Comprehension Interview

Adapted from Keene’s Major Point Interview for Reading, Mosaic of Thought, 1997

Student ______________________ Date ________ Text (pg.) __________________________

Teacher(for narrative texts): What has happened in the story so far?

_____ Setting _____ Characters _____ Problem(s) _____ Events _____ Solutions

Teacher (for informational texts): What are you learning about?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Teacher: Start reading where you left off. I’ll listen. (Student whisper-reads while teacher records
miscues and self-corrections on back of interview sheet).

Text Level: _____ Easy (96-100%) _____ Instructional (90-95%) _____ Frustration (< 90%)

Teacher: Keep reading and I’ll stop you once in a while and ask you some questions.

Strategy Questions Student Response Rubric

 What can you do to make 1. No response or “I don’t
Self-Monitors the sentence make sense? know.”
Is aware of errors and  What do you do when you 2. Fix-up strategies do not
uses fix-up strategies come to tricky words? clear up confusion.
when meaning breaks  What can you do to help 3. Fix-up strategies help
down. yourself? construct meaning.
 Tell me what you read. 1. No response or “I don’t
Retells  What happened first? Next? know.”
Remembers what was  Tell me about the characters, 2. Partial retelling, does not
read and retells setting, problem, solution, address all story elements.
information in etc.? 3. Retells events in logical
sequence. order and comments on
all story elements.
 What did you think about 1. No response/ “I don’t
Connects when you read that part of know.”
Makes connections to the story? 2. Response is not related to
personal experiences,  Did it remind you of text.
previous knowledge or something you already know, 3. Connection relates
other texts that s/he has or an experience you’ve had, background knowledge &
read. or another book? Tell me personal experiences to text
about it. and enhances
comprehension.
 What do you think will 1. No response or “I don’t
Predicts happen next? know.”
Makes logical  What might you learn next? 2. Prediction is not
prediction(s) based on  What in the text helped you substantiated with text.
events. make that prediction? 3. Prediction is consistent and
logical with text.
 What did you picture in 1. No response.
Visualizes your mind? 2. Image is unrelated to text.
Creates mental images  What did the characters 3. Image is closely matched
of characters, events look like? with text and further
and/or ideas.  What could you draw to clarifies complex ideas or
illustrate that idea? anomalies.
 What is this part mainly 1. No response or incorrect.
Summarizes 2. Recalls some events in
 Provides short about? random order.
statements that capture  Tell me in one or two 3. Synthesizes succinctly,
main idea and related sentences what you just recalling main idea and
details. learned. details in sequence
Strategy Questions Student Response Rubric
 What did you wonder about 1. No response or an unrelated
Questions as you were reading? question.
Asks questions while  What questions did you ask 2. Literal question with short
reading to clarify yourself? answer.
meaning or extend the  What confusions did you 3. Higher-order question that
meaning. have? represents complex thinking
about text.
 What did the author mean 1. No response or “I don’t
Infers by _______? know.”
Reads “between the  What made you think that? 2. Response is literal or not
lines” to capture  What were you thinking logical.
unstated, but implied when the text said 3. Response is logical and
information. _________? shows inferential thinking.

Record Miscues and Self-Corrections