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Edutopia
Driving Deep Reading Comprehension in K–5
This five-phase reading strategy exposes every student to challenging
texts—and has dramatically improved reading comprehension at a school
in the Bronx.
By Emelina Minero
June 18, 2019
Collaborative reading is one of several strategies at Concourse Village
Elementary School (CVES) that are meant to incorporate literacy into
all aspects of the curriculum. The approach, spearheaded by Alexa
Sorden, the school’s founding principal and a former literacy coach, is
a marriage of shared reading—students read a text together, guided by
the teacher—and close reading, which has students work independently
and in small groups to produce a critical analysis of a text.
Classes in all grades in the pre-K to 5 school spend 15 to 20 minutes
every day deconstructing an above-grade-level text of up to 150 words.
The approach breaks down the reading process into five phases that
emphasize repeated exposure to the text to drive deep comprehension:
understanding the main idea, annotating the text, identifying key ideas
and details, dissecting the author’s craft, and summarizing. Because
the reading of a single, challenging text is scaffolded over five days,
students gradually develop a rich, portable methodology for decoding
difficult materials.
GETTING STARTED
Choosing a text: Collaborative reading texts—decided in advance by
teacher teams for every six-week module—are either excerpts from
fiction books or nonfiction texts that impart information.
Fiction passages highlight literary elements that may be challenging,
like figurative language or themes. In kindergarten, teachers choose
nursery rhymes to focus on rhyming, as well as particular messages,
like optimism—a core value of the school.
Informational texts are often supplemental texts related to the other
subjects that students are studying. For example, it can be difficult
for fifth-grade students to understand how the Age of Exploration led
to the development of capitalism, so fifth graders analyze a
supplemental text on the subject through the collaborative reading
process.
At the beginning of the week, K–5 students receive a handout with the
collaborative reading text, along with a list of vocabulary words and
questions that get students thinking critically about their materials.
Peer learning and student facilitators: Every K–5 class has a student
facilitator for the year, chosen for his or her strong reading fluency.
Student facilitators take the collaborative reading text home a few
days prior to reading it at school so that they’re able to support
their peers—guiding them to “use extra evidence” or asking them why
they chose a certain answer. In kindergarten, instead of one student
facilitator for all five phases of the collaborative reading process,
there is one student facilitator for each phase.
“Students tend to listen more when it’s one of their peers who is
actually providing support,” says Raquel Linares, a fifth-grade teacher.
UNDERSTANDING THE GIST
In the first phase of deconstructing the chosen piece, students skim
the text and put a question mark next to words they don’t understand.
The student facilitator introduces the focus: understanding the gist of
the text.
Next, the teacher models what fluent reading looks like in front of the
class, reading aloud with a focus on intonation and elocution. Students
identify and discuss the meaning of unknown words.
The class reads the text aloud in unison followed by the student
facilitator reading the phase one question: “Which sentence best
describes the main idea of the excerpt?” After students discuss and
answer the question in small groups, they share their responses with
the whole class.
The opportunity to discuss the core of the text multiple times with
their peers creates confidence in new readers, demonstrates that all
readers sometimes struggle, and enables individuals to gather knowledge
and new perspectives from the whole group.
“My favorite thing about collaborative reading is that we all hear
other people’s ideas, and we have a chance to build up on a bigger
idea,” says fifth-grade student Mia.
ANNOTATING
The student facilitator introduces the focus of phase two of the
reading process: annotating the text and highlighting details that
support the main idea. Asking questions and highlighting important
information—students need to learn how to discriminate crucial
information from secondary information—promote a deeper understanding
of the language.
The whole class then reads the text aloud in unison—a step they repeat
in each phase. Students annotate the text on their own, discuss in
their group, and share with the class.
When annotating a fictional story, students focus on elements like
plot, character, and conflict. When annotating informational texts,
they look at things like illustrations and captions. Students focus on
using one main annotation marking per week but can use others as well.
For example, the focus might be to highlight details that answer a
critical question or that support the main theme; they would mark those
details with a “D” on the reading materials.
The second-grade to fifth-grade annotation markings build upon the markings used in pre-K to first grade.
IDENTIFYING KEY DETAILS
After the student facilitator kicks off the task, phase three focuses
on identifying key details and ideas, aligning with the New York State
Next Generation ELA Learning Standards, which require students to make
inferences, support claims with textual evidence, and summarize.
The students read the text together, discuss the critical-thinking
question in groups, and then share with the class. Daily group
discussions allow students to build their communication and
collaboration skills.
In kindergarten, students might develop and answer questions about the
text, while in fifth grade, students might make inferences based on
textual evidence. For example, when fifth-grade students read an
excerpt from the novel Jazmin’s Notebook, they are asked to make
inferences about the guidance counselor and her perception of Jazmin.
Making claims supported by evidence is an important critical thinking
and writing skill.
ANALYZING THE AUTHOR’S CRAFT
In phase four, students focus on deconstructing the author’s craft and motivations for writing.
In groups, students look at why the author chose certain words,
phrases, or pictures and what messages those choices convey.
Fifth-grade students, for example, are asked to consider how irony is
being communicated in Jazmin’s Notebook through the name of the
guidance counselor: Lillian Wise. In an informational text, students
might look at what information the photos or infographics convey to add
context to the material.
Deconstructing the writing process from the viewpoint of the author
helps students understand how word choice, imagery, themes, and
sentence structure inform the work. By focusing on word choice,
students see that different words carry different connotations that
affect the meaning and tone of the text. Group discussion allows
students with a deeper understanding of the material to provide support
to peers who may be struggling and exposes all students to perspectives
they might not have considered.
SUMMARIZING AND DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
The final phase centers around the second core standard: “Determine
central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development;
summarize the key supporting details and ideas.” Each student writes a
short summary of the text and draws conclusions. Summarizing helps
students articulate their understanding in their own words. They also
draw conclusions about the text in several ways, including examining
the author’s motivations for the writing, making personal connections
to the text, or answering questions about the text—skills that students
need for all classes.
For example, fifth-grade students read a passage from Jazmin’s Notebook
in which Lillian Wise, the guidance counselor, has enrolled a black
student in classes that are not college preparatory courses, saying, “A
person like yourself would be happier in the business world.” The
student, Jazmin, pushes back and asks why she should not be included in
college prep classes.
The students are asked to consider the broader consequences of Miss Wise’s expectations and Jazmin’s response.
The question serves two purposes: Students summarize the central theme
and point to textual evidence to support their claims, and they
consider the importance of self-advocacy, a skill their teachers want
them to develop as they leave Concourse Village for the next phase of
their education.
“Reading is a lifelong skill across anything you do, anywhere you go,”
says Sorden. “It’s important that our children are able to read very
well when they walk out of here.”
Concourse Village Elementary School
Public, Urban
Grades Pre-K to 5
The Bronx, NY
What makes this a SCHOOL THAT WORKS
In 2013, Principal Alexa Sorden, a former teacher and literacy coach,
took over Concourse Village Elementary School in New York City after
its predecessor was closed due to poor performance and disrepair. When
the 361 students—nearly all of whom came from low-income
households—returned to school that fall, they were greeted with a
renovated building, new teachers, and high-quality instructional
practices in every classroom.
Under Sorden’s leadership, the pre-K to 5 school has blossomed. Using a
flat leadership structure—Sorden is the only administrator—teachers are
empowered to learn from and support each other and share accountability
for student outcomes. An innovative, literacy-first approach helps
students develop foundational skills in every subject, from English
language arts to math and art.
PROOF POINTS:
The school was ranked better than 95.8 percent of all elementary schools in New York City in 2017.
In 2018, 88 percent of students scored advanced or proficient on the
New York State exams in both math and English language arts, more than
40 points higher than the citywide averages.
The school received a Blue Ribbon Award for Exemplary Performance in 2018.
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