Standard Lesson

Scaffolding Comprehension Strategies Using Graphic Organizers

Scaffolding Comprehension Strategies Using Graphic Organizers
Grades
3 - 8
Lesson Plan Type
Standard Lesson
Estimated Time
Three to four 45-minute sessions
Author
Publisher
ILA
  • Preview
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  • Standards
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  • Resources & Preparation
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  • Instructional Plan
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  • Related Resources
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  • Comments

Overview

In this lesson, collaborative strategic reading (CSR) is initially presented to students through modeling and whole-class instruction. To facilitate comprehension during and after reading, students apply four reading strategies: preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap-up. Graphic organizers are used for scaffolding of these strategies while students work together in cooperative groups.

Featured Resources

  • KWL Graphic Organizer: This handy chart will facilitate interactive responses for what your students know, “K,” want to know, “W,” and what they’ve learned, “L.”

  • Clunks and Clues Graphic Organizer: Help your students to walk through each clunk, various fix-up strategies, and get the gist strategy with this useful handout.

 

From Theory to Practice

Promoting reading comprehension, content learning, and English acquisition through Collaborative Strategic Reading (Klingner)
  • CSR combines two instructional approaches: reading comprehension strategy instruction and cooperative learning. These approaches improve learning opportunities for students with learning disabilities and with limited proficiency in English.

  • To facilitate comprehension of content area texts, students work in small, cooperative groups and apply four reading strategies
1. Preview. Structured previewing of text allows students to generate interest and questions about the text, to stimulate their background knowledge and associations with the text, and to facilitate their ability to make predictions about what they will learn.

2. Click and clunk. Students are taught to use self-monitoring strategies while reading to aid them in recognizing information they know ("clicking"), and identifying words, concepts, or ideas they do not understand or need to know more about ("clunking").
3. Get the gist. Students identify the main idea from the reading to confirm their understanding of the information.

4. Wrap-up. The wrap-up session provides students with an opportunity to self-monitor their reading while applying metacognitive strategies that further extend comprehension.

 

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

  • 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
  • 2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
  • 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
  • 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
  • 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
  • 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
  • 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
  • 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

  • Content area texts

  • Folder for handouts

  • Overhead projector or whiteboard

 

Printouts

Websites

Preparation

1. Review and, if necessary, modify the graphic organizers to meet the specific needs and abilities of your students. For assistance in creating or recreating graphic organizers, use the following resources:
2. Display a poster-size version of the Clunk Pattern Poster in your classroom for students' reference during the lesson.
3. Create a poster-size version of the Cooperative Learning Roles, in addition to printing a handout for each student.
4. Make one copy of the KWL Graphic Organizer handout for each student.
5. Find students or colleagues to assist in the modeling of cooperative learning roles.
6. Select a sample passage from a textbook to use for modeling the four reading strategies used in this lesson: preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap-up.
7. Review the Cooperative Learning Rubric or prepare one on your own to use for evaluation of students' cooperative learning behaviors.

Student Objectives

Students will

  • Record information using graphic organizers

  • Apply think-aloud strategies to aid in metacognition and verbalize their thinking

  • Preview text to generate questions and answers, stimulate prior knowledge, make predictions, and interact with print

  • Apply self-monitoring and self-correct strategies to aid in conceptual understanding of content material

  • Use summarization strategies to identify, process, and comprehend crucial information in a text

  • Discuss material with peers, monitor and correct their own work, encourage and support one another, and reinforce social skills in collaborative learning groups

Session 1: Previewing the text

1. Model the previewing process for students by displaying the KWL Graphic Organizer on an overhead projector. Read the title of the text passage and preview the pictures.
  • Fill in the "K" portion of the organizer, by asking yourself, "What do I already know about this topic?" Think aloud by saying for example, "The topic is volcanoes . . . I know about Mount St. Helens . . . I know volcanoes spew hot, dangerous ash . . . "

  • Next fill in the "W" portion by asking yourself, "What do I want to know about this topic?" Again, verbalize your thoughts by saying, "I've always been curious about . . . I want to know why . . . "
After guiding students through the previewing process, facilitate more interactive responses for the "K" and "W" portions of the chart and record student responses.
2. Read the first few passages of the text aloud, then verbalize your thoughts about what new information you just learned. Fill in this information on the "L" portion of the chart.
3. Explain why students need to investigate and record what they already know ("K") and what they want to know ("W") about a topic before reading, and how this strategy will help them understand what they are about to read.
4. Instruct students to preview the next section of text and independently complete the "K" and "W" portions on their own KWL chart.
5. Have students read the section of text that they just previewed and complete the "L" portion of the chart, "What did I learn after reading about this topic?" Elicit responses from students and then discuss the previewing process with them:
  • What worked?

  • What did not work?

  • What difference did it make in their understanding of the text?

Session 2: Clunks, get the gist, and wrap-up

1. Review cooperative learning roles by using students (or former students having practiced with this method) as role-players. Display the Cooperative Learning Roles on an overhead or projector screen for visual prompting. For reference during the lesson, a poster-sized version of the cooperative learning roles should be displayed in the classroom and students should also be given an individual handout. At this time, students should also review the Cooperative Learning Rubric that you prepared in advance of the lesson.
2. Display the Clunks and Clues Graphic Organizer on an overhead or projector screen and model the fix-up strategies for self-correction.
  • Walk students through each clunk by modeling how you use the various fix-up strategies. Clunk words should be preselected from a particular passage of text.

  • To model the get the gist strategy, ask students to identify the main idea from the preselected passage of text. Rephrase their responses on the worksheet using as few words as possible.
3. Demonstrate the wrap-up strategy using the QAD Graphic Organizer with question prompts.
4. At the end of this session, be sure to reinforce each of the cooperative learning roles. During the next session, students will be working in cooperative groups and using these roles.

Session 3: CSR in action

1. Assign students into groups with mixed abilities. Assign a cooperative learning role to each student within a group.
2. Before reading. Instruct students to preview a selection of text before reading using the list on the KWL graphic organizer, and complete the "K" and "W" portions of the chart.
3. During reading. Have students complete the top portion of the Clunks and clues graphic organizer while reading, applying the fix-up strategies and coordinating their work using the assigned cooperative learning roles. Monitor students' progress by walking around the room and offering assistance. This is also a good opportunity for you to take anecdotal notes, which can be used for assessment.
4. After reading. Students complete the "Get the gist" portion of the Clunks and clues graphic organizer and then return to the KWL graphic organizer to complete the "L" portion. Students should then do a wrap-up by completing the QAD graphic organizer and discussing how the cooperative learning roles worked within their groups.
5. Facilitate a class discussion on how everything worked, particularly the sharing of cooperative learning roles and the various strategies for reading.

Extensions

Student Assessment / Reflections

  • Observation. Includes taking anecdotal notes, class records, and classroom circulation.

  • Graphic organizers. Includes the KWL Graphic Organizer, the Clunks and Clues Graphic Organizer, and the QAD Graphic Organizer. These graphic organizers should be filed in a folder during the lesson. You can have individual student conferences for review of graphic organizers and assign grades for them if you choose.

  • Student self-assessment. Have students rate their own behavior and the behavior of their peers using the Cooperative Learning Rubric. Review students' self and peer assessments and provide your own rating for each group. A whole-class discussion is suggested so that students are aware of their behavior, how well they did, and what they can do to improve future cooperative learning sessions.

     

Jeanne Halladay
K-12 Teacher
This is a marvelous lesson plan of using the "smart" teaching strategy of combining all sorts of standards into one lesson. My 5th students and I have had great success with previewing, determining which strategy to use for errors when reading, writing the "gist", and others that have been incorporated into this lesson. As a teacher I have found the addition of working successfully in groups to be the icing on the cake. Bravo, Susan! Very well done.
Alison McCusker
Preservice Teacher
I am just finishing my bachelor's degree and have had a fear of lesson plan writing. I find it a vast and harrowing place to navigate. My friend turned me on to your site and I now feel that I have a much better handle on lesson plans. If nothing else, I can utilize what is here until I get my feet wet a few times to see what works for me and my future students. Thank you for your great help! It has given me confidence in my future teaching career!
Alison
Alison McCusker
Preservice Teacher
I am just finishing my bachelor's degree and have had a fear of lesson plan writing. I find it a vast and harrowing place to navigate. My friend turned me on to your site and I now feel that I have a much better handle on lesson plans. If nothing else, I can utilize what is here until I get my feet wet a few times to see what works for me and my future students. Thank you for your great help! It has given me confidence in my future teaching career!
Alison
Jeremy
K-12 Teacher
I've been teaching for a while, and I find that I rarely ever trust other teachers' resources and, particularly, organizers. I tend always to create my own.

What a pleasant experience it was stumbling upon your CSR materials. I found that I had to modify them very little; they were excellent to begin with.

Thanks for sharing, and for making your materials simple and clear.

Jeremy
Jeremy
K-12 Teacher
I've been teaching for a while, and I find that I rarely ever trust other teachers' resources and, particularly, organizers. I tend always to create my own.

What a pleasant experience it was stumbling upon your CSR materials. I found that I had to modify them very little; they were excellent to begin with.

Thanks for sharing, and for making your materials simple and clear.

Jeremy
Jeanne Halladay
K-12 Teacher
This is a marvelous lesson plan of using the "smart" teaching strategy of combining all sorts of standards into one lesson. My 5th students and I have had great success with previewing, determining which strategy to use for errors when reading, writing the "gist", and others that have been incorporated into this lesson. As a teacher I have found the addition of working successfully in groups to be the icing on the cake. Bravo, Susan! Very well done.
Jeanne Halladay
K-12 Teacher
This is a marvelous lesson plan of using the "smart" teaching strategy of combining all sorts of standards into one lesson. My 5th students and I have had great success with previewing, determining which strategy to use for errors when reading, writing the "gist", and others that have been incorporated into this lesson. As a teacher I have found the addition of working successfully in groups to be the icing on the cake. Bravo, Susan! Very well done.
Alison McCusker
Preservice Teacher
I am just finishing my bachelor's degree and have had a fear of lesson plan writing. I find it a vast and harrowing place to navigate. My friend turned me on to your site and I now feel that I have a much better handle on lesson plans. If nothing else, I can utilize what is here until I get my feet wet a few times to see what works for me and my future students. Thank you for your great help! It has given me confidence in my future teaching career!
Alison
Jeremy
K-12 Teacher
I've been teaching for a while, and I find that I rarely ever trust other teachers' resources and, particularly, organizers. I tend always to create my own.

What a pleasant experience it was stumbling upon your CSR materials. I found that I had to modify them very little; they were excellent to begin with.

Thanks for sharing, and for making your materials simple and clear.

Jeremy

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