Make and Break: Reading-Strategy-for-Improving-Comprehension

Welcome back, teacher friends! 

When I started my teaching career twenty-two years ago, I was hired to work with struggling students and readers. That afforded me opportunities to attend various professional developments which taught me how to make more effective assignments.

One of my favorite reading strategies for improving reading comprehension that I learned was the "Make-and-Break". This strategy can be used basically with any grade level. You need to tailor the assignment to the level of the student. I have personally used this strategy with students in grades seven through twelve. (Remember twelfth graders are still kids in bigger bodies.) 

The idea behind a make-and-break is to take a short article or reading and "break" it apart. To do this, you would cut sections of the reading into pieces. 

 

The above is an example of an article with lines embedded for where you would cut the article into pieces. 

How does this work? Great question. 

1. Pick the article you would like students closely read multiple times. 
2. Decide how you would like this activity done. I personally like having my class in groups and working cooperatively, so I lean towards group work. 
3. Photocopy the article that needs to be cut based on how many groups. I like students to have a clean copy once the group has put the reading passage back together. For example, if I have nine groups, I would make nine copies of make-and-breaks. Then, I would make enough copies for everyone to have a fresh sheet once the group has put the passage back together. 
4. Cut the passage into pieces, so each group has a cut-out copy of the passage.
5. Find your tape/stapler/glue, so students can assemble the passage back together (it looks like a puzzle).
6. Prior to class starting, arrange the class in groups. Putting the broken passage and tape in the center.
   
7. Greet students at the door, and send them to their groups. Instinonly g them not to tooncehe items until you have given them direction.
8. Once you are ready to begin, give students the directions to read the pieces of paper carefully because they need to arrange the passage back in order. 
9. As soon as the group thinks the passage is back together, one representative raises their hand, so you can check their work. 
10. 
    Once you have given the "congratulations, you have put the passage back together", give the group a clean sheet to complete the next activities. 

That is the gist of a make-and-break. From this point, I add other activities. I sometimes add a vocabulary chart and reading comprehension questions. Because the first part is "fun", students don't realize they will be completing two close readings of the passage. 

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