Strategy Instruction for Making Predictions and

Making Connections

EDC423

Dr. Julie Coiro

Today’s Learning Objectives

1. Review key components of Metacognitive Framework 2. Review important considerations for teaching students how to “predict” an “make connections” while reading.3. Apply these strategies to your own reading of a text and practice modeling for students – in preparation for your book activity

Good Strategy Instruction

What is it? (name it and define it)

Why is it important?

How do you use the strategy?

When is it useful?

(remember Explain & Define; Notice and Apply from your textbook as the MODELING phase of strategy instruction)

Predicting

Why do good readers predict? – It gives a purpose for reading– Helps build internal tension – Helps anticipate a satisfying ending– Connect prior knowledge & new information

Predictions serve as guideposts. We monitor our predictions from time to time to see how they hold up (That’s what I thought! -- Wow, that’s not what I thought!)

Problems with Predicting

Children’s predictions are often inaccurate, because of the text or the reader. Children underestimate the importance of text features in informational text. Many children don’t take the time to predict properly and never revisit to solidify or revise their prediction. Your Teaching Goal: Help students make predictions that are accurate and meaningful

A prediction is more than a guess – “an educated guess” perhaps.

What two things do we need to make a good prediction?

Define: What is a prediction?

CLUES IN TEXT BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

+ =

PREDICTION

Explain: How and when do good readers predict?

See the Predicting Tally Sheet (p. 204) for CLUES IN THE TEXT but be careful about being too prescriptive!

– 1. Title, headings, cover, pictures, captions

– 2. Ask questions

– 3. Knowledge of the topic

– 4. Knowledge about the author/genre/book

– 5. Text organization & structure

– 6. Past events in the text

– 7. Meaningful connections

– 8. Knowledge of the character

MODEL = Define… Explain… Notice… Apply…Clarify

Define and Explain– “How is a prediction different than a guess”– Good, so what I hear you saying is predicting is…

Explain (Clues & BK = Prediction) – Good readers make predictions using clues from

… (THE TALLY SHEET). you’re going to think about what you used to make that prediction. What clues in the text? What background knowledge in your head?

Model … Notice & Apply

Clarify (sum up at the end)

Thinking Aloud in Action

So, let’s see how this all plays out in a real read-aloud/think-aloud - Amos & Boris by William Steig

Look for…– Examples of me defining & explaining how to predict

and why predicting is useful– Examples of me “thinking aloud” to model– Examples of me asking you to “notice” how I predicted

and how it was useful– Examples of me gradually inviting you to predict WITH

me (but also offering support and clarification)

You Try Now

Write your Think-Aloud

Ask students to Notice & Apply

You will do more of this for Book Activity 3 (you can choose predicting or connecting)

Making Connections

Good readers actively relate ideas in print to their own knowledge, experiences, and other texts.

Making connections helps readers to: – Relate to characters with links to their own experiences– Visualize particular details– Help pay attention and remember (store) main ideas for later

recall– Ask questions to better make sense of or clarify the ideas from

a reader’s own perspective (“So, is that like when…?)

Problems with Teaching Connecting

Children’s connections may be irrelevant. Children’s connections may pull attention away from the main ideas of the new text. Children need help understanding that connections are helpful for understanding new material (not just for sharing their own experiences) Your Teaching Goal: Help students make relevant connections in ways that help them to better understand the current text

What types of connections can I make?

Text-to-self connections – This reminds me of a time when I…

Text-to-text connections– This book/character/event is a lot like/

very different from ___ because…

Text-to-world connections– I once heard about …

Text-to-author connectionsThis reminds me of how this author always …

When can I make useful and relevant connections?

See the Connecting Tally Sheet (p. 207) – but don’t get tied down to these

– 1. Connect to characters

– 2. Connect to plot

– 3. Connect to the setting or place

– 4. Connect to visualize, taste, feel, or hear the text

– 5. Connect to predict or infer what will happen

– 6. Connect to what I know about a topic or word

– 7. Connect to help me feel emotions

– 8. Connect to what I know about text structure

After Modeling…Activities to Practice/Apply PredictingThink back to the tally sheet of clues to use for predicting:Title…Anticipation Guide (p. 86-see next slide) Topic/Vocab…Predict-o-gram (see next slide) Questions..Sticky Note Questions (p. 88)Questions..Preview, Read, Question (p. 88) Author/Genre…Story map; genre features (p. 93)Predict what you’d find in types of expository texts: ABC books, magazines, newspapers, ads, brochures, invitations, menus…fairy tales (e.g., Cinderella) (All ideas for your own lesson plan)

Anticipation Guide: Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

Identify major themes – write several statements – students discuss & react before reading and then revisit after

Agree Disagree

It would be wonderful to live forever.

You should never do something that your parents have forbidden.

People should have the right to sell products even if they are harmful.

Some secrets are so important that it is acceptable to do anything in order to keep them.

Predict-o-gram: Crow Boy by Tara YashimaHow would Taro Yashima use each vocabulary word? forlorn, interesting, trudging, imagine, graduation, attendance, admired, announced, charcoal, rejected

SettingWhere the story took place

CharactersPeople in the story

Problem or goal of themain character

Solution to the problem or attainment of goal

Story Map/Genre- Use to predict story elements in Cinderella for example

Activities to practice/apply Making Connections

Use sticky-notes to make connections while reading– Tally them up after and encourage students to expand the

types of connections they make the next time

Connections Continuum – Generate a list of connections on sticky notes and ask

students to sequence in order from most meaningful to least meaningful (encourage students to remember this when they make their own connections)

Story MapsAnticipation Guides Compare and contrast across a genre (e.g., fairy tale) or across several variants of one story (e.g., Cinderella)

Elements of Story

Exposition: background of characters & setting

Characters: protagonist and antagonist

Conflict: the problem

Rising Action: building the tension

Climax: the turning point of the story (not most exiting)

Resolution: the problem is solved

Falling Action: tie up loose ends/provide closure

Theme: message or lesson conveyed (not just a topic)

How do these play out in the traditional Cinderella story?

Homework

Tuesday, Oct. 11 – NO CLASS – (tip: pretend Book Activity 3 due here) – Read Hancock Ch. 4: Modern Fantasy (elements) – Study for quiz on Thursday

Thursday, Oct. 13 – – Book Activity #3: Strategy Script due– Finish reading Vacation Under the Volcano (will be on quiz)– Quiz #1 (see wiki homepage link for quiz topics) – should take

about 30 minutes