Steve's Corner
Advanced Reading
by Steve Tattum

These are some techniques that are very effective once students have broken the code. THRILD is used as a way of previewing a section of a textbook. It should only take five minutes. The key thing to remember is that students are viewing the headings and illustrations throughout the section, and commenting on the illustrations and graphs. The preparation deals with how to arrange a directed reading from a literature book that reinforces Word Attack and comprehension skills. P3 is the foundation of comprehension and it follows a three-stage process.

At Stage 1 , students describe and act out pictures, then take a mental photo of picture and describe and act it out. Then, they paraphrase the events and picture and predict what will happen next. For Stage 2, teachers read a paragraph to students, a sentence at a time, and students form an enlarging picture. At the end of the paragraph, they paraphrase and predict. Stage 3, students read and form pictures, and then paraphrase and predict every paragraph or two. Reciprocal teaching has students grouped in threes; they all read a paragraph, one describes the picture, one paraphrases, and the other predicts. Students will then ask questions while other members are utilizing their techniques so that they are expanding upon their descriptions.

Each paragraph, students change roles. In fluency, teachers have students do four repeated readings daily, read twenty minutes a night, work on skimming and scanning with textbooks, and do timed readings utilizing phrasing and double phrasing. The last area of comprehension is study skills. We ask teachers to use THRILD for our students, and we discuss THRILD above, also using the Four R’s, which are: recording a summary of a paragraph, reducing it to a key word in the margin, covering the summaries and reciting the paragraphs by using key words, and then doing a written response to the readings. Jim Lester’s “Mix & Match” is also an excellent technique to vary study skills and prevent boredom. It allows students to choose what study skills they’ll use for each section of a chapter. They may use: summary, 4 R’s, flash cards, answering questions, or outline. Students pick which technique to use for each section.

Previewing:  THRILD for nonfiction works and all content courses. THRI for fiction works. T= title of book, author, H=headings are chapter titles,  R = Read preface, jacket I= look at illustrations & imagine possible scenarios of book

Preparation: pull out 6-10 difficult words; kids read and give meaning; keep these as vocabulary; check students' background of story by asking questions. Add to background with pictures, videotapes, stories, etc.; give purpose for reading in 1 to 2 sentences, model reading a selection and Think Aloud using picturing, paraphrasing, prediction, analogies, and clarification; have kids read orally, give dyslexic students passages before class; have them read columns or pages then discuss.

Comprehension: P3 picture, paraphrase, predictions students picture the paragraph. Students paraphrase giving verbal sequence students give predictions of what will happen next.

Reciprocal Teaching: Do P3 in groups of three. Students read paragraph. One does picturing aloud, the second does paraphrasing, the third predicts. All students prompt more detailed responses from other students when they are sharing their particular technique. Next paragraph, everyone changes roles.

Fluency:  teach how to vary rate according to material. Use skimming to review section discussed last week, then quiz. Use scanning to answer review question. Then give page & P-model phrase reading on overhead and oral phrase readin; 4 repeated readings a night; 20 minutes of reading a night.