Responding to Literature with Comprehension, Creativity and Imagination

Presented by

Dr. Deborah Ellermeyer

Dr. Kathleen MurphyClarion University of Pennsylvania

What is reading comprehension?

According to the RAND Reading Study Group (2002), reading comprehension is the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language.

Comprehension entails three elements:

the reader who is doing the comprehending

the text that is to be comprehended

the activity in which comprehension is a

part

The Need for Multiple Literacies

“In today’s world, however, we need to be fluent in multiple

literacies that require us not only to be able to read and write, but

also to understand a variety of disciplines, navigate myriad

information sources, examine the author’s intent, and comprehend

beyond the printed page.” (p. 13)McLaughlin, M. (2010). Content area reading: Teaching and learning in an age of multiple literacies. Boston, MA: Pearson

Education, Inc.

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner suggests that “children’s minds are different, and an education system should take account of those differences.” (p. 2)

Willingham, D. T. (2004). Reframing the mind: Howard Gardner and the theory of multiple intelligences. Education Next, Summer 2004, Vol. 4, No. 3.

Information Source

91 ways to respond to literature. Retrieved from http://www.angelfire.com/ok/freshenglish/bookreportideas.html

Changing Perspectives

Students rewrite the book or chapter from a different point of view (i.e. another character in the story or a character from a similar or related text).

Simulation Diary/Journal

Students keep a diary or journal for one of the characters in the book.

http://penzu.com/content/products/classroom

Character Sketches

Students create character sketches for main and/or supporting characters in a book. Students tell what the character looks like, what the character likes, how the character acts, and accomplishments or things that make the character special.

Found Poems

Students compose a found poem for a character, chapter or event within a book.

Parodies

Students write a humorous parody of a scene or entire book.

Promotional Campaigns

Students create a newspaper layout, radio or television commercial for a movie about the book.

Letters to the Author

Students write letters to their favorite authors.

Casting Characters

Students put together a creative cast of characters for the film version of a book. Include photos and descriptions and tell why each is perfect for the part.

Book Jackets or Sandwiches

Students create original book jackets for a book that includes a cover design, book summary, information on the author and illustrator, and information about other books by the author. http://www.cape.k12.mo.us/blanchard/hicks/Reading%20Pages/Champ/sandwichbookproject.pdf

Radio Dramas

Students convert a book or scene to a radio drama. Students can audiotape or present live to an audience. Include an announcer and sound effects.

Readers’ Theater Scripts

Students create and perform a readers’ theater script of a book scene.

http://www.timrasinski.com/presentations/readers_theater_sources.pdf

You Are There

Students create and perform a You are There news program and report on a particular scene, character or book event.

Television Episodes

Students write and stage a TV series episode based on a book or scene.

http://www.readwritethink.org/

Commercials

Students prepare and perform a TV commercial that would make people want to read a book. They can employ various propaganda techniques.

Body Masks

Students create body masks (full-sized cardboard figures with cutouts for the face and hands) and use them to dramatize a scene from a book.

Charades

Students play charades based on various book titles they have read or characters.

Soap Carvings

Students sculpt a soap carving of a character or book event.

Stuffed Creations

Students make life-sized stuffed characters, animals or important objects found in a book and use them to retell the scene or book.

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/strategies-promote-comprehension

Book Weavings

Students weave designs related to a book. Display them as wall hangings or mobiles.

Roll Movies

Students create roll movies of book scenes using long strips of paper, dowel rods and shoe boxes.

Animations

Students create animations of a scene on adding machine paper by drawing a sequence of pictures with each one showing a bit more movement that the preceding one.

Action Flipbooks

Students create action flip books by drawing a sequence of pictures in a small book with each one showing a bit more movement that the preceding one.

Veggie Prints

Students use potatoes or other raw vegetables to carve and ink pads to create book designs.

Character Impersonations

Students dress like book characters and retell a scene from a book.

http://www.pinterest.com/marcitate/book-character-dress-up-day/

Quiet Conversations

Students meet in pairs or trios in a quiet corner of the classroom to informally discuss books they have all read or books they think the others might be interested in reading.

Character Interviews

Students prepare questions to interview a book character. One student plays the part of the character, while the other serves as interviewer.

Comparing & Contrasting Biographies

Students compare and contrast biographies of characters in historical fiction.

Comparing and Contrasting Story Variants

Students compare and contrast different version of the same book, books with similar themes or the book and its movie version.

https://docs.google.com/previewtemplate?id=1c6iJUOLvBwtgGsoh4TZDwHOF7Au73etoIgLdiia7-Jk&mode=public

Panel Discussions

Small groups of students discuss different books on a particular topic such as death, loneliness, challenges, heroes, etc. Each panelist presents a summary of his/her book.

Sales Talks

Begin by giving students tokens or play money. Students attempt to get others interested in reading their books by giving a sales talk. After the sales talk, presenters take bids on the most interesting book.

Author Interviews

Students choose an author and learn as much as possible about him/her. Class members interview the author to learn about him/her.

Character Role Plays

Students assume the roles of characters in a book and meet to discuss what has happened to them in a part of the book.

Talking Displays

Students audiotape a dialogue or description of an event, scene or character to be listened to by other members of the class.

Scale Models

Students create models of important objects in a book and write an explanation of the object’s importance

Recipes

Provide students with recipes to create foods mentioned in the book with which they may be unfamiliar. The teacher might provide small samples for the class to taste.

http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2013/08_Aug_css/index.html

Relief Maps

Students create a relief map of the setting of the book using clay, sand, papier-mâché, etc.

Designing T-Shirts

Students make their own t-shirts of a book illustration or character using plain t-shirts, color-fast markers or fabric paint.

Costume Doll Displays

Students make costume dolls for a display of book characters.

Scale Drawings

Students create scale drawings of a character’s bedroom, classroom, sports gymnasium, etc.

http://www.brainpop.com/educators/community/bp-topic/scale-drawing/

Game Playing

Students learn to play a game mentioned in a book, such as an old-fashioned game or a game from another country.

Story Quilts

Students illustrate story elements on sheets of paper which is cut to fit into large, clear Ziplock™ bags. Join bags together with colored masking tape and display.

Story Ballads and Songs

Students write lyrics and music, or adapt words to a familiar melody, to summarize favorite books and share with others.

Literary Maps

Students create informative and colorful literary maps of authors’ works and lives using references, bibliographical and autobiographical materials.

Word Games

Students create crossword puzzles, acrostics and other word games incorporating vocabulary words, characters and settings. Duplicate and share with the class.

Comparing and Contrasting Time Periods and Lifestyles

In groups, students compare the time period and way of life in a book to the present day. They might include such things as: methods of transportation, fashions, foods, customs and government.

Brainstorming Content Area Uses

Students brainstorm and discuss ways in which a historical novel could be used in a history class or how a science fiction book could invigorate a science class.

Time Travel to the Future

Students pretend they are characters who have come back 25 years after the novel has ended and describe their reactions to the world at hand.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Students create and perform telephone conversations between two of the book characters.

Novel Court

Students conduct mock trials to permit book characters to defend their actions in a controversial scene. Class members deliberate as the jury and arrive at a verdict.

Book Mimes

Groups of students pantomime a scene from a book, giving close consideration to movements, facial expressions and body language.

Bringing Characters Up to Date

Each student selects a book character and describes what kind of clothing, books, CD’s, movies, etc. he/she would like if he/she lived in the present day.

Extra! Extra!

Students design the front page of a newspaper by writing short news stories that describe the major events in the book. An attention-grabbing headline should be included.

Novel Human Interest Stories

Students compose human interest stories for characters in the book.

Novel Editorials

Students write editorials on controversial issues raised by the book.

Comic Strip Retellings

Students design comic strips which retell or relate to events in the story.

Story Timelines

Students create a timeline that accurately depicts events in a novel.

Picture Book Retellings

Students create a picture book of approximately 32 pages that retells the novel’s storyline in a condensed version and incorporates both text and illustrations.

Book Bulletin Board

Students collaboratively create a bulletin board to stimulate interest in a book.

Legends, Fables and Myths

Students create a legend, fable or myth based on some events in a book.

Character Limericks

Students create limericks about characters in a novel. Discuss the line, rhythm and rhyme pattern requirements of limericks (a, a, b, b, a).

Fiction or Reality?

Students choose characters who seem to have realistic experiences and write about something similar that has happen to them.

Editor in Chief

Students treat a section or chapter of a book as an editor and rewrite the text they consider weak to make the book stronger or more interesting.

Trading Places

Students write short papers explaining and justifying why they would or would not like to change places with the character in the novel.

Letters to the Characters

Students write personal letters to book characters they admire or dislike.

Characters in Search of Jobs

Students pretend to be book characters and compose resumes and cover letters for job openings for which the characters are suitable. Do the book characters have any references?

Once Upon a Time

Students write fairy tales about some event or character in a book.

Book Collages

Students create collages on particular themes or issues in a book.

Picture Postcards

Students create postcards or a series of postcards. On one side they sketch appropriate and related drawings, and on the other side, they create messages to other characters.

A Year to Remember

Students collaboratively create a yearbook based on the people and events in the book. They should refer to an actual yearbook for ideas on layout and sections.

Be a Literary Agent

Students pretend to be literary agents representing the authors of books they have read. As a literary agent, each student will compose a letter to book editor, Harry Decision, explaining why she/he feels the author’s book should be published.

Character Scrapbooks or Memory Boxes

Students each choose a major character in a book, and as those persons, put together a scrapbook or memory box of special memories and mementos that represent that character.

Travel Brochures

Students create travel brochures or travel posters that illustrate and advertise the setting of the novel. They may refer to actual travel brochures and posters for ideas.

Fortune Cookie Review

Students create fortune cookie messages for book characters and explain why their messages are appropriate.