Semantic Impressions
Semantic Impressions is a prediction strategy to help students with comprehension of a text they are about to read. Before students read a story, select important words from the story and write them on the board. Make sure the words are written in the order they appear. Have students use the words to create their own story, words can be reused and students can either orally tell their stories or write them down. After students have written their stories, you can compare their version with the real story.
By writing or dictating their own stories, they are actively employing story grammar, using specific vocabulary, and drawing on their own background knowledge (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2014). Research on this strategy has shown to improve comprehension especially for struggling readers. The difference between this strategy and just making a simple prediction is that the words students use to dictate a story are taken directly from stories they are about to read. So, when they come across these words in the text they can connect it to their background knowledge and the story they wrote.
Two books to use with this strategy are:
1) "The Paper Bag Princess" by Robert Munsch
2) "Harriet and the Roller Coaster" by Nancy Carlson
By writing or dictating their own stories, they are actively employing story grammar, using specific vocabulary, and drawing on their own background knowledge (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2014). Research on this strategy has shown to improve comprehension especially for struggling readers. The difference between this strategy and just making a simple prediction is that the words students use to dictate a story are taken directly from stories they are about to read. So, when they come across these words in the text they can connect it to their background knowledge and the story they wrote.
Two books to use with this strategy are:
1) "The Paper Bag Princess" by Robert Munsch
2) "Harriet and the Roller Coaster" by Nancy Carlson