
Teacher monitors and supports to
maintain pace, accuracy and sense
During the reading, teacher notes
several key points for the group
Teacher assesses individuals as
they read
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Accurate decoding of regular words
Begin reading longer words by
breaking them down into syllables
Sight recognition of high frequency
words
Develop silent reading
Checking for sense, identifying and
correcting errors
Predicting story ending from first
part of text
Sequence of teaching
1. Book Introduction
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2.
Independent
Reading (5mins)
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3. Return to the text
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4. Follow up
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Discuss story: characters, events,
places, etc; find significant words
again
Use discussion to reinforce book
and print concepts
Discuss words that caused
difficulties
Find rhyming words, words
starting with same sound, words
beginning with letters in children’s
names, etc
See follow-up independent rereading task
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Discuss expectations from title,
cover and a brief scan of first page
Relate text to children’s prior
experience
Draw attention to significant or
unusual words, note spelling
features and make sure children can
recognise them
Remind about sentence
punctuation, question marks,
speech marks and how these
influence expression
Remind about checking reading for
sense and re-reading if necessary
Set silent reading task from where
the group reading ended, e.g. up to
page x
Monitor individuals’ reading by
asking them to read part out
Teacher helps them apply
knowledge to decode words or
solve problems with the text
Those who finish first practise
reading aloud quietly, using
punctuation to mark expression or
respond to quiz questions on the
text
Teacher assesses individuals as
they read
Briefly re-read the passage to
ensure all have understood it
Discuss any difficulties of decoding
and self-correction
Briefly explore predictions about
story ending by reference to text
See independent task to note
predictions, read to the end and
compare