Say Something
Purpose
A simple strategy to assist students in constructing meaning from text. This strategy allows poor readers to make meaning before the end of the reading task.
Description
Using conversation students gain insight into another student’s ideas at various points in a text. Using text, students predict, summarize, clarify, and question. The process forces students to go back and reread to gain meaning.
Procedure
- Choose a partner
- Obtain reading material
- Decide how you will read the material – Silently or aloud with a partner
- Divide the reading task for the day into thirds; the third division must be at the end
- Locate the first place to stop and with your partner each person “says something” about the text using one of the below strategies:
Each partner shares one:- Prediction
- Summarization
- Clarification
- Question
- Continue to stop and “say something” at the second and third point. Students can then discuss, as a group, the material read
Student Expectations
- Are students working together?
- If necessary, do students reread to gain meaning?
- Are students correctly stopping at divisions, summarizing, clarifying, and questioning?
- During the discussion, is comprehension evident?
Please note students can use this strategy silently as a personal comprehension model.
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