Module 1: Activity 2

Complete Exercise #5 on p. 39 by reading the passage and answering questions a-g that follow it. 

A. What is corandic?
Corandic seems to be some type of noun that is created naturally or unnaturally.

B. What does corandic grank from?
Corandic granks from corite.

C. How do garkers excarp the tarances from the corite?
Garkers excarp the tarances from the corite by glarking the corite and starping it in tranker-clarped storbs.

D. What does the slorp finally frast?
The slorp finally frast a pragety, blickant crankle.

E. What is coranda?
A coranda is a cargurt. 

F. How is the corandic nacerated from the borigen?
The corandic is nacerated from the borigen by means of loracity. 

G. What do the garkers finally thrap?
Garkers finally thrap a glick, bracht, glupous grapant, corandic. 



In order for me to be able to answer these questions I had to read and identify those specific sections of the paragraph that mentions the words within the questions. I did not have to have any knowledge or understanding of the vocabulary. This experience leads me to believe that the comprehension questions on worksheets and on standardized tests are not higher level questions and require very little effort to answer. If the standardized test is multiple choice students have a 25% chance of correctly identifying the correct answer without fully reading and comprehending the passage. Students seem to have become better guessers or test takers than proficient readers and are truly comprehending very little.  A student does not have to have any schema in order to answer those types of questionns and does not have to understand the academic vocabulary or topic within the passage. 

Since I was able to answer these lower level questions with no knowledge of the vocabulary or background knowledge related to the passage, I know many of my students are doing the same thing with assessments I have given them or they have been given in the past.  I am now asking myself, are my students truly comprehending what they are reading just because they can answer questions that are easily identifiable within the text? I would have to say, no.