Curriculum-Based Language
Intervention
Wendy Robinson
wrobinson@aea11.k12.ia.us
February 3, 2010
Outcomes
Participants will:
 Be able to state the links between oral narratives and
academic success.
 Participants will be able to write curriculum-based goals
(quantity versus qualitative)
 Participants will be able to implement story-based
interventions to improve oral expression skills.
 Participants will be able to implement main idea
summarization strategy to improve oral expression
skills.
Why is this important?
 Oral language skills are the foundation of literacy skills. The
competency of a student’s language skills typically
determine the competency of a student’s reading and writing
skills.
 The attainment of literacy skills is critical for academic and
life success.
 60-70% of preschool children with communication concerns
are at-risk for literacy failure by grade two.
 Language and communication skills are considered the
“hidden curriculum” in most schools.
How does this quote relate to oral language
and school success?
Words are used to think. The more words we know, the
finer our understanding of the world.
(Stahl, 1999)
Teach broadly
 Content (comprehension, relevant details, vocabulary,
main idea, story structure)
 Form (grammar, complex sentences)
 Use (express thoughts, ideas, convey meaning in
spoken and written form)
What do children get from being
read to?
 Preparing children to read the “next level
 More complex language
 More academic vocabulary (words that are useful in
school)
 Continued appreciation of the enchantment of the story
What do children get from
narrative discourse?
 Foundation for reading and writing
 Critical for developing reading comprehension skills
(vocabulary, can determine important information, story
structure)
 Improves ability to express ideas beyond the sentence
level
 Provides opportunities to use formal book talk
Assess efficiently!
 Total Words Spoken (general outcome measure - vital
sign)
 C - units, average words per c-unit
 Story grammar components
Narrative Discourse - Three
Basic Error Patterns
 Comprehension - student typically displays slow
retrieval of words, use of nonspecific vocabulary, and
provides insufficient details for listener understanding.
These students usually have limited verbal output and
often do not understand story structure.
Narrative Discourse Pattern
 Structure - student often has trouble planning and/or
including all essential story components. Sometimes
these students can provide the missing information if
cued or asked questions targeting the missing story
components.
Narrative Discourse Pattern
 Organization - student typically has problems
organizing narrative in a logical, coherent manner. All
the critical components may be there, but not in the
right order. Often times these student include a lot of
irrelevant information.
Purpose for Determining
Error Pattern Type
 Helps determine what to teach and how to teach it.
 Helps determine what type of monitoring system (TWS,
C-unit, average length of C-unit, story elements) is
most appropriate for that student
 Helps determine which service delivery option best
meets student needs
Narrative Comprehension
 What to teach: essential story elements and
critical vocabulary in stories
 How to teach: explicit instruction of story
elements, multiple opportunities to hear stories
that model story structure in a concrete
manner, cues and prompts to provide
assistance in retelling
Narrative Comprehension
 Monitoring: Total words spoken (if low verbal output),
C-units and average length of c-unit
Narrative Structure
 What to teach: Identify missing story
components and teach those elements
 How to teach: Use of scaffolding, highlighting
missing components during read alouds, use of
verbal or visual organizers
 Monitoring: Story retelling evaluation guide
(monitoring for inclusion of essential story
components)
Narrative Organization
 What to teach: Sequential order of story
structure, relevant versus irrelevant
information
 How to teach: Modeling, verbal and/or
visual organizers
 Monitoring: story retell evaluation guide
with focus on sequence if needed
Comprehension
is
always the
GOOAAALL!
17
Teaching
Comprehensi
on
is….
….a
BEAST!

Marvel
Comics
19
Comprehension
What Students Need to Learn
• How to read both narrative and expository texts
• How to understand and remember what they
read
• How to use strategies to improve their
comprehension
• How to relate their knowledge and experiences to
text
Adapted from Vaughn Gross Center for
Reading and Language Arts, 2005
Comprehension
21
Comprehension
What Students Need to Learn
• Listen to both narrative and expository texts
• How to understand and remember what they
have heard
• How to use strategies to improve their
listening comprehension
• How to relate their knowledge and experiences to
what they hear
Adapted from Vaughn Gross Center for
Reading and Language Arts, 2005
Non-Negotiable? Travels? Routine?
23
Do Strategies and Routines Travel?
school-wide, class-wide, “intensified”class-wide, small-group, individuals
24
24
Let’s Start At the Very Beginning
Ella - Kindergarten
Known information
Review and Interview
 Teacher reports Ella has trouble answering questions about stories
that are read aloud. Ella has trouble understanding specific words.
She often asks what certain words mean.
 Teacher reports that story retell is taught and practiced in the core
reading curriculum.
 Teacher reports Ella can use complete sentences, interacts
verbally with peers and can relate personal experiences.
 Parents report that Ella likes listening to stories but does not
always understand them. She often asks," What does that mean?”
Ella
Test
Screening level : Ella’s retell of kindergarten story
probes was not adequate for listener understanding.
Specific level procedures:
She did not include major story components
(characters, setting, goal or problem, resolution).
She could not provide this information in response to
questions.
Median TWS for story probes: 22 total words spoken in a
two minute retell.
Make a prediction …
Knowing what you know about Ella’s
listening comprehension skills and oral
language skills, which curriculum skills
might Ella have difficulty acquiring?
Ella
Goal: Given 36 weeks and a grade level story probe Ella will retell a story
with at least 75 TWS in two minutes.
Focus of speech/language sessions: Developing oral
narrative skills and vocabulary development through story
based interventions.
Speech/language group sessions: 1:3
Two times a week: 25 minutes
Teacher will provide instruction and practice in class in large and
small group opportunities.
Kindergarten Story-Based
Interventions
Purpose: To develop story understanding, oral
narrative skills and use of specific vocabulary to
retell stories.
Research base for design: Biemiller, Beck and
McKeown, Simmons and Kame’enui
What the Research Says about
Vocabulary and Comprehension
 Vocabulary size in kindergarten is an effective predictor
of reading comprehension in the middle elementary
years (Scarborough, 1998)
 Orally-tested vocabulary at the end of first grade is a
significant predictor of reading comprehension ten
years later
(Cunningham and Stanovich, 1997)
What the Research Says about Vocabulary
and Comprehension
 Students with restricted vocabulary by beginning of
grade 3 have declining comprehension scores in the
later elementary grades.
 Adequate reading comprehension depends on a
person already knowing 90-95% of the words in a text.
Four Types of Vocabulary
 Listening
 Speaking
Reading
Writing
Speaking vocabulary’s Critical
Role in Learning to Read
 For beginning readers, reading vocabulary
encountered in texts is mapped onto the oral
vocabulary the learner brings to the task.
 When a word is not in the student’s oral vocabulary, it
will not be understood when it occurs in print.
Great need for instruction in
primary grades that …
 That adds the meaning of new words to children’s word
stores
 Focuses on listening and speaking vocabulary
 Impacts listening and reading comprehension
The Myth of Age or
Grade Level Vocabulary
 Students do not learn vocabulary words
based on their age or grade.
 They learn words based on their experiences.
Children learn words meanings
indirectly in three ways:
 Daily conversations and oral experiences with adults
and other children.
 Listening to adults read to them.
 Reading extensively on their own.
Sources of Words for Vocabulary
Development in the Primary Grades
 For the most part NOT words from the texts that young
children read
 Words from books that are read to children
 Teacher’s language
Way in which students learn
words in upper grades
 Specific word instruction
 Word learning strategies
 Wide reading
 Amounts of reading
Vocabulary - What students
need to learn
 The meanings of most of the words in a text so
they can understand what they read
 To apply a variety of strategies for learning
word meanings
 To make connections between words and
concepts
 To use new words accurately in oral and written
communication
How many words per year do
students need to learn?
 In kindergarten, first and second grade children
need to learn +800 new words per year, about
two words per day.
 From third grade on, children need to learn
2000-3000 new words per year, about 6-8
words per day.
 Research shows the typical child needs 4-12
meaningful encounters with a word before they
know it well enough to improve comprehension.
Two kinds of vocabulary interactions during
read aloud routines
 During reading
On the spot “bumper sticker” explanations to
prevent comprehension problems and bring word
consciousness to read aloud routine
 After reading (robust vocabulary instruction)
Direct, lively discussion of 3-6 story words
Direct means explaining meaning
Rich means processing
Lively means not boring
Robust Vocabulary
Instructional Routine
Step 1. Read the story.
Step 2. Contextualize the word.
Step 3. Have children say the word.
Step 4. Provide student friendly definition
(explanation)
Robust Vocabulary
Instructional Routine
Step 5. Give examples of the words
in other contexts.
Step 6. Engage students in interacting
with the meanings of the words.
Step 7. Have students repeat the word
again.
Step 8. Review and use the new words.
Robust Vocabulary
Instructional Routine
Step 1. Read the story (The Wolf’s Chicken Stew)
Step 2. Contextualize the word.
“In the story, the wolf had a craving for chicken
stew. That means the wolf had a feeling inside
that told him he wanted to eat chicken stew
more than anything else.
Step 3. Have children say the word.
“ Say the word craving with me.”
Robust Vocabulary
Instructional Routine
Step 4. Provide student friendly definition
(explanation).
“Craving means someone really wants to
eat something and nothing else will make
them happy.”
Robust Vocabulary
Instructional Routine
Step 5. Give examples of the word in
different contexts.
 “My sisters gets a craving for apple pie
when she sees apples.”
 “The little boy always craves milk when
he eats warm chocolate chip cookies.”
 “I smelled something great when I walked
by the bakery and I got a craving for
doughnuts.”
Robust Vocabulary
Instructional Routine
Step 6. Engage students in interacting
with the meaning of the word.
 Generating examples
 Tell me a special food that you crave.
 Finish this sentence “When I go to the
grocery store, I crave ….” Start the
sentence with “I crave …”
Robust Vocabulary
Instructional Routine
Step 6. Engage students in interacting
with the meaning of the word.
 Answering questions/giving reasons
 If all you could think about eating was a chocolate cupcake,
what could you say about that?
 Which one would you be more likely to crave - candy or bugs?
Why?
 If you like apples a little more than oranges, would it be a
craving?
Robust Vocabulary
Instructional Routine
Step 6. Engage students in interacting
with the meaning of the word.
 Identifying examples and non examples.
 Which one is a craving?
All Steve could think about was having a juicy
cheeseburger.
Mary was a little bit hungry for a hot dog.
 Would you have a craving if you …
wanted pizza and nothing else would make you happy?
did not care if you had soup or sandwich?
Robust Vocabulary
Instructional Routine
Step 7. Have the students say the word again.
 What is word that means someone wants to eat
something and nothing else will make them happy?
Step 8. Review and use the new words.
 Post book cover and selected words.
 Catch students using words or noticing them being
used
 Visual recognition like a chart.
 Verbal recognition like, “What a word wizard! You really
have your word antenna on today.”
Let’s see it in a classroom!
Nurture A Love and Appreciation of Words and
Their Use -Read Aloud Research
 It is important to choose stories that attract and hold
children’s attention.
 Model “word awareness” and show students that words
are important, interesting and fun.
 Provide students with rich oral language experiences.
Which words should we
teach?
 Words that are unfamiliar yet understandable.
 Words that are important to the story.
 Words easily used in different contexts.
 Words likely to be used in the future.
Putting Words into Tiers
Tier 1: Basic words (radio,
happy, jump, house, child)
Rarely require instruction in
meanings in school, except
for English learners.
Tier 2: High frequency
words for mature
language users; rich
words that span across
content areas (fortunate,
ability, sufficient, obvious)
Should be taught explicitly
Because these words have
a powerful impact on
expanding student
vocabulary capabilities.
Tier 3: Low frequency; often
content area/domain specific
(isotope, outrigger,
carpetbagger, subtropical)
May be important to
understanding that particular
text but not words they will
encounter frequently in
multiple text exposures.
What are Tier 2 words?
 Also labeled Tier 2 words
 New words not common to young children’s oral
language
 High frequency words for mature language users
 Mature or more precise labels for concepts young
children have under control
Tests to find Tier 2 Words
 Importance and usefulness
 Appear frequently across a variety of domains.
 Characteristic of mature language users.
 Instructional potential
 Can be worked with in a variety of ways to build
richness (depth).
 Can be connected to other words and concepts.
 Conceptual understanding
 More precise and specific words for concepts
students already understand
Your Turn: Selecting
Tier 2 Words
herd
lease
mortgage
rotate
debt
steel
Preserve
forestry
mathematics
reluctantly
tinker
boutique
realty
elevate
hire
Ambitious
surplus
allergic
Your Turn: Select three Tier 2
words from this passage
Bats are mammals. They are the only
flying animals that nurse. This means that
the mothers’ bodies make milk to feed
their babies. Bat pups hang together in
large groups called nurseries. Each
mother returns to feed her pup at least
twice a night. The pups need their
mothers’ milk to survive. If you disturb a
nursery cave, the frightened mothers may
leave, and the pups will starve.
Remember the Criteria
 Unfamiliar yet understandable and easy to explain
 Important to the story
 Used in different context/domains
 Likely to be needed in future (high utility)
Bat Passage
 As a group, select three Tier 2 words from the Bat
Passage.
 Discuss your reasoning behind the words you select.
 Create student-friendly explanations
Model Selection of Words for
The Wolf’s Chicken Stew
 finished
 terrible
 craving
 spotted
 delicious
 joyfully
 screeched
 scrumptious
 devious (not in story in print)
 scheme (not in story in print)
Your Turn: Selecting Tier 2 words from
Read Aloud selection
 As a group, select a read aloud book from your
curriculum.
 Select 7-10 Tier 2 words.
 Narrow the list to 3-4 Tier 2 words.
 Talk about the rationale for word selection.
 Share out Tier 2 words.
Contextualize the Tier 2
words.
The Wolf’s Chicken Stew
Tier 2 words: craving, scrumptious,
joyfully, screeched,
Contextualizing the words: In the story,
The wolf makes scrumptious pancakes,
doughnuts, and cakes. The pancakes,
doughnuts and cakes tasted so good that all
someone would want to do is eat more and
more.
Contextualize the Tier 2
words.
The Wolf’s Chicken Stew
Contextualizing the word: When the chicken
saw Mr. Wolf at the door, she screeched, “so,
it was you.” The chicken yelled in a high voice,
“It was you.”
In the story, the wolf had a scheme to fatten up the
chicken. The wolf had a plan to get the chicken fat
so there would be more chicken stew for him.
Your Turn: Contextualize the Tier 2 words
you have selected from
your read aloud
 As a group go back to the story and locate the
sentences the Tier 2 words are in. Reread them to get
an understanding of the context.
 Create sentences that will provide a context for the
students.
 Record them on your sheet.
Developing student friendly
explanations.
 Look at the Tier 2 words you selected.
 Look up the definitions in the Longman/COBuild dictionary.
 Think about the definition from a young
learner’s point of view.
 What difficulty might the definition pose?
 How might you characterize the words so the
meaning is specific?
 What everyday language might you use for the
explanations?
Developing student-friendly
explanations
 Read the sentence from the book that the word is
in.
 Create student-friendly explanations for the words
you selected. It is helpful to include the words
something, someone or describe in your
explanation.
 When reading the text to the students, after you
read the sentence that contains the target words,
stop and share the student-friendly explanation to
the students. This should be a brief interaction and
then continue to read the story.
Modeling developing student- friendly
explanations
Tier 2 word: scrumptious
Dictionary definition: scrumptious – very
pleasing to taste or smell; delicious
Sentence in book: He made a hundred
scrumptious pancakes. He made a hundred
scrumptious doughnuts.
Student-friendly explanation (complete sentence):
Scrumptious is something that smells or tastes
great.
Modeling developing student- friendly
explanations
Tier 2 word: devious
Dictionary definition: devious – not straight
Forward; shifty or crooked
Sentence in book: Not in the book. A
concept that is represented by the wolf’s behavior
in the story.
Student-friendly explanation (complete sentence):
Devious is trying to trick someone in a dishonest
way.
Your Turn: Developing student friendly
explanations for Tier 2 words
for read aloud
 As a group review your Tier 2 words. Look at
the sentences you developed to contextualize
the words.
 Using this information, the Longman or
COBUILD dictionary, and the sentence from
the story develop student friendly explanations
for the Tier 2 words you have selected.
 Record them on your sheet.
Criteria for student friendly explanations to
be most effective
 Use of a complete sentence.
 Use of everyday language.
 Precision of the words to match to the essence of the
word.
 Use of the words someone, something or describes
etc.
Engaging Students in Dealing with
Word Meanings for Tier 2 Words
Word Associations
 Students are asked to associate of their
new vocabulary words with a word or
phrase and to explain why they decided on that
connection. Most students will be able to
answer questions correctly, the most important
part is the requirement to explain why.
Engaging Students in Dealing with
Word Meanings for Tier 2 Words
 Associating a known word with a newly
learned word reinforces even further the
meaning of the word. Associations are not
synonyms.
Modeling Word Associations
Tier 2 words: devious, joyful, scrumptious,
 Which word goes with smelling chocolate
chip cookies in the oven? Why?
 Which word goes with pretending to be busy so
you do not have to play with someone you do
not want to? Why?
 Which word goes with the feeling when
you get a new puppy as a pet as a surprise?
Why?
Your Turn: Developing Word Associations
Activities for Tier 2 Words
 Develop word association activities for the Tier 2 words
you selected.
 Explain why the words would go with the sentences.
 Record them on your sheet.
Engaging Students in Dealing with
Word Meanings
Have you ever …
 This activity helps students associate new learned
words with contexts and activities from their own
experience.
 It helps students understand that they have a place for
the word in their vocabularies.
Modeling Have You Ever …
Tier 2 words: screeched, scheme, craving
 Tell me about a time when you screeched at
your brother, sisters or cousins. Start the
sentence “I screeched when …”
 Tell me about a time when you were craving
some type of dessert. Start the sentence “I was
craving …”
 Show me how your face might look if you are
trying to think of a scheme to get some extra
money from your mom and dad.
Your Turn: Developing
Have you ever … activities
 Using your Tier 2 words think of times that students
could have experienced the Tier 2 words. If you have
the students respond orally, remember to model and
expect complete sentences.
 Record your activities on the sheet.
Engaging Students in Dealing with
Word Meanings for Tier 2 Words
Applause, Applause! This activity focuses
on students indicating whether the words
have a positive or negative connotation.
They can use clapping to indicate the
level (not at all, a little, a lot) and then have
students explain why they think that way.
Modeling Applause, Applause!
Have the students clap based on how much
they might crave the following items:
ice cream cone
liver
broccoli
cupcakes
Have them tell you why or why not.
Modeling Applause, Applause!
Have the students clap based on whether
Would like to be described as:
devious
schemer
joyful
Have them tell you why or why not.
Your Turn: Developing
Applause, Applause … activities
 Develop Applause, Applause activities for the Tier 2
words you have selected. Think about positive or
negative aspects of the word or desired nature.
 Record your activities on the sheet.
Engaging Students in Dealing with
Word Meanings for Tier 2 Words
Idea completion: This activity provides
students with sentence stems that requires
them to integrate a word’s meaning into
context in order to explain a situation.
Modeling Idea Completion
 I could tell the kids thought the birthday
cake was scrumptious because …
 Mom screeched across the noisy room to
Dad because ….
 The winning school was joyful because…
Your Turn: Developing
Idea Completion activities
 Using your Tier 2 words think of sentence stems that
would require your students to integrate the meaning of
the word for the sentence to make sense.
 Record your activities on the sheet.
Review and Use the Words
Example/Non-Example
Present one by one descriptions of
situations and ask students to respond to
each as to whether or not it illustrates the
target word. Students should always be
asked “why” they responded as they did.
Modeling Example/NonExample
If I say something that you would think
would screech, say “Screech.” If not, do
say anything.
 Brakes on an old car (screech)
 A gentle rainfall (no response)
 Wind blowing through trees (no response)
 A woman who is surprised to see a mouse
(screech)
Modeling Example/NonExample
If I say something that you would think
would make you act “joyful”, say “joyful.” If not, do
say anything.




Your favorite cousin coming to visit (joyful)
Your best friend moving away (no response)
Your favorite toy breaking (no response)
Your friends coming to your birthday party(joyful)
Your Turn: Review and Use
Words
 Develop example and non-example
activities for the Tier 2 words.
 Record them on the sheet.
Model and Review Use of the Words
Why Stems:
I am going to ask you ‘why’ questions
that will use our “juicy words.”
 Why might a devious child get in trouble?
 Why might someone screech if it is quiet and a
balloon pops?
 Why might a boy and his puppy play joyfully?
Your Turn: Why Stems
 Using your Tier 2 words, develop
why stems.
 Record your responses.
Word Winner
 Children need to frequently use and notice new
words in order for them to become part of their
active vocabulary. The Word Winner chart is an
interactive tool that tracks when children use
and hear Tier 2 words. It continues to motivate
children around the words while helping to
build the classroom atmosphere of enthusiastic
word learning.
Word Winner
 After each book, write the words from the book
on a chart. As soon as the words are on the
chart, children become word detectives,
listening for these new words around them.
Whenever children tell you they have heard or
used a word, put a tally mark next to the word.
Add up the scores for words.
Assessment
 It is important to remember that vocabulary assessment
should match the goals for word learning.
 Using the same formats for instruction and for
assessment are best for vocabulary assessment.
Assessment
Suggested Assessment Tasks:
 Use response cards (yes/no) or thumbs
up/thumbs down as an informal assessment.
 Use Yes/No sheets or Smiley/Sad faces after
reading sentences for a formal assessment.
Modeling Assessment Tasks
Students have a yes/no answer sheet.
“I will read some sentences that make
sense and some that do not make sense.
If the sentence makes sense, circle the
word, Yes. If it does not make sense,
circle the word, No.”
Assessment for The Wolf’s
Chicken Stew
1. Hungry people never have cravings.
2. Most children think their birthday cake is
scrumptious.
3. A scheme is something you might come up with
on April Fool’s Day.
4. All children joyfully do their chores at home.
5. The car’s wheels screeched on the ice when
Mom hit the brakes.
6. If you are devious, everyone trusts you.
How are we going to know?
 How are you going to know if it makes a difference to
the students?
 What are some permanent products that might show a
change?
 What will it look like and sound like in the classroom?
 What will it look like in a story retell or page description
task?
Moving On …
Moving On …
Halley – First Grade
Known information:
Review and Interview
 Teacher reports that Halley has trouble retelling stories that
she reads and stories that are read out loud in class. Halley
can answer questions regarding the main characters (who),
the beginning of the story and what happens at the end. She
has a lot of trouble with the setting, and identifying the goal
or problem in the story.
 Teacher reports that story retell is taught and practiced
almost daily in the curriculum. Halley was in a small group
working on this skills. She is the only one who did not make
significant progress.
Halley
 Parents report that they read to Halley daily and ask
questions focusing on who, what happened and how
the story ends. They had been provided with guidance
by the classroom teacher. They reported Halley has
had trouble providing explanations or explaining what
happened when they are not around. She can provide
more information when asked questions.
Halley
Test
Screening level : Halley’s retell of first grade story
probes was not adequate for listener understanding.
Specific Level Procedures
She did not include major story components (setting, goal or problem,
resolution).
She could not provide this information in response to questions.
Median TWS for story probes: 67 total words spoken in a
two minute retell.
Halley
Goal: Given 36 weeks and a grade level story probe, Halley will retell
Including major story components (characters, setting, problem/goal, major
episodes, resolution) in four our of five opportunities.
Focus of speech/language sessions: Developing story understanding and
oral narrative skills through story-based interventions.
Speech/language group sessions: 1:2
Two times a week: 30 minutes
Teacher will provide instruction and practice in class in large and small
group opportunities. Small group opportunities will be coordinated with
speech/language pathologist.
Listening/Reading Comprehension
Class-wide Instructional Routine
Framework for Comprehension Instruction
 Before (Preparation)
 During (Understanding)
 After (Retention or Integration)
Before Reading (Preparation)
 Set comprehension objectives
 Preteach difficult to read words
 Preview text and prime background
knowledge
 Chunk text into manageable segments
First Grade Story
Interventions
 Before
 Set purpose for learning
 Introduced critical vocabulary
 Making connections to children’s real
life experiences
 Gave short summary of story
During Reading
 Stop periodically to ask students
questions
 Identifying the main idea
 Map text structure elements
 Visualizing
 Model ongoing comprehension
monitoring
First Grade Story
Interventions
During
 Paired questions with major story
structure components
 Asked students to make predictions
 Used pictures to show concrete
examples of vocabulary words and
relationships in stories (visualizing)
After Reading (retention)
 Strategic integration of comprehension
instruction
 Planned review
 Assessment of student’s understanding
First Grade Storybook
Interventions
 After
 Story retell
 Story maps (aid memory)
 Sentence cloze summary
 Evaluative questions
Let’s See It in A Classroom
Moving On …
Moving On …
Background about Comprehension of
Informational Text
 Large proportions of American students have
difficulty comprehending informational text.
 Low income and minority students are particularly
likely to struggle.
 Some have attributed the “fourth grade slump” to
difficulties comprehending informational text.
 Nearly 44 million adults cannot extract information
from text in many circumstances.
The importance of comprehension in
informational text
 We live in the information age.
 The majority of reading and writing adults do is non-fiction,
much of it informational.
 Informational text can build vocabulary and new knowledge.
80% of what students read beginning in fourth grade is
informational text.
 Some students actually prefer reading and writing
informational text and thrive with it.
 Informational text is an important tool for answering question
and solving problems and for raising questions and posing
problems.
Cale – Third Grade
Known information:
Review and Interview
 Teacher reports Cale has trouble finding main idea
in informational text (social studies and science). He
can usually name the topic and some details. He has
trouble distinguishing the difference between a detail
and a main idea.
 Teacher reports Cale can retell fiction stories
adequately.
Cale
 Teacher reports finding main ideas and a
summarization strategy (Getting the Gist) are directly
taught in the curriculum. Cale can provide the topic but
cannot summarize. In texts, he can recognize topic
sentences. He can identify concrete main ideas.
Test
Screening
Cale cannot provide an adequate summary of
Information text for listener understanding
Cale
Specific level procedures
Cale can provide the who or what (topic) of a passage
Independently. Cale requires a model to provide what
is important about the who or what and telling that
information in a main idea sentence. Cale often
provides a lot of details but cannot come up with the
overarching main idea. This is true even when it is
a topic he has a lot of prior knowledge in.
Cale
Goal: Given 36 weeks and grade level informational
passage, Cale will be able to use a three step main
strategy independently in four out of five opportunities.
Focus of speech/language sessions: Use of a main
idea summarization strategy to improve understanding and oral
discourse skills for informational text.
Group speech/language sessions: 1:3
20 minutes four times per week, two are conducted by speech/
language pathologist, two times per week by classroom teacher.
Summarizing
Summarizing requires students to
determine what is important in what they
are reading and to put it into their own
words. Instruction in summarizing helps
students:
 Identify or generate main ideas
 Connect the main or central ideas
 Eliminate unnecessary information
 Remember what they read
Skill-Strategy Continuum
 Strategies are generally more complex than skills
because they require the orchestration of several skills.
 Effective instruction links comprehension skills to
strategies to promote strategic reading.
Skill-Strategy Example
To summarize involves:
 Sequencing of events
 Making judgments
 Noting details
 Determining main idea
 Using story structure or text organization
Summarizing
 Narrative text - strategy is focused on story
grammar
 Expository (informational) - strategy is focused
on main ideas
Narrative (Fiction)
Text Structure
 Setting
 Characters
 Plot
 Resolution
Name informational text
structures
 Teacher 1 turn to Teacher 2 and name as many
informational text structures as you can.
 Teacher 2 - name any informational text structures that
Teacher 1 left out.
Informational Text Structures
 Descriptive
 Sequential
 Enumerative
 Cause-effect
 Problem-solution
 Compare-contrast
Class wide Routine
for Summarizing
 Paragraph Shrinking
 GIST
 Get the Gist
Five Components of Explicit Teaching of
Comprehension Strategies
1. An explicit description of the strategy and
when and how it should be used.
2. Teacher and/or student modeling of the
strategy in action
3. Collaborative use of the strategy in action
4. Guided practice using the strategy with
gradual release of responsibility
5. Independent use of the strategy
Paragraph Shrinking
Informational Interventions
 Short grade level science and social studies passages
 Use explicit teaching including model, guided practice
and independent practice.
 Based on a comprehension strategy that is evidencebased for 2nd grade through high school.
 Can carry-over to note-taking
What is the strategy?
Paragraph shrinking helps you figure out the
most important idea in what you just read.
First, you think about the “who” or “what” the
paragraph was mostly about and then you
figure out the most important ideas about the
who or what and say this in ten words or
less.
When do you use Paragraph
Shrinking?
You use paragraph shrinking after reading
each paragraph or section of text.
Why is it important to use the
strategy?
Paragraph shrinking is important because
it helps you check whether you
understand what you just finished
reading. It also helps you remember
what you just read.
How do you do it?
There are three steps to Paragraph Shrinking.
 First, name the who or what that the paragraph is
mostly about.
 Second, tell the most important thing about the who or
what.
 Third, tell or write a sentence of ten words or less,
leaving out details.
Paragraph Shrinking Teacher Modeling
Read a paragraph out loud to the students
and model Paragraph Shrinking for them.
be sure to think out loud and tell how you do
each step.
Paragraph shrinking - Teacher
modeling example
“A seabird is any bird that spends most of its
time at sea and depends on the sea and its
islands for all its basic needs. The sea
provides food, and its remote islands and
rocky outcroppings provide safe nesting and
resting places. For 60 million years, these
highly specialized and diverse birds have
adapted to life on the world’s vast oceans.”
(from Collaborative Strategic Reading, Vaughn and Klinger)
Model
“I am going to show you how to paragraph
shrink for the paragraph I just read. First, I
figure out if the paragraph is about a “who”
(a person) or a “what” (a place or thing). Then
I will name the who or what the paragraph
was mostly about. We will call this the
topic.”
Tell the students the who or what the
paragraph you just read was mostly
about. Explain how you determined that
answer and write the answer down
(optional).
Model
your
thinking!
Example for Seabirds
“This paragraph was about a what. That what
was seabirds. I figured it out by reading the
beginning sentence. It was a topic sentence
telling what a seabird was. The rest of the
sentences gave information about seabirds.”
Most important about
who or what
“Second I will tell the most important
information about the who or what. I
learned that seabirds live, get food, rest
and nest at the sea.”
Main Idea Sentence
“Third, I will say the main idea sentence in 10
words or less leaving out the details. There are
three important things I need to remember
about the main idea:
1)The main idea must be a
complete sentence.
2) The main who or what
only counts as one word.
3) A good main idea
sentence contains information that will help
you remember the important details in a
paragraph.
Main Idea Sentence
“Seabirds get everything they need from
the sea.”
Guided Practice
 Ask the students if the paragraph is about a who or a
what.
 After you have established whether the passage is
about a who or what, ask the students to identify who
or what it is about (the topic)
Guided Practice
 After students have determined the “topic” for the
main idea, ask them to identify the most critical
information about the “who” or “what.” Be sure to
emphasize that the students are looking for the
most essential information -- not details.
Guided Practice
 Next, students need to think about the who or
what, what is important about the who or what
and generate a main idea sentence in 10 words
or less.
 Do a check whether the main idea sentence
meets the criterion that a good main idea
sentence contains information that will help
students remember the important details in a
paragraph.
Guided Practice
 Repeat this process for the remaining paragraphs.
Paragraph Shrinking Independent Phase

Read a paragraph (section of the text) aloud or
have the students do this.

Ask the students to work in pairs.

Give the students a certain amount of time to
Paragraph Shrink the paragraph just read.
Continue..
Paragraph Shrinking Independent Phase
 Help students if they are having trouble.
 After the time is up, either have the students share out or
continue on to the next paragraph.
 Continue with this cycle until the passage is done.
 Have students share out their main idea sentences and
explain how they got them.
Helpful Tips
 Do not assume students know how to identify
paragraphs. You may have to teach them to
identify the beginning and end of a paragraph.
 Some students may need help to figure out if
the paragraph is about a who or what.
Teaching them that if it is a fiction text or story,
it usually is a who and if it is informational text,
it is usually a what.
Let’s Try It
Final Thoughts
 Questions and Answers
 3-2-1 Activity