comprehension TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts.

Pair students and task them with reading a text together and charting their thinking and synthesis.

The anchor chart might include the following:

  • At first, I was thinking . . .
  • While I was reading, I was thinking . . .
  • While I was reading, I was also thinking . . .
  • The more I read, I thought . . .
  • After reading, my thinking changed to. . .
     

Further Explanation

This assessment directs students to determine the key ideas in a text and combine those details to form a new coherent and unified idea not explicitly stated in the text. Students should be able to apply the knowledge gained from text to their lives and the world around them.

Once students have determined the key ideas in a text, they can synthesize information, or combine details and parts of a text or even multiple texts to form a new coherent and unified idea not explicitly stated in the source material. When students can synthesize information from a text, they are able to apply the knowledge gained to their lives and the world around them. For example, students who can find a way to unify several viewpoints presented on an issue will have the ability to look at the issue in different ways and might be better able to consider solutions.

Research

1. Accardi, M., Chesbro, R., & Donovan, K. (2018). Outlining Informational Text: A Learning Transfer Tool. Science Scope, 42(3), 34+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A556734510/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=c17eb615

Summary: This article features an instructional sequence that takes students through the notetaking process. The purpose of the process is to move students away from simple bulleted lists toward notes that demonstrate, through organization of details and key ideas, that students have synthesized and evaluated what they have read. Through a more sophisticated notetaking process, students can better understand and engage with content text.

2. Barth, A. E., & Elleman, A. (2017). Evaluating the impact of a multistrategy inference intervention for middle-grade struggling readers. Language, Speech, & Hearing Services in Schools, 48(1), 31+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A490475287/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=85a8099a

Summary: This study examines the effectiveness of multiple inference intervention strategies that were designed to increase inference-making and reading comprehension for struggling readers. The study focused on using text clues, activating and integrating prior knowledge, understanding character and author's purpose, and responding to inference questions. Details and lesson examples are available in the Appendix.