Guiding Comprehension Overview Blog Post

Text: Colinvaux, P. (1978). Why big fierce animals are rare: An ecologist's perspective. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Text Frames: Cause/Effect and Concept/Definition

Strategy used and resource: Science Connection overview (Buehl 2014)

            Out of the long list of guiding comprehension activities in our text, the natural choice for my next assignment was the science connection overview (Buehl 2014). This strategy involves having the students work with a partner to preview a chapter and fill out a worksheet by first writing down the words and phrases that seem familiar to them. They then look for material that has already been covered and take notes on that. Using the past two questions and what they have picked up in the skimming, they then formulate questions that may be answered in the text. Finally, they predict what the author will try to convey in the reading. This strategy is great for difficult readings and, depending on how the class receives this activity for Why Big Fierce Animals are Rare, I may use the same activity for peer-reviewed journals as well.

I am excited to use this strategy in the upcoming assignment of this particular reading, mostly because the students were given a previous chapter from this book and struggled with it. The chapter is focused on the ocean, and while it gives great examples of why the ocean is a less efficient ecosystem than a terrestrial system, the author assumes that the reader has a good grasp on basic ecology at this point in the book (it is chapter 9). Before reading, the activity required me to skim through the chapter to look for phrases and ideas that were familiar to me before I read the chapter. Quickly looking through the paragraphs, I jotted down anything that my students have already covered this year. Even doing that, had me less nervous about assigning this reading. Next, without going back to the text, I used the previous questions to formulate what questions this chapter may be asking. This is interesting because if there are some questions that students ask that are not answered in the chapter, we may be able to have an extended discussion for deeper learning. Finally, I took a guess as to what the author may try to answer in the ten pages of the chapter.

When I finally go to reading the chapter, I was able to organize my thoughts and was able to highlight much more efficiently than when I had read previous chapters from this book. I think that I would like to do this activity in class and then assign the reading for home, and ask for annotations. A follow up discussion could be framed around whether or not students’ questions were answered and whether or not their predictions were correct about the author.

Below are the science connection questions and the notes I took before reading.

What’s familiar? Skim the chapter for things that are familiar and that connect with your life and world.

•  Deserts have low nutrients
• Calories
• Productivity
• Measuring plant tissue
•  Nutrient cycles
• Dams
• Pollution
•  Rule of tens
• Food chains
• Overfishing

What topics are covered? After skimming, what seem to be the main ideas of this reading?

• ·         Productivity in the ocean
• ·         Nutrients in the ocean

What are you wondering? What questions do you have about the material that may be answered in the chapter?

• ·         Why aren’t there a lot of nutrients in the ocean?
• ·         Where do the nutrients come from?
• ·         How does the sea life get the few nutrients?
• What will the author tell you? What is the structure of this reading?
• ·         Ocean is a desert
• ·         There is not a lot of plant life
• ·         Nutrient cycles in the ocean
• ·         Humans taking food from ocean is bad

Buehl, D. (2014). Classroom strategies for interactive learning (4th ed.). Newark, DE. International Reading Association