Exploros | Understanding What You Read

Engage

Overview

In this experience, students make inferences to increase their comprehension of text. They monitor their own understanding of what they are reading and learn techniques to use when they have trouble understanding. Then, they identify key points in a text and compare information in multiple sources.

Objectives

Develop understanding while reading.
Understand how to make inferences.
Use evidence and details from a text to determine key ideas.

Duration

One class period.

ELL Support

This experience uses basic and academic vocabulary that students will meet routinely in the classroom. Ensure that ELL students recognize key vocabulary while reading and in discussion.

If your ELL students have difficulty reading the text of this (or any) experience, which provides important reading strategies, here’s a tip. Use the Chrome browser with Google Translate extension. Students can set the browser to translate the experience to any of the dozens of languages supported by Google Translate.

Vocabulary Words Used in the Passages

shingles: a rectangular piece of wood or other materials used on roofs or exterior walls
concrete: a building material made from gravel, sand, cement, and water that is poured into shapes and hardens into a stone-like surface
cement: a powder made from clay and used to form concrete
installation: putting something in place and preparing for use

How do you make sense of a world filled with new and confusing things? One way is to compare new experiences to ones you have already had. For example, if you see the sky getting darker, you don’t panic. You know from experience that it might rain. In this experience, you will learn some strategies for understanding what you read.

Objectives

Develop understanding while reading.
Understand how to make inferences.
Use evidence and details from a text to determine key ideas.

Imagine that you’re waiting for a bus. Traffic is going by. Suddenly you hear loud noises. They sound like thumping and knocking. They sound like coughing, but not human coughing. There is the clank of metal.

You look toward the street. You see that the sounds are coming from a car that is moving in a jerky way. Smoke is coming from its hood. Its front bumper is hanging down and scraping along the street. Other cars are swerving to get around it.

What do you think is going on?

Post your answer

Students answers should relate to a broken-down car in need of repairs or to an accident.

Share and discuss student responses and the evidence that led to their conclusions.

Think about what information you used to come up with your answer. You used your own knowledge and experiences. This prior knowledge helped you figure out what was happening.

When everyone is ready to continue, unlock the next scene.