Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Teaching Kids to Go Back In the Text When Answering Comprehension Questions

Since I’m a reading specialist, I see even MORE kids than usual who are lazy in reading. When I give them a reading passage, they try to skip reading it and then they randomly search for the answers. When they can’t find them instantly, they get frustrated and guess.

Reading is hard, so they want to get it over with- and going BACK to the text, after I already read it? No way is THAT gonna happen!

refer to text graphic

My students are finally going back to the text- but it’s in large part because we’ve learned how to make it easier. (Okay, and when I use Text Detectives, they’re kind of forced to.) Here are our steps:

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Depending on how independently your readers can access the text, I vary between reading it as a group, with partners, or individually.

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On one side, we label each paragraph by number. (We use arrows to find the indents, which helps.) We put little brackets off to the side of each paragraph and they use 1-3 words to tell the topic of that paragraph. You can see here that the first paragraph is the intro, the second paragraph is about when he was a kid, etc.


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Then, we read the first question and circle the question word. We’ve learned about each question word, so we know that when it says “where” we’re looking for a place and we need to keep an eye out for place words, including proper nouns with capital letters.

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After that, we underline any key words. These are words that we think might be found near the answer. They’re going to help us narrow down where the answer might be. Of course, these words aren’t always near the answer- but it gives us something to look for.

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Next, we predict where this answer might be found using our summary words from earlier. It’s not always clear, but sometimes we can clearly decide, “Oh, this is about when George Washington was born. It’s not going to be in the part where he was in war, or the part where he was President… it’s probably going to be in the part that talks about his childhood.” I have my students put a little number next to the question that shows which paragraph they’ll look in first.

While we’re learning about this, I do a lot of thinking aloud to model what my students should have going through their heads. Then, as we do it together, I say, “Where do you think we should look first? Why?”

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Finally, we go to that paragraph of the passage and skim for the key words. When/ if they find one, they go back to the beginning of the sentence and see if it answers the question. If they can’t find key words, they read that whole paragraph to see if they can find the answer.

With these Text Detectives sheets, I have my kids underline JUST the answer- not the surrounding sentence- so I know they can pinpoint the exact answer. Of course, we also work on writing our answers in complete sentences… but first, they have to know exactly what the answer is.

And when they find it, they’re allowed to color the crayons (because, for some reason, they can’t stand to leave them white!)

Once we’ve practiced this a few times, my kids feel a lot more comfortable trying it themselves! Of course, our kids can’t always use these exact strategies on a test- but for those struggling kiddos especially, this gives them a process to try and a place to start. And I love that it's not just "test prep," but valuable skills for real reading and research too!

One last thing: I love to use my Text Detectives packs to teach finding text evidence, but hopefully these are strategies you can use or adapt with ANY text. On the off chance that you want these, though…

seuss preview

I've written Text Detectives passages for every month of the year, and you can choose the 2nd grade or 3rd grade reading level. The passages are similar so they can even be used together in the same classroom for differentiating! If you’re interested, you can find Text Detectives here and try out a Dr. Seuss reading passage for free by downloading the Preview file.

Another really helpful strategy for my kids in the next step of this process (looking back in the text both when the answer is explicitly stated, and when it’s not) is a version of QAR called the 4-H strategy.





You can read more about it here from my friend Kylie at Ripper Reading Resources.

*How do you work with your students on answering questions in the text?*

Edited to add: This post originally contained a giveaway which has now ended. Please be sure to follow my blog for future giveaway opportunities!

35 comments:

  1. I try to get them to understand that not all answers are going to be directly in the text, but they may have to use that brain and clues to come up with an answer. This is especially important for our students and the state mandated Reading 3D test. I haven't tried having them highlight or color sentences yet. This is a great strategy and will help them a lot! I love the looks of this packet and am hoping for another chance! :) rwrench64@yahoo.com

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  2. As a reading specialist currently teaching first grade, I too see kids who find it difficult to sustain attention to the text. Thanks for all you do. I love this! judeeastman@gmail.com

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  3. What an awesome thing to try! I seem to have a classroom full of reluctant readers at times. Even my good readersdont wantto go back. I hope I win! lilacdlf@gmail.com

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    1. Congratulations! My husband randomly picked comment #3, which is YOU! I'm sending your pack now. :) Thanks for following me! Hope you LOVE it!

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  4. What an awesome thing to try! I seem to have a classroom full of reluctant readers at times. Even my good readersdont wantto go back. I hope I win! lilacdlf@gmail.com

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  5. This sounds perfect! I am having the hardest time getting my kiddos to go back in the text to find the answer and then actually pick the correct answer. I bet Text Detectives would really help them out!!
    Liz
    teachinginthevalley@gmail.com

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  6. I have the same problem with my 2nd graders. When they have a passage to read and have to go back to find the answers, they can't do it. They give up too quickly. ..they become lazy.

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  8. If at first you don't succeed, TRY TRY AGAIN!!! This resource would be INVALUABLE asset to my Grade 2 class =). One-third of my 18 kidlettes are on IEPs, and finding proof in texts and answering in complete sentences has been nothing short of an uphill battle for them!! I know that your packet would be PERFECT! It would be an absolute honour to win this for them <3. Thank you for considering me again =). leafsgirl@rogers.com.

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  10. These are such a great way to illustrate that going back into the text is imperative. I have been using a strategy similar to the one shown above and really trying to prep my students for the upcoming state tests. They appreciate that this format is not the traditional read a passage and answer a multiple choice question, but they are accomplishing the exact same things which I appreciate. These are also on topics that they enjoy as opposed to boring passages that they aren't engaged by. My school is really pushing strategies to improve our reading scores and this is a great way to accomplish that while keeping the students engaged. I really love these passages and so do my students. carly.kaczmarek@gmail.com

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  11. We do a variety of highlighting to "prove" our answers. Something about highlighter and first graders-they love it:) aprilrfun@juno.com

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  12. We do a variety of highlighting to "prove" our answers. Something about highlighter and first graders-they love it:) aprilrfun@juno.com

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  13. I use similar strategies to those you discussed, but haven't used the "paragraph main idea" strategy to help them locate answers. That's genius, killing two birds with one stone! Identifying main ideas and locating answers with one text! I will be doing that tomorrow with my students! Reder_erin@yahoo.com

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  14. I of course love these so much, that I already purchased mine last night! I loved that you blogged about how you use them though. I'm definitely going to have my students look at the paragraphs and come up with each topic. That will tie perfectly into our learning how to write good paragraphs and how authors tell their reader what they're going to talk about in a paragraph! KEEP THEM COMING! :)

    Lindsey
    The Journey of a Beginning Teacher

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  15. With my older ones, they love to get highlighter and underline happy when they read. I have tried to readjust this strategy by showing them the clue words in questions that hint at what the question is asking - that way they can be better prepared to answer the question :)

    Bstok001@gmail.com

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  16. My students have really struggled with this skill. Often times they put their own opinion or assumptions into their answer. Boy can that get frustrating! I'd love to win these!!
    Donna
    dmp970@msn.com

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  17. We used the Dr. Seuss passage today. It was great, we discussed any new vocabulary and they answered the questions using PQA in their journals. Loved it. Stephb38429@gmail.com

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  18. I was trying to win a copy of the March Text Detectives last night. I love using these. Thanks for the opportunity!
    Ursula
    ugamler@boyertownasd.org

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  19. I follow your blog and Facebook page, and think you are a genius. And a breath of fresh air. :)

    Mandy
    The 4th Grade Journey

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  20. Can't wait to practice finding evidence in the text with my students with your freebie! Thanks!
    rachelrhorn@gmail.com

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  21. Love the steps that you have for this. Very helpful!!

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  22. Love the steps too!!! What a great visual. You are so good at what you do :)
    Em

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  23. This is AMAZING and just what I need for my struggling ESOL students! I look forward to seeing the next Text Detectives pack!

    sarahplumitallo@gmail.com

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  24. I love your idea to label the paragraphs. I tried to download the Dr. Seuss freebie, but it prints on 2 separate sheets. I was hoping to use it next week when I start to tutor third graders to prepare them for the state reading test.

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  25. Do you have any suggestions for use with an on-line assessment? My 8th graders will be taking a state assessment on-line in a few weeks, and I am concerned (even more than normal) since they won’t even have a paper to “mark up”. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

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  26. Love the Super Text Detectives. I love how you use them. So much to do with these. I am going to snatch some of your ideas. Thanks again!!!!

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  27. OMGoodness Jenny, I just stumbled upon this wonderful blog post and realised that at the end of it you mentioned my 4H reading strategy approach - I am so thrilled!! Thank you!!! I had no idea :)
    Thank you, thank you, thank you
    Kylie
    http://ripperresources.blogspot.com.au/

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  28. I love these and would be interested in more!!

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    1. Bri, I have Text Detectives for every month in my TeachersPayTeachers store! :)

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  29. Can I buy the template off of you. I was considering if you didnt have some in spanish to go ahead and write my own or translate some of yours.

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    1. Is there any possible way to get that template from you for my 3rd graders?

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  30. Actually I visited your site day by day it is very fantastic and wonderful custom essay review site, I am using this site and giving more methods it is very interesting. I improve a lot thank you and keep it up in the same way.

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  31. Hi, what is the difference in reading it as a group, with partners, or individually? What is more effective?

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Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!