- English Language Arts and Reading
- Grade 3
- Comprehension skills
make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures;
Present a folktale for students to read. Guide students as they preview the text, noting the title and stopping to observe illustrations and text features. Before students read the text, ask them to share their predictions of what the characters might do as well as what the moral of the folktale might be. Give students a stopping point to revisit their predictions. At that point, have students share further predictions they have about the text. Encourage students to finish reading the text and explain whether their initial predictions were correct and whether they changed their predictions while reading. Note students’ ability to make predictions and how they validate or adjust predictions as they read.
This assessment item requires students to make sense of what they think the author wants to tell the reader. Initially, students use background knowledge and text features to make predictions. Students must be familiar with text features and characteristics of genre and understand what they may reveal about the text. A teacher may wish to assess predictions using a variety of text types.
1. Droop, M., Elsäcker, W. V., Voeten, M. J., & Verhoeven, L. (2015). Long-Term Effects of Strategic Reading Instruction in the Intermediate Elementary Grades. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9(1), 77–102. doi:10.1080/19345747.2015.1065528
Summary: The findings of this research suggest that third and fourth grade students should first attain and enhance their knowledge of reading strategies through teacher modeling. Then, they should learn how reading strategies are used and verbalized. After these steps, students can learn to apply this knowledge when reading. The more often a student uses the strategies, the more internalized the strategies become.
2. Kelly, M.J., & Clausen-Grace, N. (2010). Guiding students through expository text with text feature walks: The reading strategy in this article guides students in the reading of text features in order to access prior knowledge, make connections, and set a purpose for reading expository text. The Reading Teacher. 64(3), 191–195. doi: 10.1598/RT.64.3.4
Summary: This article describes how to employ a text feature walk in the classroom and reports on the benefit from using this technique, including results from a pilot study in the spring of 2007. Text features include all the components of a story or article that are not the main body of text. The text feature walk is a structure that addresses each of these facets of expository text.