Clarifying

The clarifying strategy can take different forms. In Chapter Four we noted that when classrooms develop an inquiry culture, students recognize that “confusion” can be a powerful starting point for learning. We introduced a five-step process they can adopt when reading confusions arise: (1) ignore the unclear part and read on to see whether it gets clearer or the unclear part turns out to be unimportant (that is, you can still understand what you are reading), (2) reread the unclear part (more carefully), (3) reread the sentence(s) before the unclear part, (4) try to connect the unclear part to something you already know, and (5) get outside help (from peers, the teacher, or resource materials).

In Chapter Four we also pointed out that one of students’ first moves when they Think Aloud or Talk to the Text is to ask clarifying questions: What does this word mean? What does this have to do with that? Did I miss something?

A simple graphic organizer can help students take the first step in the outlined clarifying process: to decide whether or not to ignore a reading confusion. The organizer in Box 7.3 introduces students to the idea of identifying a text roadblock or confusion and deciding whether to move on or stop and clarify it. When students use this approach in a partner Think Aloud, they learn from their partner’s experience as well as their own.

A related graphic organizer—a clarification chart (see Box 7.4)—can also scaffold students’ clarifying practice, helping them work through the process of identifying a point of confusion in a text, deciding what to do about it, and explaining their new understanding in writing. The instructional focus is on having students practice identifying what question or confusion a specific roadblock is causing. The point of the chart is to help students slow down and notice where they lose comprehension and what they can do about it. In addition, the chart gives teachers useful insights into students’ thought processes as they read difficult texts. (Box 7.5 shows a sample of student work with a clarification chart.)

Purpose

A clarification chart helps students focus on where they lose comprehension in a text and what they can do about it. This graphic organizer suggests that reading is not magical, but rather a process of solving problems. The reader is in charge—of identifying roadblocks or confusions, trying problem-solving strategies, and taking a best guess at what the difficult passage may mean. For the teacher, the chart reveals where students struggle and what strategies they have appropriated for taking control of their reading. As students gain control and become increasingly metacognitive, the use of the chart should fade.

Procedure

• Project a chunk of text that students will be reading. Demonstrate identifying and writing down a roadblock and filling in the other associated columns of the clarification chart.
• Have students create their own version of the chart.
• Invite students to nominate additional roadblocks and, as a class, work to complete the associated columns in the chart.
• Assign students to continue working with the text and the clarification chart, either individually or with a partner.
• Bring the class back together to discuss the roadblocks students selected to work with, what strategies they used, and what tentative meanings resulted.
• Assign a text for homework and have students practice using the clarification chart as part of the assignment.
• Go over the charts the next day in class and discuss the different strategies students used.

Students have read “Seis,” in Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolf A. Anaya.³ The following example illustrates how one student used a clarification chart as he moved through the text: quoting from a point of confusion, identifying the cause of the confusion, deciding what to do about the confusion, and making (or not making) a tentative clarification of the confusion.

Reference:

3. Anaya, R. A. (1972). Bless me, Ultima. Berkeley, CA: TQS Publications.