"Everything is becoming more clearer," two students wrote on a synthesis chart. Those words aptly sum up not just their understanding of the book, but of their blooming understanding of the way the comprehension strategies work together. When I taught synthesis for the first few years, I was apprehensive about starting our synthesis work because I didn't feel I had a clear idea of what it was-- I wasn't even sure when I was or wasn't synthesizing in my own reading. Now, I'm seeing it EVERYWHERE! Synthesizing is when you turn the page of a book and the kids smile, eyes wide-- it's when you see the lightbulb click on. They have listened to the whole story, thinking it is about one thing, only to change their thinking with a turn of the page. Synthesizing is when you're teaching a lesson and it seems that no one is getting it until Billy explains it in kid language. Before you know it, all of them are adding more and more and have constructed ...
by Andrea Moffatt