Text Coding
Encourage students, when possible, to write directly on the texts or on sticky notes
which they can leave beside passages in texts.
R
T-T
T-S
L
?
*
Huh?
Reminds me of
Text to text connection
Text to self connection
New learning
Question
Key idea
Loss of meaning
A light bulb for a new idea or repair of
lost meaning
!
I
Surprising information
Inference
Following the Inner Conversation
Teacher introduces the concept of inner voice during reading:
“When I read and pay attention, I hear a voice in my head that says different things
to me. For example, when I am confused I might hear something like Huh, I don’t get
this part. And when I read on, I might hear something like, Oh now I get it. Or when I
meet new information, I might hear something like wow, I never knew that before.
Teacher models her thinking on sticky notes or chart paper as she reads a text aloud
to the students.
Teacher continues to read story, engaging students in guided practice. Ask the
students to stop and turn and talk about their thinking. Sometimes prompting a
specific question (ex. Turn and talk about the mom in this story)
Students can write their own sticky notes as teacher reads another story. They share
their notes in a group and talk about what they learned in the story and what they
noticed within their own thinking.
When Meaning Breaks Down
Create a two-column chart. Brainstorm in the class to complete the chart.
When Meaning Breaks Down
Tired
Don’t like the book
Too hard
What to Do About It
Reread to construct meaning
Choose another book
Think about what you know and try to
connect it to new information
Can you choose another book?
Etc.
Noticing and Exploring Thinking
Give students a large sticky note
Teacher reads a text to students.
Encourage students to record what the story makes them think about (i.e.
connections) not a retelling
On a large chart paper titled (Title of Story makes us think about…) collect the sticky
notes.
Discuss the different thinking within the class
Beginning to Make Connections:
It Reminds Me of….
The character is like me…
The story is like my life…
This text is like this other text….
Students code ‘R’, ‘T-S’, ‘T-T’ and write a few words on their sticky notes of what
connection text reminded them of
Record the student responses in two column form:
What the Story is About
What it Reminds Me Of
Noticing and Thinking About New Learning
Teacher models, guided practice, and then students code ‘L’ and a comment about
their learning on a sticky note
Rethinking Misconceptions: New Information Changes Thinking
Teacher models, guided practice completing chart before and after reading a text.
Students code ‘L’ and their comments as they listen/read the text.
Record a variety of responses in the “What We Think We Know” and “New Learning”
columns.
The Circulatory System
Before
Before
Questions
Why does my heart beat?
What We Think We Know
Your heart beats.
If your heart isn’t beating
you are dead.
Why do I shiver when I get You shiver because your
cold?
blood is cold.
After
New Learning
Your heart helps you with
your blood.
It moves blood all around
your body.
Because you are trying to
keep yourself warm, this
is why we shiver.
I learned when you shiver
you warm up.
Now I know when you get
the shivers you get warm
for a little bit.
The More We Learn, the More We Wonder
Students pose a research question.
They record and share the answer they find on the response sheet.
Teacher records an “ I Learned/ I Wonder” chart
I Learned
Leopard seals eat penguins
I Wonder
Do they eat the feet?
Some Questions are Answered, Others Are Not
Chart students’ questions, after their research code the questions as answered or
unanswered. If answered, code the source of the answer
A
BK
RS
I
Huh?
D
Answered
 Background Knowledge
 Researched
 Inferred
Unanswered
 For discussion
Questions and Facts
Students prepare a two-column Questions/Fact chart prior to reading.
They record both answers to their questions and additional facts they find during
the reading.
Thick and Thin Questions
Use sticky notes and sticky flags to show students the differences between thick and
thin questions.
Thick questions generally start with “Why” or “How”
Thin questions are usually factual “What, when, where”
Question Webs
Students form research teams.
They look through different texts to answer a common question.
Post their response(s) on the chart forming a web.
Visualizing in Nonfiction Text: Making Comparisons
Point out when texts use comparisons to help the reader more meaningfully make
comparisons.
Creating Mental Images that Go Beyond Visualizing
After reading or listening to a piece of text, students complete a response with the
following frame…
I see…
I hear…
I can feel…
I can smell….
I can taste…
Inferring the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words
Complete a four-column think sheet
Word
Inferred Meaning
Clues
Sentence
Manicurist
Someone who trims
nails
The name of
something
Railroad worker
who carries bags and
helps passengers
Reading on
A manicurist trims
nails.
The Defender was a
Chicago newspaper.
The Pullman porter
helped the woman
off the train.
The Defender
Pullman porter
Capital letters
Picture
Inferring with Text Clues
Complete a three-column chart
Background Knowledge
Text Clues
Inference
Moms can get cranky when
they are rushing to work in
the morning.
Babysitters should be
watching kids.
She says no when he asks for
a dog.
He has probably asked for a
dog over and over.
She is watching TV and the
dad looks mad in the picture.
The dad is mad because she
is not doing her job.
Building Knowledge of Nonfiction Features
Teach students to identify and know the purposes of comparisons, captions, and
labels in non-fiction texts.
Coding Important Information on Unfamiliar as Well as Familiar Topics
Provide sticky notes. Model or let students code as they read. ‘L’ for information
they learned while reading the text. ‘*’ for important information.
Finding Important Information Rather than Just One Main Idea
Give each student 3 sticky notes, coded with ‘*’ for important information. Ask the
students to place the notes at 3 points of important information. Ask the class to
share what they thought was important – they will vary, but this is the point. Ask the
students to justify why they thought a particular piece of information was important.
Sifting the Topic from the Details
Give each student a 3 section chart as they begin to read a non-fiction piece. Point
out that the headings are often the topics. Students organize the details under topics
as they read, then write a response about the text.
Topic
Dog family
Packs
Details
 All dogs are descended from
wolves
 Wolves are canines
 Feed mainly on large animals
 Pet dogs do not survive in the
wild
 4-7 in a pack
 sometimes 15 or so in a pack
 alpha – big daddy leader
 alpha female – leader’s wife
 sometimes kill if others intrude
Response
Paraphrasing to Summarize Expository Text
Draw square brackets around a section of text, write a summary sentence in the
margin or alternatively, put a sticky note with the summary on the section.
Writing a Short Summary
Complete a two-column chart that distinguishes between summarizing and personal
response.
What the piece is about….
What it makes me think about….
Synthesizing to Access Content
Complete a two-column chart as you read. Record facts and your thinking (coded).
Content (Facts)
Process (Thinking)
Also can record a three-column chart that comments on the author’s craft.
Content (Facts)
Process (Thinking)
Craft (Writing)
Hallmarks for Creating an Environment for
Thoughtful Content Literacy Instruction
The learning opportunities we create
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Focus on comprehension and understanding rather than memorization
Connect us with real-world, real-life issues
Center around content-related big ideas, essential questions, and key concepts
Engage students’ interest and enthusiasm
Encourage student choice and independent thinking
Provide time for thinking to take place
Set expectations that push students towards higher levels of thinking
When we demonstrate our thinking, we
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Illustrate what good thinking looks like
Focus on topics and ideas worth thinking about
Reveal our curiosity, interests, and passions
Explicitly show how we understand what we read through questioning, drawing
inferences synthesizing information and so forth
We support attitudes and interactions that
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Emphasize a common language for talking about thinking and learning
Encourage and respect different viewpoints and perspectives
Ensure that students experience positive ways of thinking about and engaging with
content
Spark thoughtful discussion and debate
Support students’ enthusiasm for discovery and their readiness to investigate
what’s new or unusual
Student artifacts and work products
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Are the result of thoughtful work and send the message that thinking matters
Make thinking visible
Involve sharing knowledge and teaching others
Illustrate the process of thinking and learning
Materials/texts/literature that students read
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Encourage a variety of perspectives, opinions, and interpretations
Require students to solve or discover problems
Provoke discussion and raise significant issues
Focus on content-related themes, issues, and/or essential questions
Good reading on the Web
www.nationalgeographic.com/kids
www.timeforkids.com/TFK
www.nwf.org/kids (National Wildlife Foundation)
www.nytimes/learning (New York Times kids’ edition)
www.howstuffworks.com
www.whyfiles.org (click on The Why Files in Education link)
www.ocean.com
www.ecokidsonline.com (Earth Day Canada’s site)
www.exploratorium.org
www.siforkids.com (Sports Illustrated for kids)
www.kidsdiscover.com
www.si.edu (press kids button – Smithsonian Institute’s website)
http://edspace.nasa.gov
www.pbs.org/teachersource
Examples of Inference Questions
Integrating or using one’s own world knowledge combined
with text information, or by linking pieces of information
from different parts of the text
Describe some other examples of how gravity works.
Explaining concepts, processes, causes, antecedents, or
results not explicit in the text, such as a conclusion, or a
character’s motivation or emotional state in a story
Explain why gears, pedals, wheels, and axles are all machines.
Describe how the boys felt at the end of the story. Why did they feel this
way?
Predicting information that will come later in the text
How do think roller coaster cars can go up steep hills?
Speculating about what if? what if not?
What would happen if the roller coaster climbs a couple of short hills before
climbing the steepest hill?
Eileen Kintsch
Text Talk: Thinking About Texts
Within the Text
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Recount important
events from the
text.
Describe
characters, setting,
or events.
Report or list new
ideas or
information gained
from reading.
Summarize the
story or ideas.
Provide specific
evidence from
personal
experience or the
text to support
theories or
inferences.
Draw the group’s
attention to a
specific part of the
text or to
illustrations that
convey specific
information.
Beyond the Text
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Express
hypotheses,
inferences,
predictions, or
theories.
Disagree with a
statement made by
another reader.
Reconsider ideas.
Talk about
personal responses
and connections.
Contribute prior
knowledge for the
benefit of the
group.
Interpret
illustrations.
Link evidence from
the text with
inferences,
hypotheses,
predictions, or
theories.
Talk about the
central them or
meaning of the
text.
Seek many
interpretations.
About the Text
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Identify literary
elements.
Use literary terms.
Attend to the
language of a text.
Draw the group’s
attention to aspects
of the writer’s craft
using examples
from the text.
Talk about the
characteristics of
the genre offering
examples from the
text.
Draw the group’s
attention to
literary aspects of
the text (e.g.
symbolism).
Challenge to
accuracy of an
author’s statement.
Offer a wellinformed criticism
of some aspect of
the text, using
evidence to
support the
argument.
Fountas & Pinnell
Ten Suggestions for Extending the Meaning of Texts
1. Discuss the book in pairs of threesomes.
2. Diagram the internal organizational structures in texts –
comparison/contrast, problem/solution, cause/effect, sequence,
question/answer, story map.
3. Prepare graphic organizers (a character web or a timeline, for
example) to reveal the author’s craft.
4. Comment on the text in interactive or shared writing.
5. Describe characters, summarize sections of the text, or make a list
of key ideas in interactive or shared writing.
6. Respond with “quick writes” that can be shared later.
7. Respond with “quick sketches” that support thinking and can be
used as a basis for more talk or writing.
8. Present a readers’ theater piece using portions of the text.
9. Write a poem about the book.
10. Collect favorite quotes from the text and tell why you chose them.
PLUS…
Have students write a letter to you about their thoughts on a book.
Have the students write a letter to one of the characters in the story.
Have students compose a letter as one of the characters in a story
writing to another character or to a situation beyond the text.
How Do We Really Know if Students Comprehend Deeply?
-Ellin Oliver Keene
Thinking patterns the characterize deeper comprehension:
The Outcomes and Dimensions of Understanding
Narrative Text
Expository Text
Readers experience empathy.
 Character empathy
 Setting empathy
 Conflict empathy
 Author empathy
Readers experience a memorable
emotional response.
Readers experience the aesthetic.
Readers ponder, pause, and consider.
Readers think about the book when
they’re not reading and generate new
ideas and imagine new possibilities.
Readers focus, advocate, and evaluate.
Learners describe a fascination with
ideas.
 Understand leadership
 Understand context and
conditions that lead to important
discoveries
 Understand problems that led to
discoveries
Learners experience a memorable
emotional response.
Learners experience the aesthetic.
Learners revisit and rethink.
Learners generate own hypotheses and
theories.
Learners direct their energy to
comprehending a few ideas of great
import.
Readers recognize patterns and symbols. Learners recognize patterns and text
structures including:
 Cause/effect
 Recognize comparisons and
contrasts
 Chronology
 Problem/solution
Readers extrapolate from details in the
Learners create schema and realize how
text – they arrive at global conclusions
newly learned concepts “fit” into existing
from focal points in text.
background knowledge.
Readers recognize the influence of
Learners recognize the influence of
beliefs/values/opinions.
beliefs/values/opinions.
Readers remember.
Learners remember.
Samatha Bennett
Developing “I can statements” as reading goals, then using mini-lessons
to show students how to achieve those goals:
In order to…
I can
Analyze
Skim a text to
Use a text to
Critique a text
Develop
Describe my
thinking
Identify evidence
in the text of
Name
Describe
Identify
Define
Know the
difference
between
Represent
Mathematically
model
Find information
that relates to
Be an active
member of our
group
Complete my part
of the group
project on time
I can push myself
and my group
members by
asking questions
and thinking
deeply about a
Mini-lesson
skills
Assessment
topic