Building Comprehension with
Discussion Webs and Response
Journals (and Documenting
Comprehension Strategy Use)
EDC423
Dr. Julie Coiro
1. Understanding Comprehension
2. Planning Comprehension Instruction
3. Deepening Comprehension & Building
Fluency, Vocabulary, & Written Response
Today’s Learning Objectives
1. Identify meaningful aspects of reading response to
build comprehension
2. Describe what and how you would document
reading performance and growth over time (in a
response-based program)
3. Describe the purpose of a Discussion Web and
how it fosters comprehension in unique ways
4. Practice documenting response type and
comprehension strategy use in student journal entries
and using this data to inform your feedback and
instruction
Reading Response
Goal = Build comprehension (thinking)
and to make it visible!
– During (Process) > Think-aloud & charts to
scaffold and organize thinking
– After (Product) > Responding through writing and
the arts
Meaningful Responses =
– So what? What makes a text memorable?
– Personal response and long-term knowledge
goals
Think, Pair, Share:
What’s memorable to you?
Think about all the different ways you
have responded to books, movies, and
field trips in and out of school. Think
silently for one minute and then work
with a partner for three minutes to
brainstorm the “response” activities that
have been most memorable to you.
What makes these memorable?
What responses make your
reading/viewing experiences
memorable?
Journal responses – personal ungraded
Hands-on projects – choice; redesign
book cover
Wanting to do it again – to relive the
experience
Scavenger hunt – learning that’s fun!
Drama – costumes -
Patterns of Response
to Literature
Hancock, Chapter 1
What reader responses are
worth documenting?
Document program opportunities AND
individual student performance (linked to
specific book titles over the course of the year)
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Listening behavior
Contact with Books (browsing, attention, proximity)
Impulse to Share (partner read, share/discuss)
Actions and Drama (readers theater, role playing)
Art, Music, and Constructed Products (draw,cook)
Oral Response (retell, lit conversations, prompts)
Written Response (response journals, adapting
writing using literature models)
Hancock p. 421 and 423
After-Reading Response Activities
(attempts to reflect natural conversations)
Literature Circles: To reflect open,
natural conversations about books (use
roles to scaffold the experience for
beginners)
Discussion Webs: To view ideas from
more than one perspective and make
sound decisions informed by evidence
How might you document learning
and progress using literature circles?
Developing Higher-Level and Open-Ended
Questions for Guided Reading Discussion
Discussion Webs
– Avoid the tendency to dominate conversation by
giving students a voice
– Students think individually and then meet with
partner to work toward consensus
– 1. Prepare students for the reading
– 2. After reading, pose a key question and students
discuss pros and cons with supportive evidence
– 3. Student pairs meet with another pair, discuss
further, and come to consensus
Discussion Webs
See Alvermann 1991 Reading Teacher article on our wikispace
Discussion Webs
Discussion Web Consensus Summary
Discussion Web Ideas for
Pictures of Hollis Woods?
Example: End of Ch. 5 (p. 54) Should
Hollis stay with Josie? (yes, no and why)
Try It Out: End of Ch. 8 (p. 76)
Brainstorm a good discussion web
question students might answer in a
small group center while you work with
other students in guided reading groups.
Consider one answer to each side.
A challenge: How can we document
learning from response activities?
How can we measure growth and link
student responses to our instruction?
How can the quality of responses inform
our teaching? (formative assessment)
How can we involve students in the
process?
How might you document
reader response?
Teacher Anecdotal Records - observations
(stickies, mailing labels) accumulated by date (pair
with students’ personal reflections over time)
Daily reading logs (track # and type of books)
Literature Circle Conversations (peer and self
evaluation)
Sticker Guided Reflections that involve students
and move beyond letter grades
Literature response files (track varied types of
prompts and responses and graph results)
Student Conference Notes
Sticker Self-Assessment
System in Response Journals
Sticker Self-Assessment
System
Literature Response Journals
(Hancock, 2008, p. 278-279)
How do you begin to design literature journal
prompts?
– Experiential prompts (connect to personal
experiences)
– Aesthetic prompts (emotional interactions and
character feelings)
– Cognitive prompts (inferences, M&MDAVIS)
– Interpretative prompts (personal judgment
about meaning/message & characters)
Consider these ideas for varied writing assignments
and/or discussions in small group centers!
What kinds of responses
might you get?
Personal meaning-making responses
–
–
–
–
Monitoring understanding – I see that…
Making inferences – I think..
Making, validating, or invalidating predictions – I predict …
Expressing wonder or confusion – I wonder…
Character and plot involvement
– Character interaction – 1st person – If I were him…
– Character assessment/judgment – That character is..
– Story Involvement – pos/neg reactions as the plot unfolds…
Literary evaluation
– Literary criticism – author’s craft or style
Keep a checklist of the opportunities you create
AND the ways students respond
Activity: Documenting Response and
Strategy Use in Literature Journals
1. Trade your Book Activity 4 (Hollis Woods journal
entries) with a partner
2. Look for evidence of Hancock’s response
categories (Personal Meaning, Char/Plot, Lit Eval);
code all in the margin with PM, CP, and/or LE
3. Look for evidence of M&MDAVIS strategy use;
code all strategies in the margin with a single letter
for each
4. Note patterns of individual readers; Then write a
short summary of observations in your own
notebook and what you might teach next
5. Discuss patterns across the group as a whole
Coding Categories for
Literature Response Journals
PM: Personal meaning-making
responses
– Monitoring understanding
– Making inferences
– Making, validating, or invalidating
predictions
– Expressing wonder or confusion
CP: Character and plot
involvement
– Character interaction or
assessment/judgment
– Story Involvement
Comprehension Strategy Use
M: Monitoring
MC: Making connections
D: Determining Impt. Ideas
A: Asking Questions
V: Visualizing
I: Inferencing
S: Summarizing
LE: Literary evaluation
– Literary criticism
Hancock article (1993)
Cornett (2010)
Documenting Response
Diversity and Strategy Use
PM
CP
LE
Pers
Mon
Char
Plot
Lit
Eval
Mon
MC
DI
Ask
Vis
Inf
Sum
How would this data inform the feedback you give to a
particular student? What you teach next? To whom?
Documenting Response
Diversity and Strategy Use
7
8
2
2
3
5
5
7
0
0
0
0
PM
CP
LE
Pers
Mon
Char
Plot
Lit
Eval
0
0
4
0
Mon
3
1
4
3
MC
0
0
1
0
DI
0
0
1
0
Ask
1
0
0
1
Vis
0
1
0
0
Inf
0
1
3
0
Sum
How would this data inform the feedback you give to a
particular student? What you teach next? To whom?
Documenting Response
Diversity and Strategy Use
5
6
2
3
3
5
1
0
0
PM
CP
LE
Pers
Mon
Char
Plot
Lit
Eval
0
0
1
Mon
7
4
4
MC
1
0
1
DI
1
2
2
Ask
0
0
1
Vis
1
1
1
Inf
0
1
1
Sum
How do these reflect the Common Core Standards?
What do we need more of (even as college students)??
Homework
Nov. 14: Building Comprehension with Explicit
Vocabulary Instruction
– SKIM Ch 8 Cornett - Vocab Instruction (p. 222-257)
– READ Beck & McKeown (2002)
– Bring two Tier 2 words from each chapter (p. 147-166)
– READ ELL Vocabulary Handout
Coming Up – Digital Wonder Projects (11/19-11/26)
– Wonder, Explore, Learn, Synthesize, Apply, and Share
Nov. 26: Quiz 2 (Organizing instruction, building fluency, building
vocabulary, literature circles, response journals)