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STRATEGY FOCUS

FIX-UP STRATEGY

PURPOSE

Fix-Up strategies are used during reading and can be used in all content areas to help improve student understanding of the text. It is not effective to simply tell students to monitor their reading comprehension. They need to be taught how to monitor their comprehension and how to use Fix-Up strategies through explicit instruction with modeling and guided practice. When students monitor their reading comprehension (i.e., metacognition) and realize they don’t understand what they just read, Fix-Up strategies can help improve their understanding of text and assist students in developing the skills to self-regulate their reading.

Adolescent Literacy Model- Guide-O-Rama and Fix-up Strategy

 

Stop and Think Pause at the end of a paragraph, section, or page to check for understanding.
Ask Questions Ask yourself questions about what you just read, such as “What is the main idea of what I just read?” or “What is important about what I just read?”
Reread Go back to reread a word, sentence, paragraph, or previous section of the text to resolve a misunderstanding.
Slow Down Slow down your pace if the text isn’t making sense.
Read Out Loud Read it out loud if the text is confusing.
Keep Reading Read on to see if confusion is clarified. If not, go back and try another Fix-Up strategy.
Use Context Clues Reread parts of the text to find clues or information you might have missed.
Reread the words around an unknown word to figure out its meaning.
Use Word Attack Skills

If you don’t know a word, you can:

      • Sound it out
      • Break it into parts – use your knowledge of prefixes, roots, and suffixes to help figure it out
      • Use context clues
      • Look the word up
      • Ask for help
      • Keep reading to see if it makes sense
Use Text Features Look at headings, titles, diagrams, graphs, charts, or pictures.

PROCESS

  1. Prepare for the lesson. Determine which Fix Up strategy you want to teach. Read the text ahead of time to plan a Read Aloud/Think Aloud (p. 150) to model your own reading comprehension and use of the strategy.
  2. Define or explain the strategy.
  3. Explain the purpose of the strategy.
  4. Model how to use the strategy through a Read Aloud/Think Aloud. Demonstrate how to stop at the end of a paragraph, section or page, check for understanding, and use the Fix-Up strategy.
  5. Facilitate guided practice with the students.

PROBING  QUESTIONS

CONSIDERATIONS

    • How do Fix Up strategies help you make sense of the text?
    • Are there certain Fix Up strategies that you use more often than others? Why?
    • How has using Fix Up strategies changed how you read text?
    • How were you struggling with the text, and how did the Fix-Up strategy help?
      • Facilitate small and whole group discussion around student comprehension of independently read text and which Fix Up strategies they use to help understand what they are reading.
      • Ask students to use sticky notes to track their use of Fix Up strategies.
      • Fix Up strategies can be paired with other strategies as students read and make sense of the text.

       

       

      SCAFFOLDS

      General Scaffolds

      • Use the Gradual Release model (I do/you watch, I do/you help, you do/I help, you do/I watch to provide scaffolding for students.
      • Model how to use the strategy through a Read Aloud/Think Aloud. Demonstrate how to stop at the end of a paragraph, section or page, check for understanding, and use the Fix-Up Strategy (Handout).
        Chunk the text to make it more accessible for students (e.g., number paragraphs, etc.).
      • Bold key vocabulary words.
      • Ask students to use sticky notes to track their fix-up strategies, after modeling examples for them to see.
      • Encourage and allow students to access and use vocabulary resources and tools such as anchor charts, word walls, word bank, and personal dictionaries.

      Scaffolds for Multilingual Learners

      Entering/Emerging:

      • Bold key vocabulary words for students to use to identify icons and match key terms and ideas to images, graphs, icons or diagrams.
      • Allow students to access and use vocabulary resources and tools, such as anchor charts, word walls, word banks, and personal dictionaries (including images).
      • Chunk the text to make it more accessible for students to sequence events, identify patterns, and locate main ideas.

      Developing/Expanding:

      • Pair strategy with Reader Response in order to support students’ comprehension of texts for the purpose of recounting, arguing, explaining and/or discussing.

      Bridging/Reaching:

      • Pair strategy with Main Idea–Detail Frame in order to support students’ comprehension of texts for the purpose of recounting, arguing, explaining and/or discussing.
      • Pair strategy with Text Coding with Margin Notes, Double Entry Organizer (DEO), Anticipation Guide, and Jigsaw to assist in comprehension of texts.

      REPRODUCIBLE