Reading In-Depth 3-6
Thursday 17 February 2011
North Ryde Golf Club
 What are you hoping to achieve today?
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Where are we headed?
-An enhanced knowledge of current research and direction in the teaching of reading.
-An exploration of the skills and strategies that students require in order to be effective readers (with a focus
on improvement in vocabulary knowledge and text fluency).
-Discussion of teaching strategies designed to improve students’ ability to comprehend texts.
-A review of our students’ needs.
Our Great Big Goal:
-Planning for and delivering programs that further improve our students’ reading outcomes.
 What is Comprehension? A Shared Definition:
Partner Definition:
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Group Definition:
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1
Comprehension – What is the Research Telling Us?
Comprehension involves responding to, interpreting, analysing and evaluating texts.
(NSW Department of Education and Training Literacy Continuum)
Research consistently points to the direct relationship between comprehension instruction and success in learning.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, An introduction to quality literacy teaching 2009)
In spite of research support for comprehension instruction, large scale studies of classroom practices have indicated
that, on the whole, teachers devote very little time to it
(Durkin, 1978-79; Pressley, 1998; Taylor et al., 2000)
The goal of reading is for readers to transact with text in order to comprehend.
(Rosenblatt 1978)
Transaction implies that a reader’s personal experiences shape his or her understanding of narrative and expository
text, indicating that response is personal and may vary.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
Reading can be defined as a thinking process. Suggesting that reading is about cognition indicates that the focus of
instruction should not be on the print, but rather on how readers connect with the print.
(Smith 1997)
Good learners use a variety of comprehension strategies simultaneously. They know how to deliberately apply specific
strategies to aid their comprehension, particularly with regard to challenging texts.
(Pressley 2002)
Comprehension is an active process between the reader and a text, a process that is both ‘intentional and thoughtful.’
(The National Reading Panel 2000)
It has been found that less-able ‘comprehenders’ usually focus more on word accuracy rather than comprehension
monitoring and generally have weak metacognition skills
(Cain and Oakhill, 1999; Nation et al., 2005)
Students with poor comprehension generally are poor at making inferences and integrating information. (Nation et al,
2005) They tend to read superficially, are less likely to participate in constructive processes and are unsure of when to
apply their prior knowledge during reading.
(Cain and Oakhill, 1999)
Research has shown that there are sources of comprehension problems that are independent of decoding. (Williams,
2005) Researchers have also identified students who can not comprehend text effectively in spite of successful decoding.
(Caccamise &Snyder, 2005; Duke and Pressley &Hilden 2004)
Providing students with explicit instruction in comprehension strategies can be an effective way of helping them
overcome difficulties in understanding texts.
(Grahame &Bellert, 2004)
The more explicit the comprehension strategy and self-regulatory instruction, the higher the likelihood that the learner
will make significant gains in comprehension.
(Manset-Williamson & Nelson, 2005)
As learners become more competent and confident of their comprehension, the less support they require from the
teacher .
(Duke and Pearson 2002).
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 What is the research telling us?
 Discuss.
Comprehension – Teaching and Learning
 What are the skills and strategies that my students need in order to comprehend text?
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 How do I currently teach these comprehension skills and strategies in my classroom?
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Just as the director and designer create a stage setting that helps the audience understand and connect to a
dramatic performance, teachers must create the environments in which students are challenged to read a wide
range of texts deeply and thoughtfully. With the goal of deep thinking, teachers in this kind of learning
environment invite responses and reactions, and stretch students’ thinking to levels of reflection they might not
reach on their own.
When the stage is set for deep comprehension and engagement, there is a sense of commitment and energy that
drives learners to explore, wonder and understand with greater depth.
This elevated sense of engagement is supported by three distinct levels of responses that include efferent,
aesthetic and critical/ analytical responses.
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
Levels of Response:
Efferent:
The information (facts) readers extract from the text
Aesthetic:
Expressive responses that invite learners to share their thinking
Critical / Analytical:
Readers interrogate the text, the author, the issue and the purpose
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
3
Comprehension – Teaching and Learning Continued
In setting the stage for comprehension, teachers explicitly model how good readers reach into a text, cracking open the
thinking process of an expert reader in a way that students can replicate.
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
Teachers explicitly demonstrate strategies and tools readers use to record their thinking, exposing their thinking and
their written responses in a highly visual way that students can follow as a model for their own thinking and writing.
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
It is vital that, “Teachers support their students’ strategic reading through lessons that attend explicitly to how to think
while reading”.
(Hiebert, Pearson, Taylor, Richardson, and Paris 1998)
Comprehension – Cognition and Metacognition
Comprehension strategies are the cognitive and metacognitive strategies readers use to accomplish the goal of
comprehension.
Comprehension strategies are interrelated and rarely used in isolation.
Cognitive strategies are mental processes involved in achieving something. (For example, making a cake)
Metacognitive strategies are the mental processes that help us to think about and check how we are going in
completing the task. ‘Is there something that I have left out?’
Cognitive and metacognitive processes may overlap depending on the purpose / goal. For example, as the cognitive
strategies involved in making a cake proceed (following the steps in order), the metacognitive strategies assess and
monitor the progress (to check that a step has not been missed).
Cognitive strategies, such as predicting, assist in understanding what is being read.
Metacognitive strategies allow individuals to monitor and assess their ongoing performance in understanding what is
being read. (For Example, as a text is being read the reader might think: I don’t understand this. I might need to re-read
this part.)
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)

COMPREHENSION: THE SUPER SIX STRATEGIES INTRODUCTION (PUZZLE)
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Comprehension – The ‘SUPER SIX’ Strategies
There are six ‘super’ cognitive and metacognitive strategies and a variety of teaching strategies that can be
implemented within your classroom that will allow students to work towards mastering these strategies and
becoming ‘super comprehenders’.
Learners make personal connections from the text with:
-something in their own life (text to self)
-another text (text to text)
-something occurring in the world (text to world)
Example Questions / Statements:
-This story reminds me of...
-This character has the same problem as a character that I read / saw / heard about in another text.
-I saw a program on television that presented things described in this text.
-Does this remind me /you of something?
-Has something like this ever happened to me / you?
Sample Teaching Ideas:
1. Book and Me:
Students create two columns with the headings ‘Book’ and ‘Me’. Prior to and during reading, students add details about
the connections between the book and their lives.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
2. The Character and Me:
Invite students to select a character from a story and then compare the character to themselves. In what ways are they
alike or different? Do they have similar interests or ways of doing things? If the student had the character’s role in the
story, would he or she have made different choices? A Venn diagram works well for this activity.
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
5
The Character and Me – Making Connections
Name of Character:
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Name of Book:
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Name of Reader:
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Image of the Character
Image of the Student
Describe the character
Describe yourself:
(In three words):
(In three words):
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2.____________________________
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3.____________________________
Continue your description of the
character:
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In what ways
are you and
the character
alike?
3.____________________________
Continue your description of yourself:
Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt
2009
 Charlotte's Web: Chapter One
Read the first chapter of Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White.
Then reflect upon the activity ‘The Character and Me’. (You could choose to complete this activity in relation to any
character within the chapter.)
Before Breakfast
"Where's Papa going with that axe?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
"Out to the hog house," replied Mrs. Arable. "Some pigs were born last night."
"I don't see why he needs an axe," continued Fern, who was only eight. "Well," said her mother, "one of
the pigs is a runt. It's very small and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your father has decided
to do away with it."
"Do away with it?" shrieked Fern. "You mean kill it? Just because it's smaller than the others?"
Mrs. Arable put a pitcher of cream on the table. "Don't yell, Fern!" she said. "Your father is right. The pig
would probably die anyway."
Fern pushed a chair out of the way and ran outdoors. The grass was wet and the earth smelled of
springtime. Fern's sneakers were sopping by the time she caught up with her father.
"Please don't kill it!" she sobbed. "It's unfair."
Mr. Arable stopped walking.
"Fern," he said gently, "you will have to learn to control yourself."
"Control myself?" yelled Fern. "This is a matter of life and death, and you talk about controlling myself."
Tears ran down her cheeks and she took hold of the axe and tried to pull it out of her father's hand.
"Fern," said Mr. Arable, "I know more about raising a litter of pigs than you do. A weakling makes trouble.
Now run along!"
"But it's unfair," cried Fern. "The pig couldn't help being born small, could it? If I had been very small at
birth, would you have killed me?"
Mr. Arable smiled. "Certainly not," he said, looking down at his daughter with love. "But this is different. A
little girl is one thing, a little runty pig is another."
"I see no difference," replied Fern, still hanging on to the axe. "This is the most terrible case of injustice I
ever heard of."
A queer look came over John Arable's face. He seemed almost ready to cry himself.
"All right," he said. "You go back to the house and I will bring the runt when I come in. I'll let you start it on
a bottle, like a baby. Then you'll see what trouble a pig can be."
When Mr. Arable returned to the house half an hour later, he carried a carton under his arm. Fern was
upstairs changing her sneakers. The kitchen table was set for breakfast, and the room smelled of coffee,
bacon, damp plaster, and wood smoke from the stove.
"Put it on her chair!" said Mrs. Arable. Mr. Arable set the carton down at Fern's place. Then he walked to
the sink and washed his hands and dried them on the roller towel.
Fern came slowly down the stairs. Her eyes were red from crying. As she approached her chair, the carton
wobbled, and there was a scratching noise. Fern looked at her father. Then she lifted the lid of the carton.
There, inside, looking up at her, was the newborn pig. It was a white one. The morning light shone through
its ears, turning them pink.
"He's yours," said Mr. Arable. "Saved from an untimely death. And may the good Lord forgive me for this
foolishness."
7
Fern couldn't take her eyes off the tiny pig. "Oh," she whispered. "Oh, look at him! He's absolutely perfect."
She closed the carton carefully. First she kissed her father, then she kissed her mother. Then she opened
the lid again, lifted the pig out, and held it against her cheek. At this moment her brother Avery came into
the room. Avery was ten. He was heavily armed -- an air rifle in one hand, a wooden dagger in the other.
"What's that?" he demanded. "What's Fern got?"
"She's got a guest for breakfast," said Mrs. Arable. "Wash your hands and face, Avery."
"Let's see it!" said Avery, setting his gun down. "You call that miserable thing a pig? That's a fine specimen
of a pig -- it's no bigger than a white rat."
"Wash up and eat your breakfast, Avery!" said his mother. "The school bus will be along in half an hour."
"Can I have a pig, too, Pop?" asked Avery.
"No, I only distribute pigs to early risers," said Mr. Arable. "Fern was up at daylight, trying to rid the world
of injustice. As a result, she now has a pig. A small one, to be sure, but nevertheless a pig. It just shows
what can happen if a person gets out of bed promptly. Let's eat!"
But Fern couldn't eat until her pig had had a drink of milk. Mrs. Arable found a baby's nursing bottle and a
rubber nipple. She poured warm milk into the bottle, fitted the nipple over the top, and handed it to Fern.
"Give him his breakfast!" she said.
A minute later, Fern was seated on the floor in the corner of the kitchen with her infant between her
knees, teaching it to suck from the bottle. The pig, although tiny, had a good appetite and caught on
quickly.
The school bus honked from the road.
"Run!" commanded Mrs. Arable, taking the pig from Fern and slipping a doughnut into her hand. Avery
grabbed his gun and another doughnut.
The children ran out to the road and climbed into the bus. Fern took no notice of the others in the bus. She
just sat and stared out of the window, thinking what a blissful world it was and how lucky she was to have
entire charge of a pig. By the time the bus reached school, Fern had named her pet, selecting the most
beautiful name she could think of.
"It's name is Wilbur," she whispered to herself.
She was still thinking about the pig when the teacher said: "Fern, what is the capital of Pennsylvania?"
"Wilbur," said Fern, dreamily. The pupils giggled. Fern blushed.
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3. Coding the Text:
Using a read-aloud and thinking aloud, model for the students, examples of making connections. These may include
text-self, text-text, or text-world connections. While reading aloud, demonstrate how to code a section of the text that
elicits a connection by using a sticky note, a code (T-S = text-self, T-T = text, text, T-W = text-world), and a few words to
describe the connection. Have the students work in small groups to read a short text and code the text. Have them
share their ideas with the class. Encourage students to code the text using sticky notes to record their ideas and use
these as the basis of small and large group discussions.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
4. Connection Stems:
After reading a text aloud, show students a sentence stem and think aloud about the process you use for completing it.
Use text support and personal experiences to explain the connection. Read another text aloud and guide the students to
complete the stem orally with a partner. Have students read a short text and work together to complete a stem. Share
the completed stem through discussion or journal responses.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
Connection Stems:
-That reminds me of...
-I remember when...
-I have a connection...
-An experience I have had like
that...
-I felt like that character when...
-If I were that character, I
would...
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
9
Learners use information from graphics, text and experiences to anticipate what will be read / viewed / heard and to
actively adjust comprehension while reading / viewing / listening.
Example Questions / Statements:
-What do I / you think will happen next?
-What words / images do I / you expect to see or hear in this text?
-What might happen next? Why do I / you think that? What helped me / you make that prediction?
-Were my / your predictions accurate? How did I / you confirm my / your predictions?
-Have I / you read / seen / heard about this topic anywhere else?
Sample Teaching Ideas:
1. Before and After Chart:
Students list predictions before and during reading. As they read, students either confirm or reject their predictions.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
2. Anticipation / Reaction Guide:
Select a text for the students to read. Create three to five general statements for the students to respond to with agree
or disagree. Create statements that are intuitively sound but may be disconfirmed by reading the text or appear
intuitively incorrect but may be proven true by reading the text. Have the students indicate agreement or disagreement.
Have students read the text to confirm or disconfirm their original responses.
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
3. Partner Read and Think:
Partner read and think is based on the research that so effectively supports reciprocal teaching, but it requires fewer
social skills as it is completed by partners instead of teams of four. The process engages partners in applying six distinct
steps to each segment of text that is read. The combination of steps helps students engage at several levels of
comprehension and encourages language use as partners navigate a selection. Partner Read and Think guides partner
pairs in:
a) Placing a stop sign
b) Predicting words they think are likely to appear
c) Reading the section
d) Identifying words they find confusing or interesting
e) Summarising the learning.
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
4. Predict – O – Gram: (Prediction Map)
Select vocabulary from the story to stimulate predictions. Vocabulary should represent the story elements: characters,
setting, problem, action and solution. Have students decide which story element the word tells about and write each
word on the Predict-O-Gram in the appropriate place. Have students read the story. Revisit the original predictions with
students and make changes as necessary. Use the resulting information to summarise or retell the story.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
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HILARIOUS!
I Wonder...
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I learned that...
Adapted From: Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
PREDICTION MAP
Name: ___________
Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
Vocabulary Words
Characters
Problem
Setting
Action
Solution
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Learners pose and answer questions that clarify meaning and promote deeper understanding of the text. Questions can
be generated by the learner, a peer or the teacher.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
Example Questions / Statements:
-What in the text helped me / you know that?
-How is this text making me / you feel? Why is that?
-When you read / viewed / listened to the text, did it remind me / you of anything I / you know about? Why did it remind
me / you of that?
-What did the composer of the text mean by...?
-Whose point of view is this? What points of view are missing?
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
Sample Teaching Ideas:
1. Wonderings:
Using sticky notes, students list all the questions they have about the text. As they read, students continue to write
questions. When an answer is found for the ‘wondering’ students remove the sticky note. Modelling the creation of
surface vs. Deep questions sets the stage for improved comprehension.
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
2. Stimulating Discussion through Questions:
When students learn to ask questions of themselves and their conversation partners, they remember more and
become more fully engaged with the text selection. The personal questions readers generate about a text stimulate
connections, represent inferences, activate prior knowledge, and help them to clarify understanding. As you guide
students in generating questions, remember to assist them in generating questions and responses that are aesthetic,
efferent and critical / analytical. These levels of questioning support broad ranges of understanding, stimulate language
use, and are powerful supports to partner conversations.
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
13
Wonderings
Name: ______________________
STEP ONE:
Preview a text.
Read titles, subheadings and the table of contents.
Look at the pictures or illustrations.
Read The First Paragraph.
STEP TWO:
Think of an “I wonder” question. Write it down.
I wonder
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STEP THREE:
Read the text to answer the question.
Write the answer when you find it.
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STEP FOUR:
Ask yourself another “I wonder” question.
Read the next section to find the answer.
I wonder
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STEP FIVE:
Continue to read small segments – be sure to ask yourself a question before each section.
STEP SIX:
Write the most important ideas that you learned from reading the text:
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Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
14
Types of Questions
Efferent:
Unpacking the Facts of the
Text...
Who, What, When, Where?
In what order?
Which character was central to the Story?
Describe the climax.
From which point of view is this selection of the
text written?
If we were to identify the most important ideas, what
would they be?
Compare the events in this story with the events in
_______.
Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
15
Types of Questions
Aesthetic:
Expressive Responses That
Encourage Learners to Share
Their Feelings...
What was your favourite part? Why?
Which character did you fins most intriguing?
Why?
If you were the author, which part of the story would
bring you the most pride?
Are there any parts of this text that you would
change?
At which points were you best able to visualise or ‘see’
the action?
What did the author do that helped you connect to
this part of the text?
Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
16
Types of Questions
Critical / Analytical:
Students Interrogate the Text, the Author,
the Issue and the Purpose...
What important issues were addressed in this text?
Why are these issues important?
What does the author want you to believe or
understand?
What is the author’s point of view?
How might we check if what has been written is
correct?
If we were to evaluate this text, what criteria might
we consider?
Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
17
Learners stop and think about the text and know what to do when meaning is disrupted.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
Example Questions / Statements:
-Is this making sense?
-What have I / you learned?
-Should I / you slow down? Speed up?
-Do I need to re-read / view / listen?
-What can help me / you fill in missing information?
-What does this word mean?
-What can I use to help me understand what I’m / you’re reading?
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
Sample Teaching Ideas:
1. Coding:
As they read, students code the text with sticky notes. A tick could represent, ‘I Understand’. A question mark could
indicate, ‘I don’t understand’ and an exclamation mark could show that the student has either solved a problem that
they encountered or that they have come across something that they deem to be astounding.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
2. Patterned Partner Reading:
Students work in pairs and select a text to read. Before reading, students choose a pattern to use as they engage in
reading:
Read – Pause – Ask Questions
Predict – Read – Discuss
Read, Pause, Retell
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
3. Read, Cover, Remember, Retell:
This strategy is designed to help readers slow down and read for meaning. They begin by reading a fairly small amount
of text, then covering the print with their hand. While their hands are over the page, readers take a moment to wonder:
“What did I learn?”
“What is important?”
“What key words and ideas should I remember?”
Students quickly learn that if they are unsure and need to recheck the content, they follow the strategy used by good
readers and reread the section to give themselves another chance to absorb the content. This pause in reading,
followed by self-questioning, generates a mid-stream retell and solidifies content understanding. The deliberate steps
form a routine in which pausing, thinking, self questioning, and summarising become naturally integrated into reading.
Patterned Partner Reading provides a structure for reading interactively with another and promotes strategic reading.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
18
ONLY AS MUCH AS YOUR HAND CAN
COVER
THE WORDS WITH YOUR HAND
WHAT YOU HAVE READ
IT IS OK TO TAKE ANOTHER LOOK!
WHAT YOU JUST READ INSIDE YOUR
HEAD OR
TO A PARTNER.
19
Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
 Follow the Read, Cover, Remember, Retell strategy using one of the following texts:
Reading Texts
(NSW Department of Education and Training)
Reading texts involves recognising words automatically, reading in a phrased and fluent way and navigating
texts to create meaning.
(NSW Department of Education and Training Literacy Continuum)
Defining Fluent Reading:
In its broadest sense, Rasinki (2006) claims that fluency is a reader’s mastery over the surface level of texts read
– the ability to accurately and effortlessly decode written words and then give meaning to those words through
appropriate phrasing and oral expression of the words. The literacy dictionary: The vocabulary of reading and
writing defines fluency as “freedom from word identification problems that might hinder comprehension”
(Harris &Hodges, 1995). According to Pikulski & Chard (2005) fluency is manifested in accurate, rapid, expressive
oral reading and is applied during, and makes possible, silent reading comprehension.
The National Reading Panel (2000) defined reading fluency as “the ability to read text quickly, accurately, and
with proper expression” (NICHD, 2000, pp3-5). Reading research concludes that fluency is essential to children’s
overall reading development (Chard, Vaughn, &Tyler, 2002; Kuhn & Stahl, 2000; National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development, 2000; Rasinski & Hoffman, 2003).
Reading fluency is often used to distinguish good readers from poor. Pikulski & Chard explain that readers who
achieve some fluency are likely to read more extensively than readers who lack fluency because the latter find
reading difficult. He claims that poor readers, who lack fluency skills, read in a laboured, disconnected fashion,
with a focus on decoding at the word level that limits comprehension. Stanovich (1991) goes further to claim
that differences in reading fluency not only distinguish good readers from poor, but a lack of reading fluency is
also a reliable predictor of reading comprehension problems. Other research highlights this strong correlation
between reading fluency and comprehension (Dowhower; 1987; Shinn et al., 1992; Tan and Nicholson, 1997).
However, Stecker, Roser and Martinez (1998) in their review of fluency research point out that “The issue of
whether fluency is an outgrowth (of) or a contributor to comprehension is unresolved. There is empirical
evidence to support both positions” (p.300). They conclude, “Fluency has been shown to have a ‘reciprocal
relationship’ with comprehension with each fostering the other” (p.306).
According to Samuels (1979) and Adams (1990), fluent reading allows the reader to attend to the meaning of
text rather than to the mechanics of reading. It is apparent that students who process written text fluently, with
an appropriated rate, accuracy and expression make reading sound like language (Stahl &Kuhn, 2002).
Hasbrouck & Tindal (2006) state that “When readers read fluently, their focus is less on decoding and more on
making sense of what they read.” Fluency implies that readers’ decoding skills are so automatic that they focus
on the meaning of the passage. When readers read with fluency, their oral interpretation of the text through
parody – rhythm, intonation, stress, meter, patterns of sounds – could be seen as evidence that they are
constructing meaning while they read. The reader who is hesitant, stops and starts, does so at the expense of
meaning.
(NSW Department of Education and Training: Materials developed and compiled as part of the Focus on Reading 3-6
Program 2010)
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Common compensations and causes of confusion
The following are the most frequently used compensations, which are described and ranked by how disruptive they are
to reading. The compensations that appear at the end of the list take longer to perform. As a general rule, readers will
use the least disruptive compensations first. If they fail to prevent or resolve confusion, later ones serve as back-ups.
1. Slow reading rate.
As readers become more skilled, their control over reading rate increases (Barker & Brown, 1984; Chall, 1996).
Moreover, readers become more aware of cues to text difficulty, signalling the need to read slowly (Kucan &Beck,
1977). Slowing reading helps to prevent many confusions by allowing inefficient readers to read text at a pace that their
skills can handle, whereas faster reading might overwhelm skills (Baker &Brown; Chall; Walczyk, Wei, Griffith-Ross,
Goubert, Cooper & Zha, 2006).
2. Pause.
Less skilled readers pause longer and more often than do skilled readers (Haviland & Clark, 1974; Perfetti, 1985, 1999;
Walczyk, Marsiglia, Bryan & Naquin, 2001; Walczyk et al., 2004). A pause is a compensatory if it is an uncommonly long
delay during reading that allows an inefficient reading subcomponent (e.g., reading a word by sight) sufficient time to
succeed. When slowing reading does not allow enough time, pausing may be its back-up. Furthermore, when the source
of confusion is unclear, pausing can occur as readers try to understand its nature and select other compensations for
resolving it (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995; Walczyk et al., 2006).
3. Look back.
Looking back occurs when readers briefly glance to text previously read. Walczyk et al. (2001) defined it as the
reprocessing of three words or less, which is slightly more disruptive of word reading than slowing reading rate or
pausing (Cataldo & Oakhill, 2000). Looking back is compensatory when it resolves confusion by restoring information
forgotten from working memory or by providing information overlooked on the first pass through text (e.g., what it
refers to). It can aid poor word reading by uncovering textual clues to an unfamiliar word’s meaning (Ehri, 1994). With
pausing and reading aloud, it can help overcome confusions due to difficult words, small verbal working memories,
unfamiliar concepts, verbosity or abstractly written text (Kucan & Beck, 1997; Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995).
4. Read aloud.
Reading aloud often occurs spontaneously due to difficult texts or noisy reading environments (Chall, 1996), suggesting
that it is compensatory. Researchers have noted marked improvement in comprehension when reading is done aloud.
For instance, Miller and Smith (1985) tested 94 second through fifth graders and found that the 33 poorest readers
comprehended best when they read aloud. Reading aloud helps focus attention when readers are tired or bored (see
Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995) and facilitates comprehension monitoring (Bereiter & Bird, 1985; Ericsson, 1988). It also
helps automatic reading to succeed by drowning out distractions. It is especially helpful for less fluent readers, providing
auditory feedback on the accuracy of their word reading attempts (Ehri, 1994; Walker, 2005). Reading aloud provides
less fluent readers with more opportunities to learn about words and assists those more fluent to read with prosody
(National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000).
(NSW Department of Education and Training: Materials developed and compiled as part of the Focus on Reading 3-6 Program 2010)
21
5. Sounding out, analogising to known sight words, or contextual guessing.
Ehri (1994) described four ways children read words. When skills are fluent or words are familiar, (1) reading by sight is
possible. Words frequently encountered (e.g., car) are eventually recognised as whole units that activate sounds and
meanings from memory. This is automatic word reading. The remaining three are compensatory: back-ups when
automatic word reading fails. (2) Phonological recoding (sounding out) is using the rules of phonics to match a letter
string to a spoken word in memory. (3) Analogising to known sight words occurs when readers look at a word’s spelling
and bring to mind similarly spelt words to cue its meaning. (4) Contextual guessing is using surrounding text to infer a
word’s meaning.
6. Jump over.
Another way of dealing with word reading confusion can be added to the three mentioned previously. If readers
conclude that an unfamiliar word or other confusion involves a minor detail, or that resolving it will take too much time,
they can jump over it. For example, if the meaning of an unfamiliar word seems tangential to understanding the overall
text, choosing to overlook it makes sense. Older readers know that spending too much time resolving such confusion
can cause them to forget important information previously read, making it harder to form connections (Walczyk et al.,
2006). Of course, jumping over too often will lower comprehension.
7. Reread text.
Rereading is compensatory when it resolves confusion noted on an earlier pass through a text but is more disruptive of
reading than the preceding compensations. As a consequence, skilled readers will employ it only after other
compensations have not prevented or resolved confusion. Walczyk et al. (2004) defined it as the reprocessing of four or
more words. With each rereading, readers become more familiar with words, phrases, and their meanings and can focus
more attention on comprehension (Perfetti, 1985; Samuels & Flor, 1997). Rereading can resolve confusion due to poor
reading skills, as well as to choppy, verbose or abstract text (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995; Walczyk & Taylor, 1996;
Walczyk et al., 2001, 2004). Other compensations exist (e.g., using a dictionary) but are beyond the scope of this article.
(NSW Department of Education and Training: Materials developed and compiled as part of the Focus on Reading 3-6 Program 2010)
22
Learners create a mental image from a text read / viewed / heard. Visualising brings the text to life, engages the
imagination and uses all of the senses.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
Example Questions / Statements:
-What are the pictures I / you have in my / your head as I / you read / view / listen to this text?
-Can I / you describe the picture or image you made while you heard / read that part?
-How did the pictures in my / your head help me / you to understand the text?
Sample Teaching Ideas:
1. Sketch to Stretch:
As a passage / story is read, students sketch their visualisation. In groups they share their sketches and discuss reasons
for their interpretation.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
2. Graphic Organisers / Visual Organisers:
Introduce the Graphic Organiser to the students. Demonstrate how it works by reading a piece of text and noting key
concepts and ideas on the organiser. Have groups of students practice using the Graphic organisers with ideas from an
independently read text. Share ideas with the class. Choose organisers that match text structures and thinking
processes. Examples include Venn Diagrams, Webs and Story Maps. Graphic organisers and visual organisers provide a
visual model of the structure of text. They provide a format for organising information and concepts.
Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 (Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
23
Learners identify and accumulate the most important ideas and restate them in their own words.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
Example Questions / Statements:
-What things will help me / you summarise this text – list, mind map, note-taking, annotations etc?
-What are the main ideas and significant details from the reading / viewing / listening?
-If you were to tell another person about the text read / viewed / heard in a few sentences, what would you tell them?
-What is the main theme? How is it connected to the world beyond the text?
-In what significant ways does this text relate to / elaborate on the topic that you have been investigating?
-Can you create a metaphor for the text that you have read?
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
Sample Teaching Ideas:
1. Key Words:
Students highlight words they believe are key to understanding the passage. These words are written on sticky notes
and placed on the page. After reading, the students close the book and arrange the key words in an order that supports
a cohesive summary.
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
2. Partner Retelling:
After reading a story to the students, explain that they will be working on retelling the story. It is helpful to identify the
key points for the reading (e.g. most important events, elements of story structure and so on). Divide the class in half so
that there is a storyteller group and a listening group. The storytellers work in teams to reread the selection and remind
each other of the focus points for this retell. The listeners also reread and reflect on what they agree to be the most
important retell elements of this story. The students are then matched with partners, a story-teller and a listener. While
the teller talks, the listener records the elements of the story that are provided without assistance. When the story-
teller is finished, it is the job of the listener to give clues about any remaining items that have not been checked off the
list.
(Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009)
24
Partner Retelling Checklist
Name of Partner: _____________________________ Name of Listener: _____________________________
Book: __________________________________________________
Date: _____________________________

Draw a circle around one thing your partner did very well today.

Place a tick next to one area that your partner could improve in and tell your partner why.
The Main Idea
The Characters
The Stetting
The Most Important Events
The Problem
The Solution
Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
25
Partner Retelling
Partner Retelling Activity for (story name): ________________________
Storyteller (name of student): __________________________________
Listener (name of student): ____________________________________
Focus Points
(Most important events, problem /
solution, characters, setting)
Retold
Without Help
Clues Given
26
Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
Vocabulary
 What is vocabulary? A shared definition:
Partner definition:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
 What teaching strategies do you use to enhance your students’ vocabulary knowledge?
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
27
Vocabulary
Vocabulary knowledge involves understanding the meaning of spoken and written words and using words to
create and understand oral and written texts.
(NSW Department of Education and Training Literacy Continuum)
Research on vocabulary instruction reveals that while most vocabulary is learned indirectly through everyday
experiences with oral and written language, some vocabulary must be taught explicitly.
(NSW Department of Education and Training 2010)
Vocabulary refers to the set of words known, understood or used by a learner. Vocabulary contributes to
comprehension, fluency, reading achievement and effective oral and written communication with others. A
broad word knowledge enables students to communicate in ways that are precise, powerful, persuasive and
interesting because words are tools for analysing, inferring, evaluating and reasoning.
(Vacca et al. 2005)
Vocabulary can be seen as falling into three tiers:
1. High frequency words that do not need to be taught (except for non-English speaking learners).
2. Less common labels for common concepts – the availability of words that are deemed more mature or
sophisticated such as ‘blissful’ instead of ‘happy’ and ‘whispered’ instead of ‘said’.
3. Less common words specific to particular content domains.
(Beck, McKeown and Kucan 2002)
While traditional vocabulary instruction has involved students looking up words in dictionaries, writing
definitions and using the words in sentences, students acquire vocabulary best when it is used in meaningful,
authentic contexts and when it connects with their experience and knowledge.
(Basurto 2004)
Vocabulary development is both an outcome of comprehension and a precursor to it, with word meanings
making up as much as 70%-80% of comprehension. (Nagy&Scott and Pressley 2000)
When it comes to assessing vocabulary, there is much contention about whether or not vocabulary can exist
as an isolated entity or only as an embedded construct contributing to text comprehension. Isolated word
tests fail to substantiate the basis on which words were selected and why.
(NSW Department of Education and Training 2010)
28
Vocabulary: Knowing How Words Work
Comprehension can be used as a teaching and learning tool to enhance language and vocabulary development.
‘Knowing how words work’ is a comprehension strategy that refers to understanding words through strategic
vocabulary development, including the use of graphophonic, syntactic, and semantic cueing systems to figure out
unknown words.
The graphophonic cueing system involves creating grapheme (written letter) – phoneme (sound) matches.
The syntactic cueing system deals with the structure of the language.
The semantic cueing system focuses on meaning. Readers use all three of these cueing systems, along with other
knowledge of words, to effectively engage with text.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
Sample Teaching Strategies:
1. Concept of Definition Map:
This strategy allows students to make connections with new words and topics and build personal meanings by
connecting the new information with prior knowledge. Students should engage in this strategy before reading.
The teacher or the students need to select a word to be explored and place the word in the centre of the map.
(Example City)
Students then determine a broad category that best describes the word and write it in the ‘What is it?’ section.
(Example Place)
Have students provide some words that describe the focus word in the ‘What is it like?’ section.
(Examples: noisy, crowded, fast-paced)
Have students provide some specific examples of the word in the ‘What are some examples?’ section.
(Example, Sydney, Melbourne)
Have students determine a comparison.
(Example a town or village)
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
29
CONCEPT OF DEFINITION MAP
What is it?
What is it like?
A comparison
30
What are some examples?
Adapted From Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002
CONCEPT OF DEFINITION MAP
What is it?
Place
What is it like?
Noisy
A comparison
Town
Village
Sydney
City
Melbourne
Crowded
Fast-Paced
Perth
What are some examples?
Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002
31
2. Context Clues:
This strategy allows students to use semantics and syntax to figure out unknown words, to use a variety of cueing
systems to make sense of text. Students should engage in this strategy during reading. The teacher must explain the
eight types of context clues and give examples of each.
Definition
Provides a definition that often connects the unknown word to a known word.
Example / Illustration
Provides an example or illustration to describe the word.
Compare / Contrast
Provides a comparison or contrast to the word.
Logic
Provides a connection (such as a simile) to the word.
Root words and Affixes
Provides meaningful roots and affixes that the reader uses to determine meaning.
Grammar
Provides syntactical cues that allow for reader interpretation.
Cause and Effect
Mood and Tone
Cause and effect example allows the reader to hypothesise meaning.
Description of mood related to the word allows readers to hypothesise meaning.
Using a read-aloud and Think-Aloud, demonstrate using one or more of the clues to figure out unknown words. If the
context does not provide enough information, demonstrate other strategies for figuring out the meaning of the word.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
3. Possible Sentences:
This strategy allows students to improve their understanding of text and key concepts presented in the text. Students
use vocabulary to make predictions about the content. Choose six to eight words from the text that may be difficult
and list them on the board. Choose another four to six words from the text that may be more familiar to students and
list them on the board. Then define the words, If possible, let the students do this by drawing on their background
knowledge. Students can then work individually or in groups to develop sentences using at least two of the words in
each sentence. All contributed sentences are written on the board. Students then read the text to confirm, modify or
extend the information on the board. After reading, revisit the original sentences and revise as needed. Add any new
information to the list. Use the revised list as the basis for creating summaries.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
4. Semantic Feature Analysis:
This strategy allows students to make predictions about attributes related to specific vocabulary words or concepts. It
also encourages students to set a purpose for reading or researching (to confirm predictions). Students engage in this
strategy prior to reading. The teacher selects a topic and some words or categories that relate to the topic. These
words are listed in the left-hand column of the Semantic Feature Analysis Chart. The teacher chooses characteristics
that relate to one or more of the related words. These are listed across the top row of the chart. Students make
predictions about which characteristics apply to each word by placing a + if it is a characteristic, a - if it is not and a ? if
they are not sure. Discuss students’ predictions and have them explain why they chose these characteristics. Have
students read about the topic and modify their charts as necessary. Students should then share their completed charts
in small groups and then discuss as a class.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
32
Semantic Feature Analysis
Key:  = Yes
Categories
 = No
 = I don’t know
Characteristics
Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
33
Semantic Feature Analysis
Name (s): _________________________________
Key:  = Yes
 = No
 = I don’t know
Categories
Characteristics
Hair / Fur
Lay Eggs
WarmBlooded
Care For
Young
Live In
Water
Fish
Birds
Mammals
Amphibians
Adapted From Revisit Reflect Retell Time – Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Linda Hoyt 2009
34
Breathe
Air
Further Instructional Routines
1. Reciprocal Teaching
Reciprocal Teaching is a strategy-based technique that involves discussion of a text based on four comprehension
strategies: predicting, questioning, monitoring and summarising. The students, as well as the teacher, take on the
role of “teacher” in leading the discussion about the text.
Reciprocal Teaching has three purposes: It helps students participate in a group effort to bring meaning to a text. It
teaches students that the reading process requires the continual use of strategies for effective comprehension and
provides students with the opportunity to monitor their own learning and thinking.
A Suggested Procedure for Reciprocal Teaching:
The procedure and each of the four reading comprehension strategies must be explicitly outlined and modelled to
students. The teacher must model thinking related to each of the four strategies using an authentic text and thinking
aloud. With the whole class, guide students to engage in similar types of thinking by providing responses for each of
the strategies.
Sentence stems, such as the following, facilitate this:
Predicting
I think...
I bet...
I wonder...
I imagine...
I suppose...
Questioning
What connections can I make?
How does this support my thinking?
How is the text making me feel? Why is that?
Monitoring
Is this making sense?
What have I learned?
Do I need to reread?
Summarising
The important ideas in what I read are...
Students are then placed into groups of four and each group is provided with copies of the same text (along with
instruction) to use as a basis for reciprocal teaching. Students then engage in Reciprocal Teaching using the process
that was modelled. Students then reflect on the process and their comprehension of the text. Students should be
provided with opportunities to engage in Reciprocal Teaching as an independent comprehension routine.
Assessing Reciprocal Teaching:
We can assess students in Reciprocal Teaching groups by observing their conversations and documenting their ability
to successfully execute the strategies. Students may use a form to self-reflect on their contributions or they may
keep notes of the ideas that they contributed in a Guided Comprehension Journal.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
35
Reciprocal Teaching Self-Evaluation
Name: ____________________________ Date: ____________________________
Text: ______________________________________________________________
1. How would you rate your participation in the discussion?
just right
too much
too little
I didn’t say anything
2. What did you figure out about the text from Reciprocal Teaching? What new insights did you
gain?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What is the main message or theme of your text? What makes you think this?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. How would you rate your group’s discussion?
interesting
average
boring
helpful
not helpful
5. How helpful was today’s discussion?
very helpful
6. What worked well today and what will you improve next time?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Adapted From Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
36
Reciprocal Teaching Observation
Tick the allocated area if the behaviour is observed
Tick or
Cross
Student is prepared for Reciprocal Teaching
Student is focused on the group task
Student is actively engaged in Reciprocal Teaching
Student successfully engages in prediction
Student successfully generates meaningful questions
Student successfully clarifies meaning
Student successfully summarises text
Student uses strategy prompts
Student’s contributions demonstrate depth of understanding
Student respects ideas of other group members
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
37
Student’s self –evaluation indicates:
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
(Adapted From Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
38

Reciprocal Teaching / Activity:
-You will work in a group of four
-Please Read the following table of information and assemble your group ready for the activity
-You will not be required to record your monitoring (unless you would like to)
-Please complete your groups’ Reciprocal Teaching outline
-Please reflect on the activity as outlined on the reflection sheet
- (Today predicting and questioning can be completed in space on page 34 or on scrap paper)
Predicting:
Before the group reads the text, each member participates in a brainstorming
session; writing down predictions (in Guided Comprehension Journals or even
on a piece of scrap paper).
(Teachers may go so far as to outline exactly how many predictions each
student must contribute.)
Predictions should then be contributed and discussed by group members
before being recorded in the appropriate position on the Group Reciprocal
Teaching Outline.
(The prompts in the adjoining column may be used if group members become
‘stuck’.)
-I think...
Questioning:
As each member reads independently, they record questions that they may
have along the way (in Guided Comprehension Journals or even on a piece of
scrap paper).
Participants may choose to answer their own question if they are able to find
an answer within the text, or they may choose to ask the group members for
their input at the conclusion of the reading.
At the conclusion of the reading all group members will contribute questions
(and sometimes answers) and the group will discuss possible answers to the
questions.
(At first, the teacher may outline the exact number of questions required from
each group member) ONE FOR PARTICIPANTS TODAY
The group records the contributed questions and answers in the appropriate
position on the Group Reciprocal Teaching Outline.
(The prompts in the adjoining column may be used if group members become
‘stuck’.)
Group members may also discuss whether the questions that they have
developed are ‘surface’ or ‘deep’ questions.
-What connections can I make?
Monitoring:
The teacher may choose to put ‘stop’ points throughout a text (or designate
stop points at each page, chapter etc) where group members are required to
stop and ask themselves the questions in the adjoining column.
The teacher may ask group members to record their ‘monitoring’ notes in a
Guided Comprehension Journal, depending on the students’ stage of
development and familiarity with comprehension strategies and reciprocal
teaching. THIS WOULD BE AFTER EACH PARAGRAPH TODAY (IF YOU CHOOSE
TO MONITOR)
Summarising:
At the conclusion of the reading, all group members must work together to
list the important ideas in the text. This summary is to be recorded on the
Group Reciprocal Teaching Outline.
-Is this making sense?
-I bet...
-I wonder...
-I imagine...
-I suppose...
-How does this support my thinking?
-How is the text making me feel? Why is
that?
-When I read the text, did it remind me of
anything I know about?
-Why did it remind me of that?
-What did the composer of the text mean
by...?
-Whose point of view is this?
-What points of view are missing?
-What have I learned?
-Do I need to reread?
-The important ideas in what I read are...
(Adapted From Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
39
GROUP OUTLINE: RECIPROCAL TEACHING
Names of Group Members: _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
PREDICTIONS:
QUESTIONS:
SUMMARY:
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
INDIVIDUAL MONITORING SHEET: (Example)
Read to the end of each (teacher or student to circle one option) chapter / page / paragraph and answer the
questions:
Chapter / Page / Paragraph One (teacher or student to circle one option):
a) Is this making sense? ____________________________________
b) What have I learned?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
c) Do I need to reread?
(It is OK to re-read)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter / Page / Paragraph Two (teacher or student to circle one option):
a) Is this making sense? ____________________________________
b) What have I learned?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
c) Do I need to reread?
(It is OK to re-read)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
41
Some guidelines for vocabulary instruction
RECIPROCAL TEACHING ACTIVITY TEXT
Graves, 2006 Extract DET Focus on Reading Program
The following set of guidelines came from the thinking of many vocabulary authorities, including Herman and Dole
(1998); Stahl (1998), Beck and her colleagues (2002), Biemiller (2004), Nagy (2005), and Graves (2006).
Graves states that these guidelines are not absolute and should be followed only when deemed appropriate. Moreover,
they virtually always come at the cost of time, a factor that Graves takes into account.
1. Include both definitional and contextual information.
That is, give students both a definition of the words being taught and have them work with the words in context.
2. Involve students in active and deep processing of the words.
Engage students in activities that lead them to consider the words’ meaning, relate that meaning to information stored
in memory and work with the word in creative ways. Such activities might include putting the definition of a word into
their own words, giving examples of situations in which the word can and cannot be used, examining ways in which the
word relates to them personally and recognising similarities and differences between the new word and words they
already know.
3. Provide students with multiple exposures to the word.
For example, define the word, use it in a sentence, ask students to use it in a sentence, involve students in recognising
appropriate and not-so-appropriate uses of the word, and play games involving the word.
4. Review, Rehearse and remind students about the word in various contexts over time.
Teach a word before students read a selection and ask them to note its occurrence when reading the text. After
students read, discuss the word and the context in which it occurred. Then, throughout the weeks and months following
initial instruction, look out for and point out other occurrences, and occasionally have a brief review of some of the
words taught.
5. Involve students in discussions of the word’s meaning.
Discussion is one method of actively processing word meanings, giving students the opportunity to hear and use the
word in a variety of contexts and enabling students to learn from each other.
6. Spend a significant amount of time on the word.
During this time, involve students in actively grappling with the words ‘meaning. With words as with learning in general,
time on task is crucial. The more time spent on a word, the better the chance that students will build rich and deep
meanings for the word.
Graves reminds us that these are sound guidelines, but that each of them should be prefaced with the phrase, “for the
strongest possible results”. There is a definite cost of teaching in order to achieve the strongest possible results. Doing
so takes time. Because there are many more words than can possibly be taught and because you have many things to
do other than teach words, teachers’ time is definitely limited. Often, it will be necessary to teach words in ways that do
not consume large amounts of time and do not produce the strongest possible results. In these cases, think of your
initial instruction on a word as just that – initial instruction, an initial experience that starts students on the long road to
learning a full and rich meaning of the word.
(Graves, M.F The vocabulary book: Learning and instruction, 2006, The International Reading Association, Newark.)
42
RECIPROCAL TEACHING REFLECTION
1. How do Reciprocal Teaching activities support students to develop their ability to apply
the ‘Super Six’ Comprehension Strategies?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2. How do Reciprocal Teaching activities serve to improve students’ knowledge of and
ability to use metacognitive comprehension strategies?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
3. What difficulties could be anticipated when trying to establish Reciprocal Teaching
routines within the classroom setting?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
4. How could these difficulties be overcome?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
43
2. Literature Circles:

Video Footage
Groups of students can share insights, questions and interpretations of texts in Literature Circles. The basic goal of
using Literature Circles is to help students converse about texts in meaningful, personal and thoughtful ways
(Brabham & Villaume, 2000)
To facilitate students’ use of literature circles, we need to explicitly teach the concept and engage in active
demonstration. There are several ways to structure and manage Literature Circles. There is no ‘right’ way, but rather
choices must be made to accommodate the needs of the students in a class. Teachers may choose to begin by
formulating groups based on students’ book choices or by assigning a text to a group of students. Some teachers
prefer to use assigned roles and responsibilities as a way to guide the conversations such as those outlined in the
table below.
Discussion Director
Takes on leadership of the group and guides the discussion. Responsibilities include
choosing topics for discussion, generating questions, convening the meeting and
facilitating contributions from all members.
Literary Luminary /
Passage Master
Helps students revisit the text. Responsibilities include selecting memorable or
important sections of the text and reading them aloud expressively.
Connector
Guides the students to make connections with the text. Responsibilities include
sharing text-self, text-text, and text-world connections and encouraging others to do
the same.
Illustrator / Artful
Artist
Creates a drawing or other symbolic response to text. Responsibilities include making
the visual response and using it to encourage others to contribute to the
conversation.
(If further roles are required Researcher, Summariser, Character Captain, Word Master / Vocabulary ‘Enricher’, Travel Tracer
/ Scene Setter may be used)
Gilles (1998) has identified four types of talk that often occur during literature circles.
Talk about the book
Talk about connections
Talk about the reading process
Talk about group processes and social issues
Teachers can encourage all types of talk with demonstrations and gentle prompts during the Literature Circle
conversations.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
44
A Suggested Procedure for Literature Circles:
Firstly groups must be formed. Teachers may assign students texts at first, but over time groups would be formed
based on the text choices that students make. Initially the teacher may develop a schedule for groups to follow. This
would outline when the group was to meet and how much they should read etc. However, over time, groups would
take increased responsibility for developing their schedules. Once groups and schedules are established, students
read the predetermined section of text independently and take notes as they read. Students may keep their notes in
a Guided Comprehension Journal. The notes can reflect the students’ role in the Literature Circle or their personal
connections to the text. Roles within Literature Circles should vary from meeting to meeting. Students meet
according to the group schedule to discuss ideas about the text until the book is completed.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
Assessment in Literature Circles:
There are several ways to assess the students’ comprehension, contributions and cooperation within Literature
Circles. Options include self reflection, observation and response sheets or journal entries. The most important thing
to remember about Literature Circles is to use the assessment results. These should influence future instructional
decisions.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
45
Literature Circle Self-Evaluation
Name: ______________________________
Date: ______________________________
Text: ______________________________________________________________________________
1. How would you rate your participation in the discussion?
just right
too much
I didn’t say anything
too little
2. What did you do to prepare for the Literature Circle that was helpful?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What is something that you learned in your Literature Circle Group?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. How would you rate your group’s discussion?
interesting
average
boring
helpful
not helpful
5. How helpful was today’s discussion?
very helpful
6. What worked well today and what will you improve next time?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Adapted From Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
Literature Circle Observation
Tick the allocated area if the behaviour is observed
Tick or
Cross
Student is prepared for the Literature Circle
Student is focused on the group task
Student engages in discussion
Talk focuses on the content of the book
Talk focuses on the reading strategies
Talk focuses on personal connections
Talk focuses on the group process
Student is competent in his or her discussion role
Student’s contributions demonstrate depth of understanding
Student respects ideas of other group members
(Adapted From Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
47
Student’s self –evaluation indicates:
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
(Adapted From Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
48
Explicit Instruction
Select a text
Texts can range from easy to challenging. The criteria for text selection should focus on text usefulness for teaching a
particular strategy or set of strategies, student interests and connections to literacy themes. If the text is challenging
use ‘read-aloud’ when modelling.
Explain the strategy
Focus on the two questions:
What is it?
Why is it helpful / necessary for comprehension?
Provide examples to assist this explanation and wherever possible make connections to students’ background
knowledge and prior learning.
Model the strategy
Read a section of the text aloud and use a Think Aloud and a visual (symbol, chart, etc) to share ideas with students.
NB: Think Aloud involves orally explaining precisely what is triggering thoughts and how it is affecting understanding.
Explain thinking so that students have a clear idea of the cognitively active process readers experience. If a strategy
requires a written or sketched response, model that during this step.
Guided support
Read the next section of the text aloud and ask students to work with a partner to apply the new strategy.
Discuss the response from paired students and read aloud another section of the text.
Student practice
Monitor as students work independently within the whole group. Either continue reading sections of the text with
reduced teacher support or invite students to read independent texts on their own. Regardless, students
independently use the strategy. Differentiate instruction by providing scaffolding for those students who need more
support (through further modelling or guided support), and by releasing the task to those students who are ready to
use it. The goal is to ensure that students know the strategy and the process for using it. Ultimately students develop
a range of strategies that they can use as needed when they are reading on their own.
Reflect
Ask students to reflect on how using the strategy helped them to understand the text. Invite them to share their
reflections in small groups or with the whole class. (Students may record their reflections in a Guided
Comprehension Journal.) Discuss how they can use the strategy when they are reading on their own.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Comprehension Strategies Booklet 2010)
49
STAGE ONE: EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION PLANNER:
Select a text: Texts can range from easy to challenging. The criteria for text selection should focus on text usefulness for teaching a particular
strategy or set of strategies, student interests and connections to literacy themes. If the text is challenging use ‘read-aloud’ when modelling.
TEXT SELECTION:
Explain the strategy: Provide examples to assist this explanation and wherever possible make connections to students’ background knowledge
and prior learning.
STRATEGY:
Focus on the two questions:
-What is it?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
-Why is it helpful / necessary for comprehension?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Model the strategy: Read a section of the text aloud and use a Think Aloud and a visual (symbol, poster, chart, etc) to
share ideas with students.
MODEL ACTIVIT IES: (Show students how they will be expected to apply the strategy in pairs and independently):
VISUAL:
Guided support:
a) Read the next section of the text aloud and ask students to work with a partner to apply the new strategy in pairs.
b) Discuss the response from paired students and read aloud another section of the text.
Independent practice:
Monitor as students work independently within the whole group. Either continue reading sections of the text with
reduced teacher support or invite students to read independent texts on their own.
Reflection:
Ask students to reflect on how using the strategy helped them to understand the text. Invite them to share their
reflections in small groups or with the whole class. (Students may record their reflections in a Guided Comprehension
Journal.) Discuss how they can use the strategy when they are reading on their own.
NOTES:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Adapted From Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
50
A Suggested Model:
In the classroom, a three-phase model provides a context within which students can learn comprehension strategies
using multiple levels and types of text. However, prior to engaging in the model, students will require explicit
instruction of comprehension strategies. A process for explicit instruction is outlined below.
-This three-phase model may follow a ‘strategy of the day’ or a ‘strategy of the week’ formula:
Teacher Directed:
Whole Group Instruction – Explicit Instruction using texts at a variety of levels.
At this stage of the model, the teacher follows the steps for explicit instruction outlined above.
DERIVE ACTIVITIES FROM ‘SAMPLE TEACHING IDEAS’.
PHASE ONE
Student Facilitated:
ACTIVITIES
DERIVE ACTIVITIES FROM
‘SAMPLE TEACHING IDEAS’
Students complete a variety of
activities where they can apply
their knowledge of the ‘super six’
comprehension strategies with
texts at an independent level.
Students may work in pairs,
groups or independently
depending on the activity. For
Example, If the strategy of the
day was, ‘Predicting’ then
students may work
independently on the suggested
teaching ideas such as “Partner
Read and Think” or “Predict O
Gram”.
Students may complete more
than one activity, but will need to
reflect on each activity (perhaps
via a Guided Comprehension
Journal) that they complete. This
will allow them to participate in
the next phase of the model.
Teacher Facilitated:
GUIDED COMPREHENSION
The teacher works with a small group of
four to six students. Students develop and
apply their knowledge of the ‘super six’
comprehension strategies.
At this stage the teacher should review
previously taught strategies and focus on
the strategy of the day or week. The
teacher would then guide the students to
apply the strategy (through similar
activities that other students are working
on independently. This will further equip
students to engage with these tasks
independently) as well as previously
taught strategies. Students should then
practice applying the strategy. They
should record their applications (perhaps
in a Guided Comprehension Journal) and
share them during reflection. The teacher
should the encourage students to reflect
and extend by having them talk about the
ways in which the strategy helped them to
understand the text. Students then
discuss the ways that this strategy could
help them when participating in Literacy
Circles or Reciprocal Teaching.
Student Facilitated
MEETINGS
LITERATURE CIRCLES
RECIPROCAL TEACHING
Students apply their knowledge of the
‘super six’ comprehension strategies as
they participate in small group activities
such as Literature Circles and Reciprocal
Teaching. Students utilise texts that can
be read at an independent level.
PHASE TWO
PHASE TWO
PHASE TWO
Teacher Facilitated:
Whole-Group Reflection and Goal Setting Reflecting on performance, sharing experiences, and setting new goals.
PHASE THREE
Authentic assessment is to be used throughout all stages of the cycle.
(Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
51
Day: _________ Week: _________ Term: ________ Year: ________ Class: ________
Phase Two of the Guided Comprehension Model
Activities
Session One
Participants
Session Two
Participants
1. _________________
Strategy Focus:
____________________
2. _________________
Strategy Focus:
____________________
3. _________________
Strategy Focus:
____________________
4. _________________
Strategy Focus:
____________________
5. _________________
Strategy Focus:
____________________
(Adapted From Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
52
Meetings
Session One
Participants
Session Two
Participants
1. Literature Circles
Strategy Focus:
___________________
2. Reciprocal Teaching
Strategy Focus:
__________________
Teacher-Guided
Small Groups
Outcome: __________
Content:
Strategy Focus:
___________________
(Adapted From Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3-8 Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen 2002)
53
94
Text Selection
1. What factors might make a text challenging for readers?
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What needs to be considered when you choose texts to improve students’
comprehension?
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
54
What Might Make a Text Challenging For Readers?
1. Background Knowledge:
-Ask yourself whether or not students have had experience with this type of text before? Experienced readers have
a level of expectancy when they read based on the text type. If they have not encountered a particular type of text
before, then reading will become more difficult.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
-Think about whether or not students have knowledge of the particular topic? If they don’t then they may use their
topic knowledge incorrectly. For example, words such as tension, area, net and scale have a number of subjectspecific meanings.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
2. Vocabulary:
-Students will find it easier to read a text if they have an awareness of the more challenging words, be they
technical or subject-specific. This will ensure that they are not constantly stopping to use the dictionary or skipping
unknown words.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
3. Use of Abstractions:
-Abstract nouns are harder to visualise and require more thought than a concrete noun. Even when accompanied
by pictures, these are hard to read because they require a great deal of processing to make them accessible.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
4. Lexical Density:
-Are there more content words than grammatical items (such as conjunctions, prepositions, articles etc) in the
text? This contributes to lexical density, making the text tightly packed with information.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
5. Formatting and Layout Features:
-Have students been taught about the different layout features, such as headlines, sub-headings, text boxes,
captions, and formatting features, such as the use of italics, bolding, and different fonts on the same page? If not,
they may become confused when reading the text and not know which parts are related to other parts of the text.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
6. Concepts not Topics!
-When choosing texts consider what it is about the English subject the students will be learning rather than a
theme or a topic. Use the language of the ‘learning about’ outcomes as a ‘filter’. For example, ‘How will we be able
to discuss how writers relate to their readers in different ways (RS2.7) ...using this text?
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials)
-For Example: How does Roald Dahl shape his characters? Rather than Roald Dahl as an author study. Include the
full range of texts written by Roald Dahl, as well as film, poetry and perhaps snippets of appropriate adult fiction. As
Roald Dahl also uses stereotypes to engage students, these texts can also be compared with familiar fairy tales and
animated film.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
55
7. Graphics and other diagrammatic visuals:
-Graphics and other visual support may require reading in a different order or direction. Readers have to work out
if the visuals directly support the prose, add additional information, or provide alternative viewpoints of
information. Reading visual images can be a complex process, reading images also requires explicit and systematic
teaching.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
8. Photographs:
-Like other graphics, readers have to work out if the photographs directly support the prose, add additional
information, or give an alternative perspective. Readers then have to interpret the choices that have been made in
the selection of the photograph as well as where the photograph is sourced from. Readers will also be influenced
by whether the photo is a portrait-type image or a more action oriented shot.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
9. Unusual Features:
-Writers often use a range of features (both verbal and pictorial) to try to make the information more entertaining
for student readers. Sometimes these additional features actually make reading more difficult as students can misread features that they are unfamiliar with.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
56
Using Literary Texts in Your Classroom:
Enhancing Engagement and Motivation whilst Improving Comprehension
1. Start from an area of interest:
-Start with authors that students relate to or topics / contexts that are familiar and offer up a wide range
of texts (of varying levels of difficulty) from there.
-Use the ‘Books by Category’ search in the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge booklist to get started.
-Search out texts that connect in some way with the students’ backgrounds and heritage. Include these
texts incidentally or as part of their regular reading, rather than as focus units.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
2. Focus on widening literary reading:
-Read to students daily during lesson breaks / transitions.
-Encourage students to pick up texts that interest them. Provide opportunities where students are
expected only to read parts of the text and not the whole text.
-Encourage students to read with each other.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
3. Encourage multiple readings and layers of reading:
-Quality texts lend themselves to multiple readings as they can be interrogated in different ways.
-Connect texts with film adaptations, the author’s website and promotional materials as well as books
and other writings from the author. Students will find it easier to discuss a writer’s style when they can
make connections and comparisons.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
4. Work across contexts:
-Work with texts that are written in different eras or set in different contexts. Support students to make
connections between and among these texts and their lives.
-Choose texts that represent different cultures and ways of living in real and imagined worlds. Encourage
students to comment on author’s depictions of characters and the worlds they inhabit.
-Pepper a range of texts, including short stories, poetry, fables, and Dreaming stories throughout the
English teaching program rather than in discrete units such as a, ‘Poetry Unit’.
(NSW Department of Education and Training, Extract From ‘Focus on Reading’ Materials 2010)
57
Reflection
What have you learned / achieved thus far today?
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
What learning will you take and translate into your classroom practice?
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Where to from here?
-What are MY students’ needs?
-Addressing those needs by planning and delivering quality teaching and learning programs.
-Backward Design Programming linked to the Quality Teaching Framework
58
Gap Analysis: Work Samples Teacher Observations
Analyse student work samples using professional judgement then against additional criteria as required.
59

How effective are our students at comprehending a variety of texts?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

What reading comprehension skills and strategies do our students possess?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

What reading comprehension skills and strategies do our students need to develop in order to become more
effective readers?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

Share findings and record common areas for development (skills and knowledge gap trends)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Gap Analysis: NAPLAN / Other Data
Compare the above findings to other sources of evidence including NAPLAN results; other identified data.

Taking all the evidence into consideration, what skills and knowledge about reading comprehension do we
therefore need to target in our teaching and learning program and assessment tasks?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Determine and record main areas for development (skills and knowledge gaps) for reading programming and
assessment.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Gap Analysis: Teacher Professional Learning

What professional learning support do we need in order to explicitly and systematically teach these aspects
of reading more effectively?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

What in-house and external personnel and resources can support us?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

What professional development do I need to address these areas?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

Record areas for Teacher Professional Learning focus. These areas will act as a guide in regards to your inschool support.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
60
Backward Design Programming
Students’ interests
Your subject knowledge
Faculty scope and sequence
Syllabus
Big ideas/enduring
understanding/key
concept/make choices
Topic/unit of work
Syllabus outcomes
and content – learn
to/learn about
Evidence of learning?
Learning experiences
Assessing for learning
Feedback to students
Nature and timing of assessment
Evaluation
Adapted by Michelle Ware – 7-10 Curriculum Consultant, South Western Sydney Region 2005 from Are the best
curriculum designs ‘backward’? Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins (online article
http://www.ubdexchange.org/resources/news-articles/backward.html)
Backward Design Programming
Stage 1. Identify Desired Results



What should students know, understand, and be able to do? (DK, DU, SC)
What is worthy of understanding? (DK)
What enduring understandings are desired? (DK)
In this first stage, we consider our goals, examine the outcomes and content of the syllabus,
and review other syllabus requirements or needs of the students e.g. specific literacy and
numeracy issues. Given that there is sometimes more content than can reasonably be
addressed, we need to make choices. A useful framework for establishing curricular priorities
can be depicted using the three nested rings shown below.
Establishing Curriculum Priorities
In the largest ring, we can outline all of the things that are elements of the topic are, and that students
will need to have a broad knowledge of to provide a context for deeper knowledge and understanding.
In the middle ring, we sharpen our choices by specifying important knowledge (facts, concepts,
and principles) and skills (processes, strategies, and methods). We would say that student
learning is incomplete if the unit or course concluded without mastery of these essentials. The
middle ring specifies the prerequisite knowledge and skills needed by students for them to
successfully accomplish key performances.
The smallest ring represents finer-grain choices—selecting the "enduring" understandings that
will anchor the unit or course. The term enduring refers to the big ideas, the important
understandings, that we want students to "get inside of" and retain after they've forgotten many
of the details. (DK)
Stage 2. Determine Acceptable Evidence


How will we know if students have achieved the desired results and met the syllabus standards?
(DU, EQC)
What will we accept as evidence of student understanding and proficiency? (DU, EQC)
The backward design approach encourages us to think about a unit or course in terms of the
collected assessment evidence needed to document and validate that the desired learning has
been achieved, so that the course is not just content to be covered or a series of learning
activities.
This backward approach encourages teachers to first think like an assessor before designing
specific units and lessons, and therefore to consider up front how they will determine whether
students have attained the desired understandings. When planning to collect evidence of
understanding, teachers should consider a range of assessment methods, depicted below.
Continuum of Assessment Methods
This continuum of assessment methods includes checks of understanding (such as oral
questions, observations, and informal dialogues); traditional quizzes, tests, and open-ended
prompts; and performance tasks and projects. They vary in scope (from simple to complex),
time frame (from short-term to long-term), setting (from decontextualised to authentic contexts),
and structure (from highly to non-structured). Because understanding develops as a result of
ongoing inquiry and rethinking (DK, PK, HOT, SK), the assessment of understanding should be
thought of in terms of a collection of evidence over time instead of an event—a single momentin-time test at the end of instruction—as so often happens in current practice.
Stage 3. Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction
With clearly identified results (enduring understandings - DK) and appropriate evidence of
understanding in mind DU, EQC), teachers can now plan instructional activities. Several key
questions must be considered at this stage of design:





What enabling knowledge (facts, concepts, and principles) and skills (procedures) will students
need to perform effectively and achieve desired results? (DK)
What activities will equip students with the required knowledge and skills? (DK, HOT, E)
What will need to be taught, and how should it best be taught, in light of performance goals?
What materials and resources are best suited to accomplish these goals?
Is the overall design coherent and effective?
Note that the teacher will address the specifics of instructional planning—choices about
teaching methods, sequence of lessons, and resource materials—after identifying the desired
results and assessments. Teaching is a means to an end. Having a clear goal helps us as
educators to focus our planning and guide purposeful action toward the intended results.
All schools and faculties will have ways of setting out their teaching and learning programs. It is
important to ensure that all aspects of learning experiences and instruction are carefully
planned and documented within the structure you have selected. This is important to ensure
that opportunities for assessment of student understanding are provided so teachers can gather
evidence of learning and achievement.
The focus of this Stage should be on engaging students (E) and promoting effective learning
experiences (PK, M, SC, KI, C, N). The W.H.E.R.E.T.O questions may assist in keeping you on task
when developing learning experiences that will allow you to gather acceptable evidence of student
progress.
W
Where are we headed? (DK, KI)
H
How will the student be ‘hooked’? (E)
E
What opportunities will there be to experience and explore key ideas? (DU, PK, SC)
R
What will provide opportunities to rethink, rehearse, refine and revise? (DU, HOT, SC)
E
How will students evaluate their work? (EQC, SD)
T
How will the work be tailored to individual needs, interests and styles? (C)
O
How will the work be organised for maximum engagement and effectiveness?
(DK, PK, E, KI, C, N)
The role of the teacher in quality programming
 Informs students of the big ideas and essential questions, performance requirements, and evaluative
criteria at the beginning of the unit. (DK, EQC)
 Hooks and holds students' interest while they examine and explore big ideas and essential questions.
(DK, E)
 Uses a variety of strategies to promote deeper understanding of subject matter. (DU)
 Facilitates students' active construction of meaning (rather than simply telling). (PK)
 Promotes opportunities for students to "unpack their thinking" -- to explain, interpret, apply, shift
perspective, empathise, or self-assess. (PK, SC, HOT)
 Uses questioning, probing, and feedback to stimulate student reflection and rethinking. (DU, PK)
 Teaches basic knowledge and skills in the context of big ideas and explores essential questions.
(DK)
 Uses information from ongoing assessments as feedback to adjust instruction.
 Uses information from ongoing assessments to check for student understanding and misconceptions
along the way. (DU)
 Uses a variety of resources (beyond the textbook) to promote understanding. (DU)
What does quality programming look like in the classroom environment?
 The big ideas and essential questions are central to the work of the students, the classroom activity,
and the norms and culture of the classroom. (DK, I)
 There are high expectations and incentives for all students to come to understand the big ideas and




answer the essential questions. (DK, HE)
All students and their ideas are treated with dignity and respect. (SS)
Big ideas, essential questions, and criteria or scoring rubrics are posted. (EQC)
Samples or models of student work are made visible. (EQC)
Exploration of big ideas and essential questions is differentiated, so some students are able to delve
more deeply into the subject matter than others. (DK, SD)
What does a quality program look like?
 Reflects a coherent design - big ideas and essential questions (DK) clearly guide the design of, and
are aligned with, assessments and teaching and learning activities.
 Makes clear distinctions between big ideas and essential questions (DK), and the knowledge and
skills necessary for learning the ideas and answering the questions (DU).
 Uses multiple forms of assessment to let students demonstrate their understanding in various ways.
(SD)
 Anchors assessment of understanding with authentic performance tasks calling for students to
demonstrate their understanding and apply knowledge and skills. (DU)
 Uses clear criteria and performance standards for teacher, peer, and self-evaluations of student
products and performances. (EQC)
 Enables students to revisit and rethink important ideas to deepen their understanding. (DU)
 Incorporates a variety of resources. The textbook is only one resource among many!
 Meets the requirements of the syllabus and has a clear focus on the stage outcomes that have been
targeted. (DK)
How do learners interact with quality programs?
 Can describe the goals (big ideas and essential questions) and performance requirements of the unit.
(DU)
 Can explain what they are doing and why (i.e., how today's work relates to the larger unit or course
goals). (DU, KI, C)
 Are hooked at the beginning and remain engaged throughout the unit. (E)
 Can describe the criteria by which their work will be evaluated. (EQC)
 Are engaged in activities that help them to learn the big ideas and answer the essential questions.
(HOT)
 Are engaged in activities that promote explanation, interpretation, application, perspective taking,
empathy, and self-assessment. (HOT, SS)
 Demonstrate that they are learning the background knowledge and skills that support the big ideas
and essential questions. (DU)
 Have opportunities to generate relevant questions. (PK)
 Are able to explain and justify their work and their answers. (DU, PK, SC)
 Are involved in self- or peer-assessment based on established criteria and performance standards.
(EQC)
 Use the criteria or rubrics to guide and revise their work. (EQC)
 Set relevant goals based on feedback. (SD)
Planning for programming by starting with assessment design
Subject:
Stage/Year:
Unit:
Unit duration:
Coordinating teacher(s):
Assessment due by:
We want students to know that:

<insert KLA big idea(s) here>
Links to Foundation/Stage Statements
K-6 teachers visit http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/k-6-curriculum/foundation-statements
What do we want our
students to learn? (Deep
knowledge element)
Must be guided by
syllabus content pages
(not indicators) and
foundation/ stage
statements.
7-10 teachers locate Stage Statements towards the back of your syllabus document.
This learning matters because:

<insert KLA and ‘real world’ justification(s) of big ideas here>
Why does this learning
matter? (Significance
dimension)
Are there clear links to
prior and future learning
and real world
application?
Jennifer York and Tracy Considine ♦ South Western Sydney Region 2008
67
Assessment task outline
Insert task(s) that address the core concepts / key ideas as identified in the first section.
How will students
demonstrate their deep
understanding?
Design task(s) with
authentic purpose,
audience and
communication tools.
Is student direction
(content, process or
product) suitable to the
task?
Is there opportunity for
students to demonstrate
learning at an ‘A’ level?
Key <insert syllabus> outcomes for assessment

No more than 2 or 3 syllabus outcomes and they must be aligned to above content.
Assessment criteria
Your team will be judged according to the following criteria:
 <insert indicator(s) from syllabus or develop your own criteria aligned with outcome>
You will also be marked on the following criteria:

<insert indicator(s) from syllabus or develop your own criteria aligned with outcome>
Jennifer York and Tracy Considine ♦ South Western Sydney Region 2008
68
How well do we expect
students to do it?
How will this information
be communicated to all
students and parents?
MARKING GUIDELINES:
Outcome
Criteria
→
↓
Marking guidelines
Level
<use adjective such as extensive>
Excellent
<use adjective such as thorough>
Good
<use adjective such as sound>
Good
<use adjective such as basic>
Unsatisfactory
<use adjective such as extensive>
Outstanding
<use adjective such as thorough>
Excellent
<use adjective such as sound>
Good
<use adjective such as basic>
Unsatisfactory
<use adjective such as extensive>
Outstanding
<use adjective such as thorough>
Excellent
<use adjective such as sound>
Good
<use adjective such as basic>
Unsatisfactory
Jennifer York and Tracy Considine ♦ South Western Sydney Region 2008
69
Teacher’s additional
comments
Summary of core components
Map the core knowledge and skills we need to teach the students in order for them to successfully engage in the planned assessment.
In doing so, have we identified the syllabus content (NOT INDICATORS) we will be teaching in order to meet the assessment outcomes?
Component 1
Component 2
Component 3
Component 4
Component 5
Component 6
Component 7
Component 8
Component 9
Jennifer York and Tracy Considine ♦ South Western Sydney Region 2008
70
Planning for programming by starting with assessment design
Subject: English
Stage/Year: Stage Three
Unit: Comprehension
Unit duration: Term One
Coordinating teacher(s): Stage Three Team
Assessment due by: Week Eight
We want students to know:

Effective readers draw on a range of strategies (simultaneously) to
read, critically analyse and respond to themes and issues within a
range of texts that feature increasing levels of technicality and
abstraction.
Links to Foundation/Stage Statements
http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/k-6-curriculum/foundation-statements

Must be guided by syllabus
content pages (not
indicators) and foundation/
stage statements.
Students independently read and view an extensive range of complex
texts and visual images using a comprehensive range of skills and
strategies. They respond to themes and issues within texts, recognise
point of view and justify interpretations by referring to their own
knowledge and experience. Students identify, critically analyse and
respond to techniques used by writers to influence readers through
language and grammar. They identify text structure of a range of
complex texts and explore how grammatical features work to
influence an audience’s understanding of written, visual and
multimedia texts.
This learning matters because:

What do we want our
students to learn? (Deep
knowledge element)
Students must be equipped with the strategies necessary to
effectively ‘transact’ with texts if they are to engage with content
across all key learning areas over the course of their formal education
and beyond.
Why does this learning
matter? (Significance
dimension)
Are there clear links to
prior and future learning
and real world application?
Jennifer York and Tracy Considine ♦ South Western Sydney Region 2008
71
Assessment task outline
Insert task(s) that address the core concepts / key ideas as identified in the first section.
How will students
demonstrate their deep
understanding?
-Reciprocal Teaching – Observations and Self Evaluation
-Literature Circles – Observations and Self Evaluation
-Small Guided Reading Groups – Observations
Design task(s) with authentic
purpose, audience and
communication tools.
-Guided Comprehension Journals
- Strategy - See Checklist (Rubric)
Is student direction (content,
process or product) suitable
to the task?
Is there opportunity for
students to demonstrate
learning at an ‘A’ level?
Key <insert syllabus> outcomes for assessment
RS3.5 Reads independently an extensive range of texts with increasing
content demands and responds to themes and issues.
RS3.7 Critically analyses techniques used by writers to create certain effects,
to use language creatively, to position the reader in various ways and to
construct different interpretations of experience.
Assessment criteria
Your team will be judged according to the following criteria:
 <insert indicator(s) from syllabus or develop your own criteria aligned with outcome>
You will also be marked on the following criteria:

<insert indicator(s) from syllabus or develop your own criteria aligned with outcome>
Jennifer York and Tracy Considine ♦ South Western Sydney Region 2008
72
How well do we expect
students to do it?
How will this information
be communicated to all
students and parents?
Questions
that underpin
NSW QT
Model of
Pedagogy
What do we
want the
students to
learn?
QT element
Deep knowledge
73
Identify and map key concepts to be addressed and
their relationships.
Guiding questions
From GAT Unit, Curriculum K-12, 2007


Level 5 coding criteria
From QT Phase 3:
An Assessment Practice Guide
Does the task focus on core
concepts and key ideas central to
the subject or KLA?
Does the task meet syllabus
requirements including aims,
objectives, foundation statements,
stage outcomes and content?
Does the task provide opportunities
for students to address multiple
perspectives or solutions?
Are students required to make a
judgement about the
appropriateness of an interpretation
in a given context?
The task requires sustained focus on
key concepts and ideas and requires
clear articulation of the relationships
between and among concepts.
Help students ask where knowledge comes from and
how we know. Encourage students to address
multiple perspectives and solutions to recognise that
knowledge has been constructed and therefore is
open to question

Connectedness
Connect school learning to something outside the
school. How will this learning be useful or valuable
to students in the future? Lessons rely on the
application of knowledge in real-life contexts or
problems. Provide opportunities to share work with
real audiences beyond the school.

Does the learning connect to the
student’s world outside of the
classroom and the school?
The task requires students to recognise
and explore connections between
classroom knowledge and situations
outside the classroom in ways that
create personal meaning and highlight
the significance of the knowledge. The
task requires students to engage with
and/or influence an audience beyond the
classroom.
Background
knowledge
Find out and draw on what students know. Make
connections to students’ past including aspects of
their personal lives.

Does the learning link to prior
learning?
Does it form a basis for future
learning?
Students’ background knowledge is
substantially incorporated into the task,
and meaningful connection to out-ofschool knowledge is integral to the task.
Problematic
knowledge
Why does
this learning
matter?
Definition
From Jenny Gore, 2004


The task requires knowledge to be
treated as socially constructed, with
multiple and/or conflicting interpretations
presented and explored to the extent
that a judgement is made about the
appropriateness of an interpretation in a
given context.
Questions
that underpin
NSW QT
Model of
Pedagogy
How will they
demonstrate
their
learning?
How well do
we expect
them to do it?
QT element
Guiding questions
From GAT Unit, Curriculum K-12, 2007
Help students ask where knowledge comes from and
how we know. Encourage students to address
multiple perspectives and solutions to recognise that
knowledge has been constructed and therefore is
open to question.

Substantive
communication
Engage students in sustained, substantive and
reciprocal conversations dealing with big ideas.
Encourage elaboration and richness.
Higher order
thinking
Explicit quality
criteria
Deep
understanding
High expectations
74
Definition
From Jenny Gore, 2004
Level 5 coding criteria
From QT Phase 3:
An Assessment Practice Guide
How will students demonstrate their
understanding of key ideas and core
concepts identified above?
How will students show they have
learnt the intended content?
The entire task requires students to
provide information, arguments or
reasoning that demonstrate deep
understanding.

Is the demonstration of
understanding sustained and
focused on key concepts?
The task requires students to produce
an elaborate, sustained and coherent
clarification of complex ideas, concepts
or arguments directly related to the
substance of the topic.
Help students organise, reorganise, apply, analyse,
synthesise and evaluate knowledge and information.

How will students apply/use this new
content?
Are students asked to analyse,
synthesise (creative) and evaluate
(critical)?
Throughout the task students are
required to demonstrate higher-order
thinking.
Provide clear statements or examples of what
constitutes quality of work.



Is the criteria for success made
explicit to the students? E.g. written
criteria, oral instructions, modeling,
ongoing and evaluative feedback.

Are opportunities and processes for
feedback to students evident? (key
aspect of ‘assessment for learning)
Expect more while supporting students’ efforts.

Is the standard made clear?

Are there high expectations for the
Encourage and reward conceptual risk-taking.
performance and/or product?

How will students know what a
quality product or presentation looks
like?

How will they know what an A grade
looks like?
Tracy Considine  Middle Years ICT Consultant  South Western Sydney Region
This guide comes from the work of Sally Hogan  NSW DET Curriculum K-12
Statements regarding the quality of work
are made explicit and it is clear how
these criteria will be used in assessing
students’ work.
The task presents serious challenges to
all students, and encourages them to
take risks in demonstrating their
learning.
Assessing Student Use of the ‘Super Six’ Strategies: Colour or make notes in the box that applies to the student’s achievement level for each strategy
Student Name: _____________________________ Date: _____________________________
Strategy:
A
B
C
D
Predicting
The student volunteers an example of how they have
effectively integrated this strategy with at least one other
strategy. The student describes how they utilised the
strategies simultaneously to enhance their understanding of
a text.
The student can articulate their reasoning for utilising these
particular strategies.
The student articulates this knowledge to another student or
to the teacher at any stage of the Guided Comprehension
Model (without being prompted by the teacher).
The student volunteers an example of how they have
effectively integrated this strategy with at least one other
strategy. The student describes how they utilised the
strategies simultaneously to enhance their understanding of
a text.
The student can articulate their reasoning for utilising these
particular strategies.
The student articulates this knowledge to another student or
to the teacher at any stage of the Guided Comprehension
Model (without being prompted by the teacher).
The student volunteers an example of how they have
effectively integrated this strategy with at least one other
strategy. The student describes how they utilised the
strategies simultaneously to enhance their understanding of
a text.
The student can articulate their reasoning for utilising these
particular strategies.
The student articulates this knowledge to another student or
to the teacher at any stage of the Guided Comprehension
Model (without being prompted by the teacher).
The student demonstrates a
comprehensive knowledge of this strategy.
The student describes how they utilised
the strategy to enhance their
understanding of a text.
The student gives reasons as to why the
strategy was chosen. The student may
offer this information voluntarily or be
prompted by the teacher.
The student demonstrates a sound
knowledge of the strategy and an ability
to utilise the strategy independently to
enhance their understanding of a text.
The student demonstrates an
awareness of this strategy.
The student can use this strategy
with limited success.
The student requires teacher
assistance to utilise this strategy in
order to enhance their
understanding of a text.
The student demonstrates a
comprehensive knowledge of this strategy.
The student describes how they utilised
the strategy to enhance their
understanding of a text.
The student gives reasons as to why the
strategy was chosen. The student may
offer this information voluntarily or be
prompted by the teacher.
The student demonstrates a sound
knowledge of the strategy and an ability
to utilise the strategy independently to
enhance their understanding of a text.
The student demonstrates an
awareness of this strategy.
The student can use this strategy
with limited success.
The student requires teacher
assistance to utilise this strategy in
order to enhance their
understanding of a text.
The student demonstrates a
comprehensive knowledge of this strategy.
The student describes how they utilised
the strategy to enhance their
understanding of a text.
The student gives reasons as to why the
strategy was chosen. The student may
offer this information voluntarily or be
prompted by the teacher.
The student demonstrates a sound
knowledge of the strategy and an ability
to utilise the strategy independently to
enhance their understanding of a text.
The student demonstrates an
awareness of this strategy.
The student can use this strategy
with limited success.
The student requires teacher
assistance to utilise this strategy in
order to enhance their
understanding of a text.
Questioning
Monitoring
Visualising
Making
Connections
Summarising
The student volunteers an example of how they have
effectively integrated this strategy with at least one other
strategy. The student describes how they utilised the
strategies simultaneously to enhance their understanding of
a text.
The student can articulate their reasoning for utilising these
particular strategies.
The student articulates this knowledge to another student or
to the teacher at any stage of the Guided Comprehension
Model (without being prompted by the teacher).
The student volunteers an example of how they have
effectively integrated this strategy with at least one other
strategy. The student describes how they utilised the
strategies simultaneously to enhance their understanding of
a text.
The student can articulate their reasoning for utilising these
particular strategies.
The student articulates this knowledge to another student or
to the teacher at any stage of the Guided Comprehension
Model (without being prompted by the teacher).
The student volunteers an example of how they have
effectively integrated this strategy with at least one other
strategy. The student describes how they utilised the
strategies simultaneously to enhance their understanding of
a text.
The student can articulate their reasoning for utilising these
particular strategies.
The student articulates this knowledge to another student or
to the teacher at any stage of the Guided Comprehension
Model (without being prompted by the teacher).
The student demonstrates a
comprehensive knowledge of this strategy.
The student describes how they utilised
the strategy to enhance their
understanding of a text.
The student gives reasons as to why the
strategy was chosen. The student may
offer this information voluntarily or be
prompted by the teacher.
The student demonstrates a sound
knowledge of the strategy and an ability
to utilise the strategy independently to
enhance their understanding of a text.
The student demonstrates an
awareness of this strategy.
The student can use this strategy
with limited success.
The student requires teacher
assistance to utilise this strategy in
order to enhance their
understanding of a text.
The student demonstrates a
comprehensive knowledge of this strategy.
The student describes how they utilised
the strategy to enhance their
understanding of a text.
The student gives reasons as to why the
strategy was chosen. The student may
offer this information voluntarily or be
prompted by the teacher.
The student demonstrates a sound
knowledge of the strategy and an ability
to utilise the strategy independently to
enhance their understanding of a text.
The student demonstrates an
awareness of this strategy.
The student can use this strategy
with limited success.
The student requires teacher
assistance to utilise this strategy in
order to enhance their
understanding of a text.
The student demonstrates a
comprehensive knowledge of this strategy.
The student describes how they utilised
the strategy to enhance their
understanding of a text.
The student gives reasons as to why the
strategy was chosen. The student may
offer this information voluntarily or be
prompted by the teacher.
The student demonstrates a sound
knowledge of the strategy and an ability
to utilise the strategy independently to
enhance their understanding of a text.
The student demonstrates an
awareness of this strategy.
The student can use this strategy
with limited success.
The student requires teacher
assistance to utilise this strategy in
order to enhance their
understanding of a text.
Notes:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
76
77
Content Overview Early Stage 2
‘Learning To’ Outcomes
Students will be provided with opportunities to:
Learning to Talk and Listen:
TS2.1 Talking and Listening
Communicate in informal and
formal classroom activities in school
and social situations for an
increasing range of purposes on a
variety of topics across the
curriculum.
TS2.2 Skills and Strategies
Interacts effectively in groups and
pairs, adopting a range of roles,
uses a variety of media and uses
various listening strategies for
different situations.
Teachers Will:
Learning About Talking and Listening:
-listen for enjoyment and information
- engage in activities that involve many structured speaking
situations, e.g. reporting, describing, recounting, explaining,
interviewing
-listen and respond to a range of texts, e.g. respond to poems and
stories, follow a series of instructions in order to complete a task,
listen critically to a spoken presentation from peers
-participate confidently in partner, small-group and whole-class
discussion
- speak to any audience drawn from the school or local community
on a range of topics related to the school curriculum, personal and
community interests
-listen for main idea and specific information
-perform, giving consideration to voice and gesture to enhance
meaning
-use tone of speech appropriate to the audience
-make constructive statements that agree/disagree with the issue
-use group discussion strategies, e.g. turn-taking, asking appropriate
questions, making constructive additions to others’ ideas
-use a range of skills to enhance spoken presentations, e.g. plan and
organise content of talk, use prompts, use body language and gesture
effectively
Learning To Read:
RS2.5 Reading and Viewing Texts
Reads independently a wide range
of texts on increasingly challenging
topics and justifies own
interpretation of ideas, information
and events.
RS2.6 Skills and Strategies
Uses efficiently an integrated range
of skills and strategies when reading
and interpreting written texts.
‘Learning About’ Outcomes
TS2.3 Context and Text
Identifies the effect of purpose and
audience on spoken texts and distinguishes
between different varieties of English.
TS2.4 Language Structures and Features
Identifies common organisational patterns
and some characteristic language features
of a few types of predictable spoken texts.
-make explicit the purpose of a range of spoken texts
-model how to structure spoken texts
-organise the students to deliver spoken descriptions, recounts
and procedures, identifying the main ideas or information to be
presented
-discuss with students how to adjust spoken language for
different audiences, e.g. compare telling the same story to a
friend or to the principal
-talk about and explain the difference between standard and
non-standard speech
-design activities to assist students to organise spoken texts,
e.g. the setting of a story and the beginning of an interview
introduce texts for listeners
-explain to students how language is used for different
purposes, e.g. to persuade an
audience
-design activities that assist students to use particular
grammatical patterns, e.g.
subject–verb and noun–pronoun agreement
-discuss how gesture, facial expression, vocal quality and
tone affect the meaning of a
spoken text
Learning About Reading:
-read and respond to a wide range of written and visual literary and
factual texts – including information and stories about other places,
times and cultures – in daily shared, guided and independent reading
activities, drawing on knowledge of topics to make inferences about
ideas in the text e.g. respond to ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions
-use a variety of self-correction strategies to identify unknown words
in more complex texts
-read fluently with expression after preparation
-use grammatical information in shared and guided reading activities,
-use a variety of graphological and phonological strategies to respond
to text
-use book handling and book knowledge skills with greater
confidence, e.g. use table of contents to locate information, choose
factual texts to find information
-use computer software to find information, e.g. databases
RS2.7 Context and Text
Discusses how writers relate to their
readers in different ways, how they create
a variety of worlds through language and
how they use language to achieve a wide
range of purposes.
RS2.8 Language Structures and Features
Discusses the text structure of a range of
text types and the grammatical features
that are characteristic of those text types.
-discuss how literary and factual texts such as narrative, poetry,
drama, recount, report, explanation, procedure and discussion
are organised according to purpose
-design activities that enable students to recognise cohesive links
in texts, e.g. pronouns and Features that refer back to particular
people or things, and word chains
-model how to identify the subject of a clause or simple sentence
by asking who or what performed the action
-point out to and discuss with students the use of quoted and
reported speech in texts
Learning To Write: Content Overview Early Stage 2
Learning About Writing:
WS2.9 Producing Texts
Drafts, revises, proofreads and
publishes well-structured texts that
are more demanding in terms of
topic, audience and written
language features.
WS2.13 Context and Text
Discusses how own texts are adjusted to
relate to different readers, how they
develop the subject matter and how they
serve a wide variety of purposes.
-draw students’ attention to the stages of text organisation in
a variety of literary and factual material from books, media
and electronic texts
-talk about the different purposes and audiences of texts
-make explicit how to research information from a variety of
sources before writing by using pro formas with guide questions
or headings
WS2.14 Language Structures and Features
Discusses how own texts have been
structured to achieve their purpose and the
grammatical features characteristic of the
various text types used.
-make explicit the basic structure and grammar of a variety of
text types including information report, procedure, recount,
simple explanation and simple exposition
-provide assistance to support the editing, proofreading and
publishing of writing
-explain spelling generalisations to students.
Skills and Strategies
WS2.10
-Produces texts clearly, effectively
and accurately, using the sentence
structure, grammatical features and
punctuation conventions of the text
type.
WS2.11
Uses Knowledge of letter-sound
correspondences, common letter
patterns and a range of strategies to
spell familiar and unfamiliar words.
WS2.12
78
-jointly and independently construct a range of text types, e.g.
narrative, procedure, response, recount, description and information
report
-write for a chosen audience, e.g. write letters to family or friends,
real or imaginary
-jointly alter a text to take into account different audiences
-build knowledge of topic before writing by brainstorming and
discussing to make reference lists for writing
-label graphics accompanying their own texts
-prepare for writing, e.g. by planning text structure using pro formas
-attempt to draft, proofread, and edit their own writing, e.g. circle or
underline doubtful words for spelling and use dictionary to check
-use knowledge of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs to improve
their own writing
-use knowledge of familiar letter patterns, spelling rules and common
words when attempting to spell unknown words
-use common punctuation such as full stops, capital letters, question
marks and commas
-use handwriting of consistent size and spacing in NSW Foundation
Style
-use computer software to produce texts, e.g. word processing
programs.
Content Overview Later Stage 2
‘Learning To’ Outcomes
Students will be provided with opportunities to:
Learning to Talk and Listen:
TS2.1 Talking and Listening
Communicate in informal and
formal classroom activities in school
and social situations for an
increasing range of purposes on a
variety of topics across the
curriculum.
TS2.2 Skills and Strategies
Interacts effectively in groups and
pairs, adopting a range of roles,
uses a variety of media and uses
various listening strategies for
different situations.
Teachers Will:
Learning About Talking and Listening:
-listen, for enjoyment and information, to a variety of less familiar
written and factual texts
-engage in a variety of structured speaking situations, e.g.
reporting, describing, recounting, explaining, interviewing,
entertaining and instructing
-listen and respond to a range of text types, e.g. respond to new
poems and more diverse literary texts read aloud or viewed, follow
directions to a particular location, attempt to persuade others to a
point of view
-participate in partner, group and class discussion on a variety of
less familiar topics, acting as a reporter to summarise the main
ideas
-address an audience drawn from the school and local community
on a variety of less familiar and researched topics related to the
curriculum
-participate and reflect appropriately as an audience
- listen critically to spoken presentations from a variety of speakers
-use tone of voice appropriate to the situation
-use group discussion skills, e.g. rephrasing to clarify meaning, guiding
discussion by taking on the role of group leader
-assume the role of a character in retelling or discussing a narrative
-use a range of skills to enhance spoken presentation, e.g. aids (such
as posters, palm cards, costumes), effective body language and
gesture
Learning To Read:
RS2.5 Reading and Viewing Texts
Reads independently a wide range
of texts on increasingly challenging
topics and justifies own
interpretation of ideas, information
and events.
‘Learning About’ Outcomes
TS2.3 Context and Text
Identifies the effect of purpose and
audience on spoken texts and distinguishes
between different varieties of English.
TS2.4 Language Structures and Features
Identifies common organisational patterns
and some characteristic language features
of a few types of predictable spoken texts.
-talk about the ways in which the language features of texts
vary according to context and purpose, eg how the language
differs between a face-to-face conversation and a telephone
conversation.
-discuss with students how spoken texts vary according to
different audiences, eg formal interaction with school principal
versus informal interaction with friend
-draw students’ attention to the differences between dialogue
and monologue
-help students to recognise the differences between school and
home language, between standard and non-standard English,
between idiomatic and literal language
-help students to identify the stages and characteristics of a
range of predictable spoken text types, e.g. telephone
conversation, oral procedure, group work interaction, class
discussion
-encourage students to recognise common grammatical
features of spoken language, e.g. use of evaluative language
and modality in persuasion, different types of questions and
responses
-develop criteria with students for assessing oral
presentations, e.g. content, structure, presentation
-assist students to self-assess their use of expressive features,
e.g. gesture, facial expression, voice quality
Learning About Reading:
-read and view a variety of more complex literary and factual texts
including Australian literature or stories and information from other
cultures or times for sustained periods
-select a text for a specific purpose, e.g. to research a topic or to make
something
-justify inferences made about a text read or viewed, e.g. ‘The main
character is selfish because ...’
RS2.7 Context and Text
Discusses how writers relate to their
readers in different ways, how they create
a variety of worlds through language and
how they use language to achieve a wide
range of purposes.
-draw students’ attention to the purpose and organisation of
factual and literary texts being read in class
-assist students to differentiate between different writing styles,
e.g. the styles of different authors, objective and subjective
language
-enable students to select reading material relating to the
purpose and topic, e.g. a procedure about making models, an
information report on machines
-point out symbolic meanings in a range of written and visual
texts
-encourage students to form opinions about texts they have
viewed and read
79
RS2.6 Skills and Strategies
Uses efficiently an integrated range
of skills and strategies when reading
and interpreting written texts.
-use a range of self-correction strategies when reading for
meaning, e.g. rereading, reading on, pausing and
subvocalising
-read texts aloud, including poems and scripted drama, using pitch,
pause and emphasis
-use grammatical information in shared and guided reading activities,
e.g. to identify words that show possibility or probability, or
relationships signalled by conjunctions
-use a variety of graphological and phonological strategies to respond
to text, e.g. knowledge of homonyms and contractions and of
irregular multisyllabic words
-use skimming of text to find key words in order to make brief notes
for relevant information
-use headings to locate information when scanning text
RS2.8 Language Structures and Features
Discusses the text structure of a range of
text types and the grammatical features
that are characteristic of those text types.
-model the structure of a range of texts, e.g. autobiography,
narrative
-draw students’ attention to features of written texts, e.g.
cohesive links, reported and quoted speech
-encourage students to identify relevant grammatical features in
the texts they are reading, e.g. adverbial phrases at the
beginning of sentences in narratives and recounts, modal verbs
and adverbs in expositions, similes in poems
-teach students how to use word-identification strategies, e.g.
base words, suffixes, prefixes, homonyms, contractions
-draws students’ attention to the conventions of poetry and their
effects, e.g. form (e.g. haiku), rhyme, rhythm
-demonstrate to students how punctuation is used in written
language to organise text into manageable and meaningful
segments
-point out to students the different forms that visual information
can take, e.g. maps, diagrams, animation, and teach students
how to interpret these different forms
Learning To Write: Content Overview Later Stage 2
Learning About Writing:
WS2.9 Producing Texts
Drafts, revises, proofreads and
publishes well-structured texts that
are more demanding in terms of
topic, audience and written
language features.
WS2.13 Context and Text
Discusses how own texts are adjusted to
relate to different readers, how they
develop the subject matter and how they
serve a wide variety of purposes.
-compare, with students, texts that are organised differently
according to their purposes
WS2.14 Language Structures and Features
Discusses how own texts have been
structured to achieve their purpose and the
grammatical features characteristic of the
various text types used.
-help students to identify how each stage of a text contributes to
the overall impact on the reader and how this impact can be
adjusted and augmented, e.g. using the evaluation stage of
narrative to build suspense
-point out the grammatical features associated with different
text types, e.g. text connectives to sequence explanations, noun
groups to build up description in information reports
-draw students’ attention to the way in which punctuation
contributes to the meaning in texts, e.g. commas, semicolons,
dashes, question marks, quotation marks.
Skills and Strategies
WS2.10
-Produces texts clearly, effectively
and accurately, using the sentence
structure, grammatical features and
punctuation conventions of the text
type.
WS2.11
Uses Knowledge of letter-sound
correspondences, common letter
patterns and a range of strategies to
spell familiar and unfamiliar words.
WS2.12
-jointly and independently construct a range of texts for different
audiences and purposes, e.g. descriptions, recounts, procedures,
narratives, poems, sequential explanations, personal responses,
expositions
-use a range of drafting strategies, e.g. note-taking, planning,
organising headings, writing key words, revising, final drafting,
editing, proofreading
-write about both familiar and researched topics
-work with a variety of forms, e.g. projects, letters, diagrams, posters,
multimedia
-write well-formed sentences using grammatical features that help to
achieve the purpose of the text, e.g. reported and quoted speech in
narratives, structure of noun group in information reports, past tense
in recounts, use of relating verbs in descriptions, use of modality in
expositions
-use correct punctuation in published versions of their own writing,
e.g. question marks, direct speech marks, commas and apostrophes
for contractions
-apply knowledge of spelling conventions and strategies to their own
writing, especially when attempting unknown or difficult words
-practise and consolidate handwriting that is consistent in form
-write texts using the basic word processing functions.
-model how to adjust writing to suit the audience
-talk with students about different topics that can be selected for
writing (e.g. familiar/unfamiliar, everyday/technical,
personal/objective) and about how to research to build
knowledge about a topic
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Content Overview Early Stage 3
‘Learning To’ Outcomes
Learning to Talk and Listen:
TS3.1 Talking and Listening
Communicates effectively for a
range of purposes and with a
variety of audiences to express
well-developed, well-organised
ideas dealing with more challenging
topics.
TS3.2 Skills and Strategies
Interacts productively and with
autonomy in pairs and groups of
various sizes and composition, uses
effective oral presentation skills and
strategies and listens attentively.
‘Learning About’ Outcomes
-deliver a variety of oral presentations for more varied audiences
-listen to more lengthy and challenging spoken texts, gleaning
information and listening critically
-use increasingly technical vocabulary in spoken texts and know
how to clarify meaning for listeners
-use strategies employed by effective listeners such as listening for
the main idea and attending to the speaker
Learning About Talking and Listening:
-use a variety of speaking skills, adjusting tone of voice and
information in response to a listener’s reaction
-converse, debate and hypothesise about issues
-use a variety of interaction skills
-continue to develop listening skills
-contribute to discussions on more abstract topics in pairs, small
groups and class
TS3.4 Language Structures and Features
Evaluates the organisational patterns of
some more challenging spoken texts and
some characteristic language features.
Learning To Read
TS3.3 Context and Text
Discusses ways in which spoken language
differs from written language and how
spoken language varies according to
different contexts.
-model and discuss how spoken language differs from written
language, and the purpose and audience of each
discuss types of language used in different situations, eg
football field, restaurant, theatre
-provide opportunities for students to engage in discussions
and debates on news events and topical issues
-provide opportunities for students to focus on word origins
and their meanings
-design activities for students to use spoken language to solve
problems, elicit and respond to the views of others, clarify ideas
and reflect on learning
-encourage students to evaluate information for currency, point
of view and appropriateness for intended audience
-provide opportunities for students to reflect on their own
spoken language use
-provide students with the scaffolding to evaluate a speaker’s
organisation and use of vocabulary
Learning About Reading
RS3.5 Reading and Viewing Texts
Reads independently a wide range
of texts with increasing content
demands and responds to themes
and issues.
-Read and critically respond to a range of texts for a range of
purposes, e.g. extended novels, more complex factual texts.
-discuss how information is organised and presented differently in a
variety of texts
-read daily a wider range of texts (independently and in shared and
guided reading)
RS3.7 Context and Text
Critically Analyses techniques used by
writers to create certain effects, to use
language creatively, to position the reader
in various ways and to construct different
interpretations of experience.
RS3.6 Skills and Strategies
Uses a comprehensive range of
skills and strategies appropriate to
the text type being read.
-consolidate the use of monitoring and self-correcting reading
strategies such as rereading, reading on and using wordidentification skills
-use a variety of strategies such as skimming and scanning, and using
contents and index, to find information on an unfamiliar topic in
reference sources
use grammatical information (such as reference links, synonyms,
antonyms, adverbial phrases) appropriate to the text being read
-access, record and present information in a variety of ways
RS3.8 Language Structures and Features
Identifies the text structure of a wider
range of more complex text types and
discusses how the grammatical features
work to influence readers’ and viewers’
understanding of texts.
-encourage students to read, analyse and evaluate information
found in written and visual texts and justify their responses
-draw students’ attention to how texts are organised according
to purpose
-explain the techniques used by writers to position a reader
-encourage students to read widely and compare, discuss and
justify different interpretations of texts read and/or viewed
-provide opportunities for students to view screenplays of
novels, live theatre and performances, and draw students’
attention to the structure and grammatical features of these
texts
-draw students’ attention to mixed text types and discuss
their structures
-design activities for students to explore varieties of texts and
their purposes
-explain how the choice of grammar affects a reader’s or
viewer’s interpretation of a text
-design activities for students to explore the origins of words,
particularly technical words
-draw students’ attention to the themes of clauses in texts
81
Learning To Write
Content Overview Early Stage 3
W3.9 Producing Texts
Produces a wide range of wellstructured and well-presented
literary and factual texts for a wide
variety of purposes and audiences
using increasingly challenging
topics, ideas, issues and written
language features.
Skills and Strategies
WS3.10
Uses knowledge of sentence
structure, grammar and
punctuation to edit own writing.
WS3.11
Spells most common words
accurately and uses a range of
strategies to spell unfamiliar words.
WS3.12
Produces texts in a fluent and
legible style and uses computer
technology to present these
effectively in a variety of ways.
Learning About Writing
-participate in frequent joint and independent activities to construct a
wide range of literary and factual texts
-consolidate skills in locating resources and accessing information in
preparation for writing
-produce a variety of texts, using a range of technology, for different
audiences
-produce texts with attention to design, layout and graphics
WS3.13 Context and Text
Critically analyses own texts in terms of
how well they have been written, how
effectively they present the subject matter
and how they influence the reader.
-structure activities so that students write a variety of texts for
different purposes and audiences across a range of topics
-provide opportunities for students to reflect, analyse and
evaluate their own writing and that of others
-proofread their own texts for meaning, spelling and punctuation
-use a variety of spelling resources and strategies to spell unfamiliar
words
-use correct structure, grammar and punctuation when producing
texts
-use variety of references to assist writing and editing
-develop fluent NSW Foundation Style handwriting
-experiment with computer technology to produce different texts.
WS3.14 Language Structures and Features
Critically evaluates how own texts have
been structured to achieve their purpose
and discusses ways of using related
grammatical features and conventions of
written language to shape readers’ and
viewers’ understanding of texts.
-model the editing of writing for consistency of point of view,
cohesive structure and appropriate use of language for the
intended audience
-assist students to identify the techniques used in argumentative
and persuasive texts to influence the reader, and apply these to
writing where appropriate
-model ways of providing specific and constructive comments
about their own writing and the writing of others during peer
conferencing sessions
-discuss with students how cohesive texts are constructed
-model how to change the theme of a clause and discuss the
effects of such changes, linking change in theme to the use of
active and passive verbs
-design activities for students to recognise how grammar is used
in constructing effective texts.
82
Content Overview Later Stage 3
‘Learning To’ Outcomes
Learning to Talk and Listen:
TS3.1 Talking and Listening
Communicates effectively for a
range of purposes and with a
variety of audiences to express
well-developed, well-organised
ideas dealing with more challenging
topics.
TS3.2 Skills and Strategies
Interacts productively and with
autonomy in pairs and groups of
various sizes and composition, uses
effective oral presentation skills and
strategies and listens attentively.
‘Learning About’ Outcomes
-engage in a wide range of spoken texts for a variety of purposes,
e.g. debates, interviews, explanations, anecdotes, recitations, and
one-to-one, small group and large-group discussions.
-explore creative ways of manipulating oral texts, e.g. unexpected
structure, integration of multimedia, dramatic enactments
-listen to a variety of text types presented by people of different
ages, different language and cultural backgrounds, different roles in
the school and community
-interact with a range of audiences, e.g. peers, visitors, parents,
community groups, with awareness of audience needs and interests
Learning About Talking and Listening:
-develop listening skills for identifying detail and summarising, e.g.
note-taking, radio quiz
-practise oral production skills, e.g. intonation, volume, pausing,
articulation
-refine interaction strategies, e.g. asking different types of questions,
responding appropriately, clarifying, repairing breakdowns, taking
conversation turns, introducing and developing topics, providing
feedback and support for others, challenging ideas
-develop oral presentation skills, e.g. using visual aids to support
presentation, engaging audience, dealing with questions from the
floor, speaking with clarity to a whole class, assembly or open day
visitors
-learn how to adjust spoken language according to formality of
situation
TS3.4 Language Structures and Features
Evaluates the organisational patterns of
some more challenging spoken texts and
some characteristic language features.
Learning To Read
RS3.5 Reading and Viewing Texts
Reads independently a wide range
of texts with increasing content
demands and responds to themes
and issues.
TS3.3 Context and Text
Discusses ways in which spoken language
differs from written language and how
spoken language varies according to
different contexts.
-guide students to identify, select and justify their use of a
range of oral texts to achieve specific purposes, e.g. telling
jokes as part of a debate, using songs or dramatic presentation
to persuade.
-assist students to develop criteria to evaluate the
effectiveness of particular spoken texts
-ask students to reflect on how to refine their spoken texts in
order to engage, entertain, influence or convince their
audience
-assist students to recognise the differences between spoken
and written language and to apply this knowledge in their own
texts
-analyse with the students the features of more complex spoken
texts, e.g. telephone appointments, formal debates, mock
television panels
-discuss how a knowledge of grammatical features can help
when preparing oral presentations, e.g. colloquial language in
an interview, predicting questions and preparing answers, using
text connectives to guide listeners
-provide students with a way of talking about presentation skills,
such as body language, eye contact, voice quality
Learning About Reading
-select, read, interpret and use a wide variety of material with
increasing autonomy, e.g. extended novels and information texts,
video documentaries, multimedia and performance texts, graphic
material, hypertext
-read more demanding texts that contain increasing levels of
technicality and abstraction
RS3.7 Context and Text
Critically Analyses techniques used by
writers to create certain effects, to use
language creatively, to position the reader
in various ways and to construct different
interpretations of experience.
-discuss with students how the structure of a particular text type
being read relates to its purpose and how readers can use their
knowledge of text organisation to predict and extract meaning
from texts.
-talk about how authors always have a particular audience in
mind, e.g. as students read texts, they identify the target
audience
-discuss with students how different texts treat the same subject
matter, e.g. articles about a particular event from a range of
newspapers and magazines
-develop students’ critical and evaluative skills, e.g. effects of
different camera angles, relative effectiveness of two or more
related texts, different interpretations of the same text
83
RS3.6 Skills and Strategies
Uses a comprehensive range of
skills and strategies appropriate to
the text type being read.
-access the meaning of increasingly challenging texts using a range of
strategies such as predicting, rereading, reviewing, making notes,
skimming, scanning, reading on
-adjust reading strategies according to the type of text and its
purpose
-develop skills in word identification through applying knowledge of
word origins and word building
-recognise how grammatical features help to build up the meaning of
texts, e.g. reference links, word chains, adverbial and adjectival
phrases, evaluative language
-develop higher order skills in decoding texts and accessing visual
information
-read aloud with appropriate expression, pause and emphasis
-consolidate information skills, e.g. tools for locating resources in CDROMs, the Internet, encyclopaedias
Learning To Write Content Overview Later Stage 3
RS3.8 Language Structures and Features
Identifies the text structure of a wider
range of more complex text types and
discusses how the grammatical features
work to influence readers’ and viewers’
understanding of texts.
W3.9 Producing Texts
Produces a wide range of wellstructured and well-presented
literary and factual texts for a wide
variety of purposes and audiences
using increasingly challenging
topics, ideas, issues and written
language features.
WS3.13 Context and Text
Critically analyses own texts in terms of
how well they have been written, how
effectively they present the subject matter
and how they influence the reader.
-model how to reflect on written texts in order to enhance the
quality of their own writing, e.g. use of organisational patterns to
influence readers, use of literary devices to enhance stories and
poems, techniques for taking into account the interests and
needs of audiences, strategies for selecting and working with a
range of topics
-teach students to reflect critically on the effectiveness of their
own writing, e.g. how entertaining their stories are, whether their
explanations are clear, how easy it is to retrieve information from
their information reports
WS3.14 Language Structures and Features
Critically evaluates how own texts have
been structured to achieve their purpose
and discusses ways of using related
grammatical features and conventions of
written language to shape readers’ and
viewers’ understanding of texts.
-initiate discussions about the structure, grammatical features
and conventions in written texts with the view to students
applying this knowledge in their own writing, eg the use of
dependent clauses to add detail, the use of adjectives and
adjectival clauses to build character in narratives, how the
elements of a clause are ordered to facilitate the flow of the
text, how effective punctuation enhances readability.
Skills and Strategies
WS3.10
Uses knowledge of sentence
structure, grammar and
punctuation to edit own writing.
WS3.11
Spells most common words
accurately and uses a range of
strategies to spell unfamiliar words.
WS3.12
Produces texts in a fluent and
legible style and uses computer
technology to present these
effectively in a variety of ways.
-produce well-planned, coherent, extended texts by applying
knowledge about the writing process, e.g.. researching, drafting,
revising, editing, proofreading, structuring paragraphs
-write and creatively manipulate a range of text types to more
sophisticated levels, e.g. researched historical recounts, detailed
descriptions, sustained arguments and discussions with evidence,
responses to artworks, multimedia projects
-relate to audiences through subtle use of language, e.g. humour,
modality, irony
-write texts that deal with more complex and detailed subject matter
to high levels of technicality and abstraction
-combine various channels of communication in multimedia texts, e.g.
poetry, dramatic performance, business letters, diagrams,
illustrations
-gain control over a comprehensive range of grammatical features
and punctuation that contribute to the purpose, meaning and clarity
of texts
-apply knowledge of spelling conventions and strategies to ensure a
high level of spelling accuracy
-experiment with personal handwriting style to enhance fluency,
speed, legibility and appeal
-consolidate computer skills when using a range of computer
software and applications, e.g. tables, borders and graphics, word
processors, authoring software, web pages.
-investigate with students the text structures of a range of
more complex texts to determine how text organisation
contributes to the achievement of text purpose
-talk about how authors employ grammatical features to
achieve the purposes of their texts, e.g. organising texts
predictably, using text connectives, using topic sentences,
using subheadings, previewing what is to come and
summarising what has been said, using the passive voice to
maintain the information focus in reports and explanations,
using noun groups to condense information
-discuss the conventions of a range of complex text types,
e.g. acts and stage directions in plays, literary devices in
poems and stories, layout conventions in print and electronic
texts
Learning About Writing
84
Resources:
-NSW Department of Education and Training: Teaching comprehension strategies Booklet (Materials originally developed as part
of the Focus on Reading 3-6 Program) 2010
-NSW Department of Education and Training: An introduction to quality literacy teaching 2009
-Board of Studies: NSW English Syllabus K-6 2006
-Revisit, Reflect, Retell: Time-tested strategies for teaching comprehension Linda Hoyt Heinemann 2009
-Guided Comprehension: A teaching model for grades 3-8 Maureen Mc Laughlin & Mary Beth Allen International Reading
Association 2002
-Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement John Hattie Routledge 2009
-Cover Image on booklet and slide by La’ma: Flickr.com
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Image References / Links From Power Point Display
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