reading
1. Previewing: Learning about a text before really reading it. Previewing enables readers to get a sense of what the text is about and how it is organized before reading it closely. This simple strategy includes seeing what you can learn from the headnotes or other introductory material, skimming to get an overview of the content and organization, and identifying the rhetorical situation.
3. Questioning to understand and remember: Asking questions about the content. As students, you are accustomed (I hope) to teachers asking you questions about your reading. These questions are designed to help you understand a reading and respond to it more fully, and often this technique works. When you need to understand and use new information though it is most beneficial if you write the questions, as you read the text for the first time. With this strategy, you can write questions any time, but in difficult academic readings, you will understand the material better and remember it longer if you write a question for every paragraph or brief section. Each question should focus on a main idea, not on illustrations or details, and each should be expressed in your own words, not just copied from parts of the paragraph.
5. Outlining and summarizing: Identifying the main ideas and restating them in your own words. Outlining and summarizing are especially helpful strategies for understanding the content and structure of a reading selection. Whereas outlining reveals the basic structure of the text, summarizing synopsizes a selection's main argument in brief. Outlining may be part of the annotating process, or it may be done separately (as it is in this class). The key to both outlining and summarizing is being able to distinguish between the main ideas and the supporting ideas and examples. The main ideas form the backbone, the strand that holds the various parts and pieces of the text together. Outlining the main ideas helps you to discover this structure. When you make an outline, don't use the text's exact words. Summarizing begins with outlining, but instead of merely listing the main ideas, a summary recomposes them to form a new text. Whereas outlining depends on a close analysis of each paragraph, summarizing also requires creative synthesis. Putting ideas together again -- in your own words and in a condensed form -- shows how reading critically can lead to deeper understanding of any text.
6. Evaluating an argument: Testing the logic of a text as well as its credibility and emotional impact. All writers make assertions that they want you to accept as true. As a critical reader, you should not accept anything on face value but to recognize every assertion as an argument that must be carefully evaluated. An argument has two essential parts: a claim and support. The claim asserts a conclusion -- an idea, an opinion, a judgment, or a point of view -- that the writer wants you to accept. The support includes reasons (shared beliefs, assumptions, and values) and evidence (facts, examples, statistics, and authorities) that give readers the basis for accepting the conclusion. When you assess an argument, you are concerned with the process of reasoning as well as its truthfulness (these are not the same thing). At the most basic level, in order for an argument to be acceptable, the support must be appropriate to the claim and the statements must be consistent with one another.
lecting on challenges to your beliefs and values: Examining your personal responses. The reading that you do for this class might challenge your attitudes, your unconsciously held beliefs, or your positions on current issues. As you read a text for the first time, mark an X in the margin at each point where you feel a personal challenge to your attitudes, beliefs, or status. Make a brief note in the margin about what you feel or about what in the text created the challenge. Now look again at the places you marked in the text where you felt personally challenged. What patterns do you see?
7. Comparing and contrasting related readings: Exploring likenesses and differences between texts to understand them better. Many of the authors we read are concerned with the same issues or questions, but approach how to discuss them in different ways. Fitting a text into an ongoing dialectic helps increase understanding of why an author approached a particular issue or question in the way he or she did.
Structural Organizers:Before reading an assignment, basic frameworks which are included in the text should be pointed out such as cause-effect or problem-solution. It can be beneficial to call attention to specific plans of paragraph or text organization such as signal words, main idea sentences, highlighted phrases, headings and subtitles. A review of skimming techniques might also be appropriate as these various areas are covered.
A Purpose for Reading: When students have a purpose for reading a selection, they find that purpose not only directs their reading towards a goal, but helps to focus their attention. Purposes may come from teacher directed questions, questions from class discussions or brainstorming, or from the individual student. Along with the question, it is a good idea to pose predictions of the outcome and problems which need to be solved. These may be generated by the student or the teacher, but the teacher should use these to guide students in the needed direction for the assigned selection.
STAND UP. SPEAK OUT. EMPOWER OTHERS. BREAK THE SILENCE.
Brainstorming: Examine the title of the selection you are about to read List all the information that comes to mind about this title Use these pieces of information to recall and understand the material Use this knowledge to reframe or reorder what you know, or to note what you disagree with, for further research
Group discussions: Group discussions in and out of class will help you to discover what you bring to your reading, what your fellow students bring, as well as shared experiences If you find they have new background information, ask for more information from them
Concept or mind mapping: This is a type of brainstorming where you place the title/subject as the main idea, then develop a "mind map" around it. It can be effective either in a group or by yourself
Making predictions means to describe what you think will be revealed next in the selection based on clues from the title, illustrations, and text details.
I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson the pupils will be able to: a. Identify the characters in the story; b. Comprehend the selection being read; and c. Reason out well
Author Consideration:Depending upon the content area, a discussion of the author of the particular work can be helpful to the understanding of it. What is the author trying to say? What is his point of view and his reason for writing the particular work?
KWL: This strategy consists of three steps for students to use with expository text: What do I Know? What do I Want to learn? What did I Learn? A good strategy for group discussions. Develop a three column poster with each question in a column and list out responses. See also: K - W - L
Pre-questions: Often chapters in texts provide organizing questions. You can also write out a series of questions you expect to be answered when reading: Examples: Definition: What is....? Where does ... fit? What group does ... belong to? Characteristics: How would I describe...? What does ... look like? What are its parts? Examples What is a good example of ...? What are similar examples that share attributes but differ in some way? Experience What experience have I had with ....? What can I imagine about ...?
Visual Aids:Pictures and other visual material can activate your prior knowledge. Use the Internet to search for pictures related to your title/topic to give you visual images of what you are about to read. Advance Organizers: Relate new reading material to something you already know, to your background or experiences. Ask your teacher for assistance in developing these.
Additional Pre-reading Strategies: Overviews: Discussing information about the selection or assignment prior to reading must take place. This may take the form of class discussions, printed previews, photographs, outlines, or films. Spend enough time before the students begin the assignment to ensure understanding of it.
Vocabulary Previews:Unfamiliar key words need to be taught to students before reading so that new words, background information, and comprehension can improve together. List all words in the assignment that may be important for students to understand. Arrange words to show the relationships to the learning task. Add words students probably already understand to connect relationships between what is known and the unknown. Share information with students. Verbally quiz them on the information before assigned reading begins.
