7 KEYS TO COMPREHENSION Susan Zimmermann

coauthor 7 KEYS TO COMPREHENSION & MOSAIC OF THOUGHT

WHAT IS READING? Visible Ingredients: Surface Structure Letter-Sound Knowledge: Provides information about letters, features of letters, combinations of letters and the sounds associated with them. Word Knowledge: Provides information about words, including instantaneous recognition of words, but not including the meaning associated with the word. Structure of Language: Provides information about the form and structure of language, including punctuation and grammar and how we string words together to make sense.

Invisible Ingredients:Deep Structure Word Meanings: Provides information about the meanings, concepts, and associations of words in context. Background Knowledge: Provides information from a readers prior knowledgeeverything the reader has experienced, read, watched --that permit him/her to understand and remember information from the text. Purpose for Reading: Provides information about the purposes and needs the reader has while reading. A reader reads differently depending upon his/her purpose for reading.

Thinking Strategies: 7 Keys to Comprehension Using background knowledge (schema) Creating mental images Questioning Inferring Determining importance Synthesizing Monitoring for meaning (fixups)
Books by Susan Zimmermann Comprehension Going Forward,coauthor 2011 Mosaic of Thought, 2007,10th anniversary ed. Keeping Katherine,2005 7 Keys to Comprehension 2003(coauthor Chryse Hutchins) Writing to Heal the Soul 2002 Mosaic of Thought 1997 (coauthor Ellin Keene) Grief Dancers, 1996 1

LANGUAGE FOR USING THE 7 KEYS:

Background Knowledge: I remember That reminds me of Mental Images: What do you see in your mind Heres what I see in my mind Questioning: I wonder Why do you think Inference: I think that My guess is My clue here is Determining Importance: I think this is really important because Synthesis: What does this really mean to you? Fix-Up: Lets read this again and see if we can figure it out
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