Sequencing "the identification of the components of a story- the beginning, middle, and end - and also to the ability to retell the events within a given text in the order in which they occurred". Sequencing is an essential strategy in comprehension, and the overall purpose of reading is comprehension.
Sequencing is one of many skills that contribute to students' ability to comprehend what they read. Sequencing refers to the identification of the components of a story — the beginning, middle, and end — and also to the ability to retell the events within a given text in the order in which they occurred.
Sequencing refers to putting events or information in a specific order. The ability to sequence requires higher-order thinking skills, from recognizing patterns to determining cause and effect, and more. Sequencing helps students understand and organize material they've learned as well as helps them solve problems.
There are 5 separate strategies that together form the high five reading strategy-
• Activating background knowledge. Research has shown that better comprehension occurs when students are engaged in activities that bridge their old knowledge with the new.
• Questioning.
• Analyzing text structure.
• Visualization.
• Summarizing.
Improve comprehension skills-
Comprehension strategies are conscious plans- sets of steps that good readers use to make sense of the text. Comprehension strategy instruction helps students become purposeful, active readers who are in control of their own reading comprehension. Certain steps that need to be followed to improve comprehension skills are:
• Eliminate distractions from your environment. The first step towards improving your reading comprehension has to be reading in a space where you'll be able to concentrate.
• Read with a helper if you're reading something above your level.
• Read aloud.
• Re-read text as necessary to improve your comprehension.
The “Super Six” comprehension strategies-
Such strategies are- Making Connections, Predicting, Questioning, Monitoring, Visualizing, and Summarizing.
[1] Making Connections-
Students are encouraged to make personal connections from the text with: something in their own life, another text or something occurring in the world. Students focus on making connections in various activities via the Library and My Lessons. This occurs as students associate what they are reading, understanding and seeing with familiar situations and texts. For example, students predict what the book is about from an image of the front cover, using their skills in making connections. This can be followed up in classroom discussions by asking students to compare the books they read with other books and real-life situations. For example, asking children to ‘explain to the class a time when you have experienced a similar feeling to a character in the book you read’. Or ‘Does the front cover remind you of something you have experienced in your life?’
[2] Predicting-
Students develop their predicting skills, using information from graphics, text and experiences to anticipate what will be read/ viewed/heard and to actively adjust comprehension while reading/ viewing/listening. In ABC Reading Eggs, prediction plays a significant part in introducing new texts to students, as they use cues from book covers, text and familiar words to make predictions about what the story is about. Students are encouraged to focuses on developing prediction skills throughout My Lessons and the Library, in the book notes and before reading activities. For example, in the My Lessons game “Arpiculate” students match each picture to its description. Students reveal sections of the picture tiles until they can predict what the whole picture is about. The faster and more accurately, students can answer, the more points they will earn.
[3] Questioning-
Students learn to pose and answer questions that clarify meaning and promote a deeper understanding of the text. Books in the Library and My Lessons have quizzes at the start and/or the end of the book to encourage students to make predictions and draw conclusions from cues and also to test their level of understanding of the texts they read. Students are presented with a range of activities to develop their questioning skills including prediction, word understanding/meaning, dictionary meanings and word studies. For example, the “Audience and Purpose” questions in My Lessons help students as they answer questions to clarify the meaning of the text, encouraging students to develop a deeper understanding and a big picture view of text they read. The skills students develop online can be further consolidated at home or in the classroom by further questions from parents and teachers during a book reading to continue to support a child’s understanding. Open-ended questions or questions that connect with a child’s feelings toward the book can provoke further interest and engagement is often a great place to start.
[4] Monitoring-
Students learn to stop and think about the text and know what to do when the meaning is disrupted. With all library books, students are given access to excerpts and can re-read texts at any point during the quiz so that they can be actively ‘monitoring’. This ensures students have understood what they have read and encourages them to apply their knowledge in answering the questions to find deeper meanings.
[5] Visualising-
Students create mental images from text they read/view/hear. Visualising brings the text to life, engages the imagination, and uses all of the senses. The books within ABC Reading Eggs have visual aids along with the text. However, the construction of the books use language that assists in developing a student’s visualising skills as they learn to picture scenarios being presented to them in their heads. Quizzes also promote this recollection of images, where a student must draw on what they have read to answer questions that required visualizing. For example, the ‘Picture this Sentence’ quiz in the stadium, students are prompted to select the sentence that links most correctly to the picture displayed.
[6] Summarising-
Students learn summarising skills as they identify and accumulate the most important ideas and restate them in their own words. This is also focused on in My Lessons and Library quizzes as many of the books have book notes and activities to encourage student understanding to be further drawn out. For example, ‘Who, What, Where and When’ and “Main Ideas and Details’ questions in My Lessons and the end quizzes help students to identify and accumulate the most important ideas about the story as they make connections from what they have learnt.
Tips for helping struggling readers to improve reading comprehension-
• Find books they’ll like.
• Read aloud.
• Skim the headings of the text.
• Re-read confusing sections.
• Use a ruler or finger to follow along.
• Write down words you don’t know.
• Discuss what your child has just read.
• Recap and summarize the main points.
• Use different formats.
• Identify reading problems.
• Get a reading tutor.