Invite students to examine the text more than once. Students
should pair up, identify differences in theiranswers, then read
again. The questions link students with the text and encourage them
to reread——-andreally delve into the comprehension. There will be a
lot of student-to-student talking.D. READING BETWEEN THE
LINES
This is the most exciting of the comprehension activities.
Students are asked to interpret and infer mean-ing from the text.
This activity may be unfamiliar to you and your students for
several reasons, includ-ing textbook style, culture, and format,
especially the fact that there can be only "suggested
answers."However, "once you become used to these types of items,
you and your students may come to look for- ward to them and find
them among the most challenging and interesting.
Pair and group work lead to class discussion. Be sensitive to
different opinions and encourage students to support their answers,
including those that differ from the "Suggested Answers" in the
Answer Key. You'may have to teach students how to approach :this
activity. If you model a tolerance for ambiguity—— a range of
possible answers and reasons for them——then students can begin tO
accept that comprehen- sion is not always black and white. This
section is especially important for students with academic goals,
as they will be asked inference-level questions by professors in
class and on'examS, both standardized and teacher-made.
4. READING TWO
A. EXPANDING THE TOPIC
The selections here are often shorter and easier than in Reading
One. As a result, the reading could be done in class. There is an
assumption that comprehension will not be a big issue, so there is
no preteach-ing of vocabulary and limited comprehension work. If
you feel that students need comprehension work, you may wish to add
to it here. The context usually offers a new or different
perspective on the topic presented in a different genre of text;
e.g., if Reading One is expository, Reading Two may be a narrative.
The purpose is to add another layer of content to the topic. With
this extension, students are more ready to dive into interpretive
tasks that require a higher level of thinking.