Unpacking the questions: Improving students’ written comprehension on mClass Reading 3D’s TRC

This online course will cover how writing can improve students’ reading comprehension as well as how to help your students unpack comprehension questions.

Course description

Are your students stumped by mClass Reading 3D’s written comprehension piece? Have you ever had a student read through a TRC text flawlessly, only to be held back by the vocabulary in the questions? This course will cover how writing can improve students’ reading comprehension as well as how to help your students unpack comprehension questions.

By the end of this course, learners will understand how to use writing in their guided reading groups to address vocabulary used in TRC assessments. Learners will analyze question stems and rubrics in line with the Common Core to guide them in creating a lesson to improve their own students’ reading comprehension.

Course goals

• Participants will explore current research through reading online publications and watching videos regarding the relationship between reading comprehension and writing.
• By posting assignments to the forums within the online course and by logging on to read and respond to the posts of classmates, students will reflect on their own practices and share ideas with others.
• By analyzing their own classroom data, participants will develop their own lesson plan to address their students’ reading comprehension needs. Participants will have the option to submit their work for publication at LEARN NC.

Prerequisites

This course is designed for regular education elementary teachers who utilize Amplify’s mClass Reading 3D’s TRC reading assessment program. Participants must have access to Amplify’s mClass Reading 3D: Text, Read, Comprehend program, and currently have students working on levels F or higher. Participants must also have access to their students’ most recent mClass data.

Course objectives

Participants will:

• explore the relationship between writing and reading.
• analyze TRC question prompts and rubrics.
• examine how text dependent questions scaffold our students’ learning and prepare them for answering TRC questions.
• explore “Question to Answer Relationships.”
• create a guided reading lesson to address students’ reading comprehension needs.

Purpose and rationale

This online course is designed to help those enrolled develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between reading comprehension and writing with the goal of implementing their knowledge into their current practice. By understanding text dependent questioning and question and answer relationships, participants can better prepare their own students for written comprehension questions on mClass Reading 3D.

Course information

Audience

Regular education elementary teachers who utilize Amplify’s mClass Reading 3D’s TRC assessment program, Levels F and higher.

Time commitment

Three to five hours per week.

Duration

Our class runs for four weeks with the final assignment due in Week five. Our weeks begin midnight on Wednesday and end midnight on Tuesday.

Credit and fees

The course fee is $150.00 and upon successful completion participants will earn 20 hours to be used toward CEU credit.

Evaluation

No formal test is used as a method of evaluation in this course. Successful participation in and completion of this course is measured by a student’s contributions within the online forums and timely completion and submission of the online exercises. Students should plan to post and respond to the posts of others in order to be considered an active member of the class. A final project of creating and implementing a lesson will be required. Students will have the option to submit their lesson for publication at LEARN NC.