IRA BOOKSHELF
Responding and Comprehending:
Reading With Delight and
Understanding
Lauren Aimonette Liang, Lee Galda
When response activities and
comprehension strategies are combined,
classroom instruction can enhance
student engagement and understanding
of a text, enrich student response,
and improve students’ awareness
of their own strategic reading.
The following activities, adapted
from the new IRA book Children’s
Literature in the Reading Program
(third edition), demonstrate how to
combine the goals of strategic reading
and responsive, aesthetic reading.
Responding and Practicing
Predicting
330
designed to remind students to use their predicting
strategy and responding techniques when reading
outside of class on their own.
Predicting and Responding
Using Because of Winn-Dixie
(Upper Elementary and Middle
School Grades)
Newbery Medal–winning author Kate DiCamillo
published her first book, Because of Winn-Dixie, in
2000. A 2001 Newbery Honor book, the novel was
quickly popular with adults and children because of
its rich and memorable cast of characters and welldescribed turn of events. It currently remains a widely used text in upper elementary classrooms across
the United States. The following activity would work
well with other contemporary realistic fiction novels,
books where students can easily relate to the situations and events characters face.
One of the most commonly taught comprehension
strategies is generating predictions about the text to
be read. Elementary teachers frequently encourage
the practice of making predictions through activities
like picture walks, where students explore the illustrations in a text to predict what the book may be about.
Predicting is easy to teach and is an easy strategy for
students to learn. It is also a strategy that research
shows to be quite powerful in helping students better understand a text (Dewitz, Carr, & Patberg, 1987;
Hansen, 1981; Hansen & Pearson, 1983).
The following activity helps students see how
predicting is an integral part of responding. It is also
Procedure. The activity will occur over several days.
Begin the first day by telling students they are going
to be reading a book titled Because of Winn-Dixie
over the next few weeks. Explain that the book is
about a girl their age who moves to a new town and
begins to make friends and becomes part of her new
community. Ask students to raise their hands if they
have ever moved to a new town, or transferred to a
new school with very few people they knew, or gone
to a summer camp or other experience away from
home, or if they have made friends with people who
were newcomers. Then tell them you want them to
think about their experience of being or befriending
the newcomer. Explain that most people at one point
The Reading Teacher, 63(4), pp. 330–333
DOI:10.1598/RT.63.4.9
© 2009 International Reading Association
ISSN:0034-0561 print / 1936-2714 online
or another have experienced what it is like to be new
to a place, and that perhaps the biggest challenge of
being the newcomer is making friends. Ask students
to close their eyes and think quietly about a time
when they were the new person or first met the new
person. How did it feel to not know anyone? Did they
try to start conversations with others? Did they watch
people closely? Can they remember what it felt like
when they first met someone who might be a friend?
Next have students open their eyes and share their
thoughts with a partner.
Use this discussion as a springboard to help students make predictions about the book. Remind them
of the predicting strategy they have learned to use to
better understand what they read. Tell them that they
have now activated their background knowledge
about things that might be part of this story, something they should try to do as they read all texts. As
a class, have the students contribute predictions of
what might happen in this story based on what they
personally have experienced as newcomers. Make a
big list of these predictions on chart paper and hang
it in a place where students will be able to reference
it throughout the coming class periods.
Next, have students read the first chapter of
Because of Winn-Dixie silently or listen to you read
it aloud. At the end of the chapter, refer students to
the class prediction chart they just made. Read aloud
each prediction and see if any have occurred or if
something opposite has occurred that demonstrates
a prediction will not come true. When you reach one
that has occurred or one where another text event
indicates the prediction is not going to happen, stop
and ask the students to write the prediction down.
Then they should write if the prediction came true
and why or why not. Remind students that this is the
process of evaluating predictions. Now ask students
how they feel about the story now that this prediction has or has not come true. What sort of reaction
(response) do they have to the text now? Let students
explore this question by writing or thinking on their
own first. Then move them to small groups to talk
about their responses and feelings for a few minutes.
After students have done this, ask them if their responses changed even more after discussing them
with their peers. Finally, have students record any
new predictions they have now based on this evaluation of the prediction, their personal responses to the
text, and their sharing with others.
T
hese activities are
excerpted from Lauren
Aimonette Liang and Lee
Galda’s chapter in the new
IRA publication Children’s
Literature in the Reading
Program (3rd ed.), edited
by Deborah A. Wooten
and Bernice E. Cullinan.
Find out more about this book online
at www.reading.org.
As students continue to read the novel, have them
stop and go through this procedure at the end of each
chapter. To remind them of the process, write the steps
on a chart or on the board, as in Table 1, for them to
reference as needed. This will help when students
begin to record their predictions and responses without your prompt. When reaching the final third of the
book, have students stop and evaluate predictions and
respond at points where they feel they would like to do
so. This will help students begin to use the strategy and
to respond more flexibly and use their own metacognitive skills to predict, evaluate, and respond when it
would be a natural aid. At the completion of the novel,
ask students to reflect on how using this process while
reading affected their understanding and enjoyment
of the book. Explain that although they used the process as a group while reading Because of Winn-Dixie,
and thus were able to listen to others’ responses and
perhaps change their own based on what they heard,
the process is one they can use when reading a book
individually, too.
Responding and Practicing
Visualizing
For mature, skilled readers, visualizing, or imaging as
it is sometimes called, seems out of place in a list of
comprehension strategies. “That’s just what you do
when you read!” the skilled reader might think, and
Responding and Comprehending: Reading With Delight and Understanding
331
Table 1
Predicting and Responding Chart
When you first pick up a
book...
Think about what you know about the general topic of the text. Look at the
title, back and front flaps, and pictures to help you. Then make predictions
about what you think might happen in the book based on your own
background knowledge about the topic.
Step 1
Read the chapter or section of the text.
Step 2
Look over your list of predictions. Evaluate each prediction to see if it has
occurred or if something has happened to indicate the prediction will not
happen.
Step 3
How do you feel about the story now that this prediction has or has not
come true? What sort of response do you have to the text now? Write your
response.
Step 4
Now talk about your response with a partner or your small group.
Step 5
Has your response changed even more after discussing it with your peers?
Write if your response has or has not changed, and in what ways.
Step 6
Finally, record any new predictions you have now based on your evaluation of
the prediction and you responses to the text. Then start over with Step 1.
indeed, that is what skilled readers do. Visualizing is
an important and highly effective strategy for improving student understanding of both expository and
narrative text (Gambrell & Bales, 1986). For expository text the emphasis is frequently on visualizing
and then representing the content in the text in some
way, such as a chart or graph, that demonstrates relationships between ideas. During aesthetic reading
of stories or poems, visualizing is the primary means
by which readers experience the secondary world of
story (Benton, 1979, 1983). However, creating images
in one’s mind of the characters, setting, and events of
a story is not so natural for all readers, as becomes
obvious when they are asked to reproduce these images on paper or in another format.
With all of the visual stimuli available to students
in the form of television, video, films, computer
games, and picture books, it might seem that students do not need to visualize. They can simply look
at and use the images of, for example, the illustrator,
to help them engage in aesthetic reading. Indeed,
many are so used to doing this that they lament the
loss of illustrations when they move on to chapter
books (Galda, Rayburn, & Stanzi, 2000). Storytelling
requires students to visualize, as does reading chapter books. So, too, does reading poetry, especially
because many poems are found in collections that
are not true picture books and where the words are
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The Reading Teacher
Vol. 63, No. 4
dominant. It is easier to ask students to create their
own images when they know that the image has not
already been created for them! Further, the sometimes complicated use of language in poetry can
create student confusion and using the visualizing
strategy can be quite helpful in aiding understanding.
Additionally, many poets make use of the technique
of imagery, and understanding how imagery works
helps students understand how poetry works as well.
Responding to the images created in the poem helps
to engage readers with the work and further increase
their understanding.
The following activity helps students see the importance of visualizing to responding, particularly when
reading poetry. It is also designed to remind students
to use their visualizing strategy and responding techniques when reading outside of class on their own.
Visualizing Using All the Small
Poems and Fourteen More
(Preschool and Primary Grades)
Many poets make use of sensory imagery to present
ideas and emotions in poetry. Poets such as Valerie
Worth (1987) in her book All the Small Poems and
Fourteen More or Kristine O’Connell George (2001)
in her book Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems
bring the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and feel of their
December 2009/January 2010
subject to readers through their use of vivid images.
Learning to “see” what poets have written helps students both understand and engage aesthetically with
poetic texts. While imagery encompasses all of the
senses, visualizing is a basic strategy to begin with.
Procedure. Valerie Worth’s (1987) collection All the
Small Poems and Fourteen More is a small book containing all of her brief poems, with small pencil sketches by Natalie Babbitt that accompany each poem.
The size of the book itself is also small, so it is not a
book that lends itself for sharing pictures with a large
or even small group; however, it is perfect for sharing
with young readers when you want them to supply
their own ideas as they interpret the words with which
the poet presents them.
Begin by reading a few poems each day, until you
have read several and students are comfortable with
the shape and sound of the poems in the collection.
As you read, ask students, “What do you notice?”
and “What do you see?” and accept their answers.
If you are fortunate enough to have different ideas
offered, discuss those different visions as individual
interpretations. After a few days of this, remind students that they have already learned how to visualize as they read, and that it is important to visualize
while reading poems because it makes them easier
to understand.
When you notice that most students are able to
describe the “pictures in their heads” after you share
a poem with them, you can ask them to draw or paint
what they see. It’s important to use media that allow
them to select color, because the images in many
poems bring to mind particular colors. One such
poem, “dandelion,” calls forth images of this ubiquitous flower with words such as “green space,” “sun,”
”bright,” “burning,” “husk,” “cratered moon,” and
“starry smithereens.” Color, in this case, supports the
idea of the way dandelions change from bright yellow flowers to puffs to nothingness in just a few days.
Asking children to paint what they visualize will help
them understand that the poem goes beyond the
image of the cheerful yellow flower. Other poems,
such as “rags,” might inspire collage or other artistic
constructions. The entire collection asks readers to
notice small things and to think about them in new,
interesting ways. Visual presentation of the images
and ideas in the poems will help young readers do
that. A collection of art inspired by Worth’s poems
also makes a wonderful display when mounted
alongside of the poem that inspired it.
Introducing students to visual imagery through
Worth’s poems is only the beginning. Once students
have experienced creating their own images for the
words offered by an author, they will continue to do
so if you provide them with opportunities to respond
using a variety of media. And don’t be surprised if
students begin experimenting with imagery in their
own writing.
References
Benton, M. (1979). Children’s responses to stories. Children’s
Literature in Education, 10(2), 68–85. doi:10.1007/BF01145701
Dewitz, P., Carr, E.M., & Patberg, J.P. (1987). Effects of inference
training on comprehension and comprehension monitoring.
Reading Research Quarterly, 22(1), 99–121. doi:10.2307/747723
Galda, L., Rayburn, S., & Stanzi, L.C. (2000). Looking through the faraway end: Creating a -literature-based reading curriculum with
second graders. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Gambrell, L.B., & Bales, R.J. (1986). Mental imagery and the comprehension-monitoring performance of fourth- and fifth-grade
poor readers. Reading Research Quarterly, 21(4), 454–464.
doi:10.2307/747616
Hansen, J. (1981). The effects of inference training and practice on
young children’s reading comprehension. Reading Research
Quarterly, 16(3), 391–417. doi:10.2307/747409
Hansen, J., & Pearson, P.D. (1983). An instructional study:
Improving the inferential comprehension of good and poor
fourth-grade readers. Journal of Educational Psychology,
75(6), 821–829. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.75.6.821
Literature Cited
DiCamillo, K. (20 0 0). Because of Winn- Dixie. New York:
Candlewick.
George, K.O. (2001). Toasting marshmallows: Camping poems.
New York: Clarion.
Worth, V. (1987). All the small poems and fourteen more. New
York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
IRA Bookshelf is an occasional feature that presents teaching ideas excerpted from IRA books.
Find out more about IRA’s book publishing program and the book highlighted in this column by
visiting www.reading.org or e-mailing [email protected].
Responding and Comprehending: Reading With Delight and Understanding
333
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