Metacognition and Fix-up Strategies
“Using Metacognition in the Reader’s Workshop: Some Key Ideas
• Proficient Readers monitor their comprehension during reading- they know
when the text they are reading or listening to makes sense, when it
does not, what does not make sense, and whether the unclear portions
are critical to the overall understanding of the piece.
• Proficient readers can identify when text is comprehensible and the
degree to which they understand it. They can identify ways in which a
text becomes gradually more understandable by reading past an unclear
portion and/or by rereading parts or the whole text.
• Proficient readers can identify confusing ideas, themes, and/or surface
elements (words, sentence or text structures, graphs, tables, etc.) and
can suggest a variety of different means to solve the problems they
have.
• Proficient readers are aware of what they need to comprehend in relation
to their purpose for reading.
• Many readers must learn how to pause, consider the meanings in text,
reflect on their understandings, and use different strategies to enhance
their understanding. This process is best learned by watching and
listening to effective models of think aloud. As developing readers learn
these processes, they can gradually take responsibility for monitoring their
own comprehension as they read independently.”
Keene, E.O. & Zimmerman, S. (1997) Mosaic of Thought. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann
Fix-Up Strategies for Surface Meaning:
• Look for a word-part you know
• Slow down
• Take sentence apart
• Get an alternate pronunciation
• Look up possible word meanings
• Check text features for help
• Substitute a synonym that makes sense
• Record and study related vocabulary
Fix-Up Strategies for Deeper Meaning
• Reread
• Read it aloud
• Keep reading and see if it gets clearer
• Read the sentence above and below
• Talk to someone about a part
• Read an easier text on the same topic then return to the more difficult
text
• Take notes and write your connections and questions in the notes
• Create a picture or diagram to hold meaning
• Stop and reflect
Fluent readers are better at comprehending their reading. They do not constantly think about
solving words and the meaning shines through. The most important part of reading is being able
to understand it, so become a fluent reader so you do not miss meaning.
• Introduce the Acronym and the meaning of each:
o Expression = voices for characters, tone of voice that shows mood, inflection to
support punctuation
o Accuracy = number of words correctly read
o Rate = speed, how fast or slow (this will change based on the setting, mood and
characters but should never be so fast so that we can't understand or so slow that
we become bored or confused)
o Smoothness = reading in long meaningful phrases, heading all punctuation
• As we focus on fluency, we will use a rubric to remind us what fluent reading should
sound like and what it should not.
Foundation Strategy
• Read a story or passage with poor fluency. Ask the students to identify the problems.
Next, fix the identified problems and try again. You will need model the importance of
repeated practice continually.
o As you do this throughout your fluency lessons, help the students describe the
problems more specifically, using the vocabulary on the rubric.
Guided Reading/Mini-lessons:
Expression focus
• Introduce "Mood" - read a passage with good fluency but the total wrong mood and ask
the students to identify what was wrong with your reading.
• Mood - (you can use the emotional wheel to help students describe moods) have students
go through each page and decide the mood of the scenes and characters. Have them label
these in the book with their sticky notes. In their small groups, have them do a few and
then practice making their voice change with each page to reflect the mood. (The Rough
Faced Girl is a good mood book that you can contrast)
• Mood - have students read various passages with a different emotion: happy, excited,
mad, sad, in love, silly, serious, bored etc. Have them practice those different emotions
both with you and then on their own. They will laugh and enjoy the lesson as they play
with their voice. If students are feeling very shy about this, make sure you boldly model
for them. If you can make them laugh or even laugh at yourself, you will lower the
affective filter (maybe not enough for them to step out today, but definitely in the
future).
• Mood - Show the kids one of the mash-up trailers for a children's movie. Demonstrating
how if you change the music or mood you can take a well-known story and make seem
very different. I like the Marry Poppins Scary Movie Trailer, you don't need to show
all of it to give the kids the idea. If you think it is too scary, there are many other choices.
Examples: Toy Story 3 Scary Trailer or What if Jaws was a Disney Movie.
• Mood - Facial Expressions: Explain how facial expressions are vital to expressing mood.
Ask the students to watch your face as you read a picture book. Make sure you read
expressively and exaggerate your facial expression. Ask what they notice (ignore the heat
of your self-conscious facial capillaries as they blush from the many penetrating eyes).
Next, tell your students to read a phrase (I usually choose one from a bulletin board
around me). Ask the students to read it in a happy voice with a frown on their face. Have
them try saying, "I am happy" with a frown on their face. Then repeat asking them to
say, "I am sad" with a smile on their face. They will notice that you cannot make it really
sound happy with a frown on your face and you really cannot sound sad with a smile on
your face. They will giggle and think it is funny. Have them practice using facial
expressions while they read. It will be uncomfortable for a while but let them know they
will soon forget they are doing it; good readers do it naturally. Praise it when you see it.
• Mood: Action or drama - Good readers get into their story when reading aloud. They
often use actions along with their facial expressions. Model this expressive reading then
demonstrate a lack of expression. Finally, have student share the differences they noticed.
• Smoothness: model reading where you are stopping at the end of each line instead of with
the punctuation. Ask the students to identify the problems. Talk about how much this
changes the meaning of the text and how often it occurs. Model correctly after.
• Smoothness: a really fun activity to help students notice punctuation is to have them do
actions or make sounds for each punctuation mark in a reading passage. Pause, sigh, or
tap pencils once for a comma. Make a stop sign with your hand, tap twice, hop, or click
your tongue twice at each period, question mark (you can shrug your shoulders here), or
exclamation point. You can slide at hyphens etc.
• Smoothness: Have students work on their breathing while reading. Model being out of
breath with a really long sentence. Show how punctuation helps us know when to
breathe. Make sure you have some challenging sentences for them to practice with.
• Smoothness: Read the book 20 Odd Ducks. This shows how punctuation can completely
change the meaning of the text. A fun extension we did was a class book where they had to write sentences about Earth Science, with different punctuation. They had to draw
pictures to illustrate the various meanings.
Fluency and Character Ed in Five Minutes or Less
According to Utah Law (Utah Code Title 53A, Chapter 13, Section 109), we are supposed to
teach character education in public schools. Described in 645 words, this law includes teaching
about honesty, integrity, morality, civility, duty, honor, service, obedience to law, as well as
respect, dignity and the idea of common good.
With an integrated curriculum, we can meet these needs in many ways. One affective way to
integrate fluency is to do it through music (with lyrics). Why would you do this?
• More time with eyes on text (highly researched)
• Engaged students because they want to sing along and/or learn the lyrics
• Extra oral reading practice
• Sets the tone of the classroom and brings in more joy
• Comprehension skills are used to analyze/determine the meaning
• Character education issues are often addressed
We call this "Song of the Day" at my school. It is one of our students' favorite traditions and we
have received extensive positive parent feedback from this. So, how does "Song of the Day"
work?
• First, pick a song, find the lyrics and determine if it is appropriate and has a message
about the topic you are addressing.
• Next, you need to display the lyrics for the class - preferably using a projector.
• After that, you play the song and highlight the lyrics with your mouse as they proceed.
I like to push their eyes ahead so I highlight a line ahead of where the lyrics are.
o The goal is to have the students read along, but if possible, we want them to sing
along. (The best way to lower their affective filter and get them to sing with you
is to start out by singing loudly yourself, even badly.... model that it is safe. - Dr.
Waite @UVU)
• Finally, have students write what they think the message of the song was, share with
their table and then have one from each table share with the class if time permits. They
should adjust or add to their thoughts if someone said something they really liked or
agreed with. Sometimes we allow students to submit songs. Sometimes I use the idea of song of the day to open up a topic
“Using Metacognition in the Reader’s Workshop: Some Key Ideas
• Proficient Readers monitor their comprehension during reading- they know
when the text they are reading or listening to makes sense, when it
does not, what does not make sense, and whether the unclear portions
are critical to the overall understanding of the piece.
• Proficient readers can identify when text is comprehensible and the
degree to which they understand it. They can identify ways in which a
text becomes gradually more understandable by reading past an unclear
portion and/or by rereading parts or the whole text.
• Proficient readers can identify confusing ideas, themes, and/or surface
elements (words, sentence or text structures, graphs, tables, etc.) and
can suggest a variety of different means to solve the problems they
have.
• Proficient readers are aware of what they need to comprehend in relation
to their purpose for reading.
• Many readers must learn how to pause, consider the meanings in text,
reflect on their understandings, and use different strategies to enhance
their understanding. This process is best learned by watching and
listening to effective models of think aloud. As developing readers learn
these processes, they can gradually take responsibility for monitoring their
own comprehension as they read independently.”
Keene, E.O. & Zimmerman, S. (1997) Mosaic of Thought. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann
Fix-Up Strategies for Surface Meaning:
• Look for a word-part you know
• Slow down
• Take sentence apart
• Get an alternate pronunciation
• Look up possible word meanings
• Check text features for help
• Substitute a synonym that makes sense
• Record and study related vocabulary
Fix-Up Strategies for Deeper Meaning
• Reread
• Read it aloud
• Keep reading and see if it gets clearer
• Read the sentence above and below
• Talk to someone about a part
• Read an easier text on the same topic then return to the more difficult
text
• Take notes and write your connections and questions in the notes
• Create a picture or diagram to hold meaning
• Stop and reflect
Fluent readers are better at comprehending their reading. They do not constantly think about
solving words and the meaning shines through. The most important part of reading is being able
to understand it, so become a fluent reader so you do not miss meaning.
• Introduce the Acronym and the meaning of each:
o Expression = voices for characters, tone of voice that shows mood, inflection to
support punctuation
o Accuracy = number of words correctly read
o Rate = speed, how fast or slow (this will change based on the setting, mood and
characters but should never be so fast so that we can't understand or so slow that
we become bored or confused)
o Smoothness = reading in long meaningful phrases, heading all punctuation
• As we focus on fluency, we will use a rubric to remind us what fluent reading should
sound like and what it should not.
Foundation Strategy
• Read a story or passage with poor fluency. Ask the students to identify the problems.
Next, fix the identified problems and try again. You will need model the importance of
repeated practice continually.
o As you do this throughout your fluency lessons, help the students describe the
problems more specifically, using the vocabulary on the rubric.
Guided Reading/Mini-lessons:
Expression focus
• Introduce "Mood" - read a passage with good fluency but the total wrong mood and ask
the students to identify what was wrong with your reading.
• Mood - (you can use the emotional wheel to help students describe moods) have students
go through each page and decide the mood of the scenes and characters. Have them label
these in the book with their sticky notes. In their small groups, have them do a few and
then practice making their voice change with each page to reflect the mood. (The Rough
Faced Girl is a good mood book that you can contrast)
• Mood - have students read various passages with a different emotion: happy, excited,
mad, sad, in love, silly, serious, bored etc. Have them practice those different emotions
both with you and then on their own. They will laugh and enjoy the lesson as they play
with their voice. If students are feeling very shy about this, make sure you boldly model
for them. If you can make them laugh or even laugh at yourself, you will lower the
affective filter (maybe not enough for them to step out today, but definitely in the
future).
• Mood - Show the kids one of the mash-up trailers for a children's movie. Demonstrating
how if you change the music or mood you can take a well-known story and make seem
very different. I like the Marry Poppins Scary Movie Trailer, you don't need to show
all of it to give the kids the idea. If you think it is too scary, there are many other choices.
Examples: Toy Story 3 Scary Trailer or What if Jaws was a Disney Movie.
• Mood - Facial Expressions: Explain how facial expressions are vital to expressing mood.
Ask the students to watch your face as you read a picture book. Make sure you read
expressively and exaggerate your facial expression. Ask what they notice (ignore the heat
of your self-conscious facial capillaries as they blush from the many penetrating eyes).
Next, tell your students to read a phrase (I usually choose one from a bulletin board
around me). Ask the students to read it in a happy voice with a frown on their face. Have
them try saying, "I am happy" with a frown on their face. Then repeat asking them to
say, "I am sad" with a smile on their face. They will notice that you cannot make it really
sound happy with a frown on your face and you really cannot sound sad with a smile on
your face. They will giggle and think it is funny. Have them practice using facial
expressions while they read. It will be uncomfortable for a while but let them know they
will soon forget they are doing it; good readers do it naturally. Praise it when you see it.
• Mood: Action or drama - Good readers get into their story when reading aloud. They
often use actions along with their facial expressions. Model this expressive reading then
demonstrate a lack of expression. Finally, have student share the differences they noticed.
• Smoothness: model reading where you are stopping at the end of each line instead of with
the punctuation. Ask the students to identify the problems. Talk about how much this
changes the meaning of the text and how often it occurs. Model correctly after.
• Smoothness: a really fun activity to help students notice punctuation is to have them do
actions or make sounds for each punctuation mark in a reading passage. Pause, sigh, or
tap pencils once for a comma. Make a stop sign with your hand, tap twice, hop, or click
your tongue twice at each period, question mark (you can shrug your shoulders here), or
exclamation point. You can slide at hyphens etc.
• Smoothness: Have students work on their breathing while reading. Model being out of
breath with a really long sentence. Show how punctuation helps us know when to
breathe. Make sure you have some challenging sentences for them to practice with.
• Smoothness: Read the book 20 Odd Ducks. This shows how punctuation can completely
change the meaning of the text. A fun extension we did was a class book where they had to write sentences about Earth Science, with different punctuation. They had to draw
pictures to illustrate the various meanings.
Fluency and Character Ed in Five Minutes or Less
According to Utah Law (Utah Code Title 53A, Chapter 13, Section 109), we are supposed to
teach character education in public schools. Described in 645 words, this law includes teaching
about honesty, integrity, morality, civility, duty, honor, service, obedience to law, as well as
respect, dignity and the idea of common good.
With an integrated curriculum, we can meet these needs in many ways. One affective way to
integrate fluency is to do it through music (with lyrics). Why would you do this?
• More time with eyes on text (highly researched)
• Engaged students because they want to sing along and/or learn the lyrics
• Extra oral reading practice
• Sets the tone of the classroom and brings in more joy
• Comprehension skills are used to analyze/determine the meaning
• Character education issues are often addressed
We call this "Song of the Day" at my school. It is one of our students' favorite traditions and we
have received extensive positive parent feedback from this. So, how does "Song of the Day"
work?
• First, pick a song, find the lyrics and determine if it is appropriate and has a message
about the topic you are addressing.
• Next, you need to display the lyrics for the class - preferably using a projector.
• After that, you play the song and highlight the lyrics with your mouse as they proceed.
I like to push their eyes ahead so I highlight a line ahead of where the lyrics are.
o The goal is to have the students read along, but if possible, we want them to sing
along. (The best way to lower their affective filter and get them to sing with you
is to start out by singing loudly yourself, even badly.... model that it is safe. - Dr.
Waite @UVU)
• Finally, have students write what they think the message of the song was, share with
their table and then have one from each table share with the class if time permits. They
should adjust or add to their thoughts if someone said something they really liked or
agreed with. Sometimes we allow students to submit songs. Sometimes I use the idea of song of the day to open up a topic
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