Teaching a text-structure approach to comprehension: The CIA Approach.

Sarah Collinge introduces an innovative approach to chapter book reading in her book Raising the Standards Through Chapter Books. 

📖Benefits of a text-structure approach to reading:

• Students learn to break the task of reading a chapter book into manageable steps. 

• Students learn to pay attention to where they are in the book. They learn what strategies and skills are needed to read and understand each quadrant.

• Students learn to monitor comprehension as they read.

• The approach is transferable to any text! Students learn to use the approach anytime they read.

• Research demonstrates that "students who pay attention to text-structure as they read recognize and retain the important information it contains," (Rand, 2002).

🔍Students learn to read "like detectives"!

1. Divide the text into quadrants. 

   (Simply take the number of pages in the book and divide by 4.)

2. Put sticky notes in the book to mark the end of each quadrant.

3. Read using the collect-interpret-apply approach!

🔍A plan of action increases reading success!

🔍Learn more about the CIA approach in this short video:

All units in the Read Side by Side Reading Program teach the CIA approach.

📚Elevated for middle school!

In the middle school program, students advance from inspectional reading to analytical reading. They learn to "read like a professor" as they investigate plot development, character arcs, symbolism, and make literary connections! Students pay attention to both the plot line and character arc as they read.

The plot line poster for middle school shows both the plot line and the character arc.

👍Watch engagement soar as your students master grade-level standards and develop lifelong reading habits!