comprehending :: making & repairing meaning :: passage-level ::

synthesis

"Synthesizing is a more advanced skill, in that it involves retelling, analyzing, evaluating, summarizing, inferring, and linking to personal experiences and knowledge. It leads to understanding a deeper meaning than what is found from literal interpretation of the words." (Ketch, A., 2005, p. 9) 

Working Definition

Synthesis is combining the higher order strategies such as connecting, inferring and sharing thinking and orchestrating these strategies in such a manner as to generate a unique, creative, or deeper understanding of the text.

Prompts

Within the context of this document synthesis is treated as a higher-order qualitative benchmark. While students who are not yet independently synthesizing their strategies for comprehending should be prompted to do so, those prompts should be a natural extension of a given discussion. Generic prompts are likely to lack the necessary flexibility and be generally contrived. However, a model prompt may be useful in developing your own prompts.

© 2014, Robert Pottle
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