Ep. 205: The Reading Comprehension Blueprint Activity Book with Nancy Hennessy and Julia Salamone

to help our students build knowledge while teaching with all types of texts .

But this new activity book takes it one step further , providing gradually released mini lessons , a ton of activities and our favorite graphic organizers and mind maps for students organizers and mind maps for students .

So , Nancy , could you start by sharing how vocabulary connects to reading comprehension , especially when students are kind of expressing that understanding in speaking and writing .

Right , why are we using that mental dictionary ? And we use it , certainly when we read , to make meaning of the text that we're reading . That's receptive language , taking it in making meaning . We use it when we're listening to others speak for whatever purpose Again , receptive .

We're receiving language and then we use it expressively as we're speaking and writing , for whatever purpose the writing might be . And when we speak to this in terms of reading comprehension , it's to demonstrate understanding . What's interesting about this is that different levels of word knowledge serve us in different ways .

So we can have a breadth of knowledge about vocabulary , about word meaning , and that breadth is sort of all the words that we recognize . All right . And in order to use that breath of knowledge , we really need context . So when we're reading text , the context oftentimes helps us figure out the meaning of the words .

When we're listening to someone speak explain something to us .

Oftentimes that context , you know the non-verbals also help us get to the meaning , but the reality is , what's really really critical for overall understanding is depth , this deep understanding of word , really understanding not just the meaning because you know vocabulary is more than a definition the meaning is important but also how that word functions within the sentence .

You know what's its role , how is it contributing to meaning itself , what question does it answer ? Who or what , for instance right . So thinking about vocabulary , I think in a broad way and helps direct us in terms of instruction , broad way and helps direct us in terms of instruction and direct instruction .

I think explicit instruction for depth is particularly important because it also then provides us with easy access to the precise meaning of word .

So we don't always talk about fluency when we're talking about comprehension , but in a way it is related to an automaticity or a fluency comprehension , but in a way it is related to an automaticity or a fluency , this easy access when we really really understand the word .

I guess the other thing to say about vocabulary when we think about its contribution to comprehension is the science supports this .

So we only have to look at all the different models that are out there , whether we look at the simple view , the elaboration , the cognitive foundations , if we're looking at the reading rope and , more recently , kim's model , which is the direct and indirect effects on reading , all of them address language , the importance of language , moving from oral language to

written language , and they all include semantics , or vocabulary . And semantics , of course , is that language system that has to do with the meaning of words , phrases and so on .

So I like to always , always be thinking about and conveying to teachers that words are more than a definition , that they're the way in which we build and refine and really process knowledge , and that vocabulary instruction is key . It's really , really important .

When we look at students who struggle , oftentimes what we can do is take a look at measures of language , and those measures of language , including their knowledge of word meaning , their knowledge of syntax , sentence and so on , will tell us whether or not they're going to be at risk for reading failure , whether or not they're going to be able to work with the

text and comprehend the text . Of course , all systems of language affect both word recognition and language comprehension , but here we're very focused on vocabulary .

And we may not have even known what they meant , but we just memorized it so we could take the test on Friday , Right right .

You know not only its meaning , but it's part of speech , it's morphology , you know whether or not they're endings or roots that can help us unlock the meaning of the word , and we need to teach them the connection to other words . So you know in what words do those connect to other concepts as well , because words don't stand by themselves .

You know , even when we just hear a word , we immediately begin to think of all those things that connect back to that word .

So I'm wondering if we can talk a little bit now about what's in there for vocabulary . I know there's a simple vocabulary routine and a complex vocabulary routine , both for introducing new words , and I can see how that gets to the depth of knowledge that you're talking about , especially the complex one and then there's a ton more activities through the chapter .

So , julia , do you want to talk us through some of your favorite routines and activities ?

We talk about the book Leo , the Leap Bloomer , and that's connected to our unit on identity for first grade . So one of the words that pops in there is the word neatly . So I would begin my lesson in thinking about kicking off that routine by pronouncing the word and really going through its structure , like Nancy was talking about .

So I might think about peeling off the suffix L-Y and then talking about that base word neat , and that means to put things away in order , Right . And then I can talk about how that suffix L-Y when I add it on to the word , it answers the question word how .

So how did ava put away her laundry neatly , or maybe not so neatly , according to my my daughter , depending on what she does . But then I can finally like go through that and asking students about okay , how many syllables did you hear in the word neatly , which is two .

So you're doing some discussion around the structure and then I'm going to provide them with a student-friendly definition . So again , if somebody does something neatly , they're really doing it in a clean or a tidy manner . Now here's the opportunity to think about the context .

And when we think about the context from the book , have you guys read Leo the Late Bloomer ? It's one of my favorite read-alouds . I just love it . I think it's such a lovely , charming story . But he doesn't write as neatly as his classmates .

So kind of pulling that example from the text and then thinking about examples from everyday , everyday life , folding clothes , is the top of my mind right now . But yeah , so what do we do ? What have in asking my students , what do you do that you know , with something that's neatly ?

Have you , have you written your name neatly , those sorts of things , and then I would say the word again , I would spell it out and I would write that word up on the board and then students can repeat and record that word . I've had it , you know , with little guys . They've , you know , done some of the index cards that they keep on a ring .

That's something that they can do to , you know , go back to when they're involved in other activities . I've had students keep a vocabulary notebook adding them to a word wall . That's another thing that's like really great to do , so that those words are up . And I think it's important to note these words are connected to the unit that they're learning about .

So all of these words have those connections back to in this unit in particular about identity . They're thinking about their own unique strengths and challenges . They're thinking about adjectives that can describe themselves . So all of that kind of connects back together .

I think the complex routine really kind of comes into play because we're offering our students additional opportunities for practice with the words exposure processing . I also grew up memorizing wordless , so I am very familiar with how that's not as helpful right . So I know some folks like to incorporate gestures to help students remember those words .

You might pair the word with a visual . I think that's another really great addition . And then making connections One of my favorite activities in the book is our semantic mapping and I really love that because I think it challenges students to think about words that are similar and different .

And I love our semantic gradient activity because again it gets into shades of meaning and the connections that students can make to writing . So why do writers select a specific word and it really gives them the opportunity to consider those subtle differences in word meaning .

Yeah , so I think what this goes back to is that connection between language and literacy , and I'm always thinking about these systems of language and how they support written language , how they support the instructional components that are so necessary for us to work with , whether it's word recognition or language comprehension , and in this case it's language comprehension .

So when we think about semantics , we think about the meaning of words , phrases and so on , right . When we think about syntax , we're really thinking about the internal order of the sentence , the architecture of the sentence that allows for the sentence to convey its meaning .

So , while the words carry meaning , it's really the syntax that provides the structure for them to do their job right .

So if we understand syntax , if that's a part of our understanding and again , students who struggle with reading comprehension oftentimes will demonstrate some difficulties with syntactic awareness If we have a sense of how our sentences actually work right , then that supports our understanding of the sentences .

It allows for us to understand where are the words that are answering who or what . Oh , in our English sentences , typically they're going to come first . Sometimes they're preceded by which one , what kind , how many ? Kind of word as well , but where's the who or the what ? Where's the happening , you know , or the doing right ?

Where's the what happened to within the sentence ? So an understanding of syntax allows for us to take those words that are carrying meaning and to understand how they're actually answering questions . So when we talk to our students about word meaning , we should be talking about part of speech .

We should be talking about the fact that there are some words that answer the question who or what , like nouns and we should start with that , I believe , before we label them as nouns , I think we should teach them the function what's the question that they answer ? Right , so we could think about a sentence .

Like you know , benjamin Banneker wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson who or what did what to whom ? And we have the answers because syntax , our understanding of syntax , supports our ability to do that . That architecture piece , I think , is really important because , you know , we can follow through on that in terms of how do we build a sentence .

You know the building blocks are the parts of speech or the words , and then we move to phrases , clauses and so on , one by one , one by one , all right . The sentences add up to the gist of the text . So sentences are really playing a critical role . They're conveying ideas we call them idea units , right .

And as we read , what we're doing is we're integrating . Here comes that integration again . All right , we're integrating . You know the meanings within and between those sentences . And what are we building toward An overall understanding of what it is that we're reading ? I have to tell you that this is one of my favorite things to talk about .

It has not been emphasized enough in our curricula or programs . Some would say it's arriving new on the scene . Others would say I just listened to the words of Julie Van Dyke , who is a scientist affiliated with Yale and Haskins . Talk about how , for years , she's been thinking about syntax and in fact she says we can't do reading comprehension without syntax .

So I was like woohoo , yay .

That's what Hollis Scarborough talks about semantics and syntax represented , you know , in those models , in the research . So that's , I think , my best way of explaining syntax . It's the architecture and it allows for the words to do their job .

And I remember one student who was aware enough to say Miss Loftus , these sentences are really long . I don't know what's happening in these sentences and I wish I had those questions that you brought up , because it would have been so much easier to help them break it down . I was just like a little . I was like I don't know what to do here .

Yeah , they are long .

They have to deal with this on their own , all right , and they have to deal with , all right , what did I get from this particular sentence so I can integrate it into the next . If they get stuck at that sentence level , they're not going to be able to get to the gist of the sentence .

So I think it's really critical that we're developing it orally through read-alouds when the children are younger . But then we connect and Julia and I have been working on this , integrating reading and writing .

All right that we directly connect our writing instruction back to our reading , our comprehension instruction , so that students are seeing how these go together and how we actually convey meaning . Right , whether we're the author or we're reading someone else . But yeah , it becomes much more difficult for the students as they move through the grades .

Great Gatsby is very near and dear to my heart and you know , even with the demands of a lot of the history classes , for example , are reading , you know , primary source documents and sometimes these sentences go on forever .

So I , you know , I think to starting young because oftentimes sentence level comprehension , like Nancy said , I think folks feel it's like it's just new , it's coming to the surface . It frequently blows teachers , minds , minds , and I think part of that is because a lot of us are skilled readers . We've always had ease with connecting all those pieces .

We put the sentences together so it doesn't necessarily come to the forefront of what we're thinking about , but with struggling readers these sentences can be very tricky . Yeah .

I mean , I had to keep stopping and saying like what , what is my understanding here ? And using those strategies because I wanted to make sure that before I could help her , that I could help myself and have that sentence level and paragraph level understanding .

Sometimes they're called sentence scrambles or mix ups , and I think they're a really great way to have students build syntactic awareness and reading comprehension , but they're also really fun and they foster interactivity and cooperation .

So they're really a great activity to build into your classroom and you can take sentences directly from the text that you're reading or perhaps they're teacher created to focus on specific concepts that students are learning or , you know , important learning moments , and then these sentences are pre-written on word cards and they're mixed up .

The students are then tasked to put these sentences back together , and I think what's nice about this is you can , you know , again , we want to start with simple structures and moving to more complex , but we can think about this for , you know , our younger guys , but also as an activity that could be differentiated for older learners as well .

I've seen it modeled where , you know , you have these very lengthy , complex structures and the sentences can be broken down into their respective phrases and clauses , and then students could each be assigned one , you know , assemble them together and then come together as a small group to put the entire structure together .

So I think it's a really great way that , you know , fosters teamwork , it fosters collaboration and it really helps kids to then discuss their thinking and why they chose to put the sentence in a particular order . And I think that you know , like I said , this wouldn't be something I would go into cold .

I would have modeling , I would move from simple structures to more complex , but this is , I think , a great activity for any classroom . The other activity that I thought was really helpful and I love it because it connects that reading comprehension to writing is sentence expansion , which is one of my favorites .

It's , I feel like it's a strategy that has a lot of bang for its buck , because kids can , you know , not only support the comprehension but it can make more when they're writing , help them create more complex structures , right , More interesting , varied sentences . So with this strategy , students are given a kernel sentence and they're asked to elaborate on that .

So if I was teaching a second grade unit on weather , I might display an image of lightning over the beach and say here's the kernel sentences lightning flashes . Then , using the question words Right . So what , when , where , how and why ? I would have the students expand that . So for this sentence I might target how and where first .

So how does the lightning flash ? And you know , maybe they would say brightly . And then , where does the lightning flash ? Well , in the night sky . And then putting it all together so lightning flashes in the night , lightning flashes brightly in the night sky .

And again , I think it's a really good opportunity to talk to students about the tools that writers and authors use to make their writing more interesting , like comparing those two sentences side by side . Well , when we expanded , we created this sentence that paints a picture that's much more specific for our reader to visualize .

And again , we can do things like this with older learners . It can be adapted because I have plenty of students who I work with who write , you know , more simple sentences and using these question words again , very simple way to expand and create just more interesting , varied structures for their writing .

So that was in chapter four . Um , we appreciate that .

So I , you know I think we sometimes get hung up on terminology . All right , and the labels . I'm not going to dismiss the use of labels , they're important , but we , and then our students , have to understand . Well , why are we learning this ? How does this contribute to you know what our goal is to make meaning and to express our understanding of meaning .

Like you know , you study for the quiz and then it kind of like slipped out and right out of the mind and now I've like , really , I mean this , it just makes it more meaningful , you truly understand it and I think that helps with that , that motivation piece , the buy-in to doing activities , that where they can see .

Okay , I can really make this count , I can make my writing better and I have an active way to do it .

Oh , it's describing the lightning and how it's flashing . And I mean even better , right , a step further with this would be to be doing this with I don't know making it up second graders in a science unit where we're learning about lightning , right , so that it's not separate , it's integrated , and this is .

Or even in , if we're reading a book in ELA where there's a big storm and I'm thinking of because of Winn-Dixie , right , there's a big storm and it's like a really pivotal part Like you could pull out some pieces there where you could do this very activity with that very clear example of lightning flashes , and then you can expand that sentence in a way that is

really efficient for both . You know comprehension , and then you'll see it transfer into writing as well , right .

So , thinking about those language systems again , that language literacy connection , and thinking about how that then translates into written language , because what's really our job ?

Our job is to build on the oral language foundation and to teach our students how to structure , all right , what it is that they're working with in writing , to teach the structure of written language , but it always , always , is going to connect back to what they bring to the task , that oral language foundation . We're always building on that .

You know we talk a lot about reading , comprehension and written expression , but we can't forget about the role of developing our students' oral language in the classroom as well , because that's the catalyst , that's the way that we continue to build .

So when I think about language , I do think about it as the heart of reading proficiency , really , and that reading and writing are really tools for learning and they're tools that are based in language . So that's really where that thinking is coming from . I think as a young teacher , I had no clue that language was that important .

You know , when I think about how I first taught reading I was a gen ed teacher many , many years ago eventually special ed and then back in gen ed , and you know I had a curricula that was pretty much scripted and there was no mention of language .

And in fact , when I first went back to school to do some additional certifications , I remember I had to take a class in linguistics and I sat there and I thought why do I need this ? Well , I soon discovered why I needed that , because I became involved in special education right and phonology became a thing for me .

But yeah , so without that language foundation . You know , Pam Snow does a beautiful job of describing how important oral language is with her language house . That really is the beginning of competence for us in terms of not just language , the building for a language within literacy , yeah . So I think for me that's just extremely important .

And then I think , as we think about this expression of understanding and I'll just dip a little bit , and then Julia can take over when I think a little bit about this expression of understanding , one of the things I think Julia and I are very , very aware of is the lack of comprehension assessments that we can use for our students .

I mean , we've been working on that , we actually have the beginnings of a list and we have a group that's even talking with us about this , all right .

But at the same time , I think it's so important for teachers to recognize that they can use informal classroom-based assessments all right to make some good decisions about are their students capable of demonstrating understanding ?

Can they show them through their oral response , right through their written response , through multimedia response , right , using all the different systems of language here speaking , reading , writing , listening all right to express understanding .

And certainly they can do that orally , you know , and Julia can speak more to this , certainly , but you know , if we provide the appropriate questions and prompts , all right for them to use their oral language , they certainly can do this in multimedia ways , through gesture , through picture , through video , for them to use their oral language .

They certainly can do this in multimedia ways , through gesture , through picture , through video and so on . And they certainly can do this through writing , and when we talk about writing , we can talk about writing at all different levels . One of the things Julia and I have been working on is this integration of composition with comprehension .

How can we use our blueprint to do that ? Well , we have them write about the vocabulary words . Use them in sentences right . We have them write different sentences . We just heard an example of this . We can have them write summaries of their text right . All of these are connecting back to the skills , many of the skills that we're teaching them in comprehension .

So there's a shared I think it's Shanahan and Fitzgerald talked about this shared buckets of knowledge that we use for both comprehension and composition . The trick here is for us to think through how we provide these multiple opportunities for our students and continue to develop their language competency .

And her approach to creating a language-centered classroom where students are given opportunities to answer questions , talk to one another really in meaningful ways . Often you'll see that kind of dynamic where it's the stage on the stage and the teacher's doing the majority of the talking , but giving students the opportunity to talk is really important .

I love her 30-second conversations , where students are tasked to talk to each other for 30 seconds each , and what's nice about that ? It can be connected to reading or a broader topic , or it could be something that's done in morning meeting initially , where students share what they did over the weekend .

We as educators can also scaffold these types of oral responses and questions by giving them sentence starters or frames to help students initiate conversations or oral responses , and I think what's nice about sentence frames is that they can be differentiated across the subject areas and disciplines so that students can engage in meaningful conversations throughout their school

day . With multimedia I have , so I have a fine arts background . I actually have a bachelor of fine arts in photography , so anything where we can enhance the creativity and incorporate multimedia , I'm all about that .

So I think it's a really great way to have students act as creators and , again , it fosters buy-in as well as demonstrating comprehension and understanding . There's so many different amazing applications and programs out there , but it also doesn't have to be super fancy .

I love the Six Word Memoir Project , where students use six words to tell their story and they have , you know , they create a slide that includes powerful imagery using Google Slides .

We've had students make the Pecha Kucha presentations , which can be on whatever topic it could be on a text they're reading or something they're learning about where they present 20 slides with 20 seconds of commentary using Google Slides .

You can use PowerPoint , and what's cool about that is that they can record them in advance and then they can be displayed and shared . But whatever the response mode , whatever kind of multimedia you're selecting , I just think it's really important to highlight planning is the key and connecting back to the purpose . So , for example , what is their goal ?

Are they trying to explain something ? Are they persuading , so forth . So , being really mindful about that portion and then , with written responses . Again , bang for your buck . I love summarizing . This idea is something that's outlined in the Writing to Read report . It's a great way to support students reading comprehension and their writing skills .

I think it's very important and I think more and more we're becoming more cognizant of this but to think about the genre and text structure when thinking about summarizing .

So , for example , if I was doing a narrative text , I might use something like the somebody wanted , but so then strategy to help them summarize a chapter or a section of the story , because that connects into all those essential story elements .

But if I was working with something that was informational or expository , I might use the window strategy , and window is a self-regulated strategy , an SRSB strategy that stands for write a topic sentence , identify important information , number the pieces of identified information , develop a sentence and organize sentences using transition words and write .

So it's a great strategy that students can then use that mnemonic to remind themselves of the pieces that they need to help them complete that summary independently .

But again , you know , really important to consider genre , because the tools that we use are going to be different , because those text types are different and I think by using these strategies you can have your students really effectively kind of summarize , condense information . They're focusing on the comprehension of the text and it really helps them .

You know their overall retention and then you know their understanding of the materials . So summarizing would be my writing connection because I think it's just very powerful .