Language Arts Concepts

Things you will need to have with you:

–  Notebook/journal

–  Pen/Pencil

What is reading?

Take the next 30 seconds to write down your definition of reading in your notebook.

The goal of this exercise is for you to quickly define it – do not spend a lot of time thinking. Rather, jot down what comes to mind first.

Later in this module you will use this information, so keep it handy!

Reading and Reading Comprehension

·       Reading is going beyond merely decoding the symbols on the page.

·       Reading should be thought of as making meaning.

·       An understanding of what the writer is saying.

·       Reading is an interaction between the reader and the writer.

·       Comprehension can be thought of as a dialogue between the reader and the author in a specific situational context.

·       Reading involves sampling the print, predicting what will come next, and then confirming or not confirming your predictions and then integrating the new information or going back to reread to see why your prediction was not confirmed.

·       Our purpose for reading can influence how well we read or how much comprehension we have.

·       Other factors involve knowledge, distractions, and what you do when you are reading.

·       The amount of information that is known about something you are reading prior to reading is directly proportionate to how easy or hard it is to read.

Strategies that
Promote Comprehension

What is a reading strategy?

	A reading strategy is a method of imbedding a reading skill in an activity in an interactive-learning situation that fosters the idyllic learning situation of mother and child.
	Reading is an active process, that is begun when the child’s main care giver sits and reads with the child in their lap pointing to the words and corresponding pictures for clues.
	So a reading strategy is an opportunity for the reader to make meaning.

Strategies to Children Learn to Create Meaning

	the aspects of print to which a child must attend
	the aspects of oral language that can be related to print
	the kinds of strategies that maintain fluency
	the kinds of strategies that explore detail
	the kinds of strategies that increase understanding
	the kind of strategies that detect and correct errors
	the feedback control mechanisms tat keep their reading and writing productions on track
	the feed-forward mechanisms (like anticipation or prediction) that keep their information processing behaviors efficient
	how to learn from relating new information to what is already known.

Additional References

Harp, Bill and Jo Ann Brewer. Reading and Writing: Teaching for the connections. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1996.

Ruddell, Robert B, Matha Rapp Ruddell, and Harry Singer, eds. Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. Delaware: International Reading Association, 1994.

Vacca, Richard T. and Vacca, Jo Anne L. Vacca. Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum. New York: Longman, 1998.

Literature Units

Each of these units meet a variety of Core Language Arts Standards, as well as standards from other areas.