English Language Arts and Reading.8.5.H

The student is expected to

synthesize information to create new understanding; and

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.

Create an anchor chart to support the changes in thinking that occur while reading. Task students with reading a text 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 expects 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 apply the knowledge gained from the text to their lives and the world around them.

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

Review

1. Hedin, L. R., & Conderman, G. (2010). Teaching students to comprehend information text through rereading. The Reading Teacher, 63(7), 556–565. doi:10.1598/RT.63.7.3

Summary: In this study, researchers discuss instructional approaches that improve reading comprehension. The instructional approaches include rereading and paraphrasing.

2. Ferlazzo, L. (2017, November 20). Response: Using questions that 'position students as meaning makers.' [Opinion Classroom Q & A Web log post]. Education Week Teacher. Retrieved from https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2017/11/response_using_questions_that_position_students_as_meaning-makers.html

Summary: This is one blog in a series of five that focus on using questions to engage students in the teaching and learning process. One of the general outcomes of the questioning process is to guide students to think deeply by analyzing, comparing and synthesizing information instead of writing a static recitation of facts or information. Students are  encouraged to ask questions, and teachers are provided specific strategies to improve their own questioning skills. The questioning is both formal and informal.