Comprehension

Predicting – students need to anticipate what will follow while reading continuous text.

Teachers help readers learn how to:

Use knowledge of characters, plot, setting, or theme to predict what will happen next in a text.
- What is going to happen?
Generate expectations based on genre, author, or topic.
- I wonder if…
Predict kinds of information available given the topic or the organization of the text.
- What is going to happen?
Use what is known from reading, personal experiences, or world knowledge, or literary knowledge to anticipate what will happen.

Connecting – students search for and use connections to the funds of knowledge that they have gained from personal, world, and text experiences.

Teachers help readers learn how to:

Understand/develop purposes for reading texts.
Connect knowledge of topic, plot, characters, or setting to personal experiences and their knowledge of the world and other texts.
- This reminds me of (people, places, and other books.)
Bring background knowledge to their reading of a text.
- I know somebody like that.
- I’ve seen, heard, or smelled that.
Interpret texts using personal experience and background of world knowledge.
- I’ve read something like this before.
Make connections between and among texts they have read, seeing similarities and differences.
- This is like…

Inferring – students go beyond the literal meaning of a text to derive what is not there but is implied.

Teachers help readers learn how to:

Construct theories that explain how characters behave or plot unfolds.
- Why did (character) do that?
Have empathy for fictional or historical characters.
- She must feel…
Use background knowledge and information from text to form tentative theories as to the significance of the events.
- I felt just like that when…
Create sensory images related to character, plot, setting, theme, or topic.
- I can picture (hear, feel, see, smell) that.
Understand what is not stated but is implied in the text.
- I think he will turn out to be…

Synthesizing – students put together information from the text and from personal, world, and literary knowledge to create new understandings.

Teachers help readers learn how to:

Relate important ideas to each other.
- Now, I understand (concept) better.
Deepen understanding of an idea, concept, or topic by integrating new knowledge with prior knowledge.
- I see the (concept) more clearly after reading this.
Expand personal understandings by incorporating lived through experiences from texts.
- These ideas are really interesting.

Analyzing – students closely examine elements of a text to achieve greater understanding of how it is constructed.

Teachers help readers learn how to:

Recognize plot development based on knowledge of text structure.
- What a complex plot.
- The use of language is skillful.
Recognize and use text characteristics related to genre.
- I’m figuring out the (genre.)
Discover the underlying organization of a text related to topic, genre or theme.
Recognize the author’s use of language to communicate meaning and emotions in various ways.
Analyze elements of a fiction or nonfiction text to gain an understanding of how the author communicated meaning.
Analyze illustrations or other graphic features as to how they evoke aesthetic responses and communicate meaning.
- I like the way this author makes you feel as if you are there.
Recognize and use graphic features of texts (such as maps and charts) to increase understanding.
Analyze the whole text to determine how illustrations, text, and format communicate meaning in an integrated way.
- What makes everyone like this book?

Critiquing – students judge or evaluate a text based on personal, world, or text knowledge.

Teachers help readers learn how to:

Assess whether a text is consistent with what is known through life experiences.
- People wouldn’t act that way.
Judge whether a text is authentic in terms of plot or setting.
- This is unlikely.
Evaluate the writer’s craft in light of appropriateness of genre, use of language, or other criteria.
- What wonderful language.
Judge the accuracy of information.
- Should I keep reading this?
Judge the qualifications of the writer to produce an authentic fiction or nonfiction text.
- That’s not the way a fantasy is supposed to work.
Examine and discover bias in texts.
- This biography is not authentic.
Appreciate the aesthetic qualities of a text.
- This is wonderful writing.