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West Irondequoit Central School District Introduction Comprehension is an active and complex cognitive process in which students construct meaning through reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Comprehension is integral to all learning as students interact with a variety of challenging and rigorous information sources and experiences. The West Irondequoit Central School District Comprehension Outcomes, which organize comprehension as: Information and Understanding, Literary Response and Expression, and Critical Analysis and Evaluation, apply to the continuum of instruction from kindergarten through grade twelve. In every curricular area students are expected to develop critical thinking skills including analysis, synthesis, application, evaluation, and reflection on both the information and their learning processes. Speaking and writing assume a primary role in development of comprehension, along with reading and listening. Discourse among students is fundamental in the development of understanding and is embedded in each outcome area. As with discourse, writing is utilized to construct, clarify, and extend meaning, rather than used only as a means to assess understanding. Reflection is a critical component of each area, deepening students' understanding. A comprehension companion document accompanies the outcomes, identifying dynamic processes for accessing information and extending understanding. These recursive and interactive processes provide a common thread of student strategies, instructional techniques, and formative assessments applicable to all three outcome areas. Instructional techniques engage students in learning experiences that result in the development of critical thinking skills, as well as comprehension strategies. Formative assessments provide teachers and students with information regarding acquisition of these skills and strategies. Throughout this process, the teacher's role is consistently that of facilitator in a student-centered classroom. Through the use of comprehension strategies, students develop life-long thinking skills necessary to achieve the expectations of the outcomes. Strategies are selected and used recursively throughout the learning process - before, during, and after each learning experience. These strategies, however, are not limited to a single phase of the process, but are used cyclically throughout learning. When students are engaged in these processes, fluency results. Fluency is a bridge to comprehension. Aligned with the New York State English Language Arts Standards and Indicators, the West Irondequoit Central School District Comprehension Outcomes are both an integral part of our English Language Arts Curriculum and all curricular areas. Teaching and celebrating literacy in all its forms is the charge of every educator, and becoming a literate citizen is the right of every student. These outcomes and companion document are a path to that goal.
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