Readers+Synthesize

=__Teach students how to synthesize.__=

What is this?

 * 1) Maintaining an awareness of the bigger picture into which the text fits.
 * 2) Being aware of important concepts, changes, and patterns
 * 3) Being aware of how things fit together in the reading.
 * 4) Synthesis occurs both during and after reading.
 * 5) Synthesis is often a fusion of the other reading skills.

Why teach this?

 * 1) Synthesizing improves reader’s ability to determine importance and leads to an overall stronger comprehension
 * 2) In fiction, readers who synthesize attend more clearly to character, setting, conflict, etc.
 * 3) In non-fictions, readers who synthesize attend more directly to text patterns (chronology, cause and effect, comparison and contrast, etc.),

How to teach this skill

 * 1) Model, Model, MODEL! (Demonstrate)
 * Read aloud to students, pausing to “think aloud,” showing the information that you synthesize
 * Be sure to model using a variety of texts
 * 1) Guided Practice: Students describe to the facilitator pieces of information that they’ve synthesized during a shared reading.
 * 2) Independent Practice: In small groups, students share what they’ve synthesized, showing commonalities (between wars, in procedures, amongst themes or authors)