Reading Strategies Reading is a skill that is used in all subject areas and can greatly increase or decrease a student’s success in the classroom. Reading strategies can be used to vary the approach students are given of any given text. Some reading strategies are summarized below. Activating prior knowledge Activating prior knowledge is a reading strategy that occurs before the student is introduced to reading material. The teacher uses a prereading activity, which can be done in the form of a journal or class discussion. Clarifying Clarifying is making the meaning of the text clear to the reader. Context Clues Context clues is using words surrounding an unknown word to determine its meaning. Drawing Conclusions Drawing conclusions is a reading strategy that is done after reading. Evaluating Evaluating is a reading strategy that is conducted during and after reading. Inferring Predicting Predicting is using the text to guess what will happen next. Rereading Restating Setting a Purpose Skimming and Scanning
Teacher Education Center-Lesson Plans Why do good readers ask themselves questions about what they have just read? (Students respond.) Right. After you have predicted and clarified, you should ask good questions about what you have read for at least two reasons. One reason is to test yourself to see if you really understand what you have read. The other reason is to identify what is important to remember in the story or the passage. Let's talk about what makes a "good" teacher-like question. Read this passage: Many years ago, in the days when people lived outdoors or in caves, there were no tame dogs. Ask:What kinds of questions can you think of to test your understanding of this passage? Good questions ask who, what, when, where, why, and how.
The Art of Close Reading (Part Three) In the previous two columns we introduced the idea of close reading, emphasizing the importance of the following: To read well, in addition to having the above understandings, students must be able to identify the big picture within a text, to determine the key ideas within the text early on, and to see the scaffolding that connects all the ideas within the text. In other words, they need to develop structural reading abilities. Moreover, students need to see that there are generalizable skills one must develop to read sentences and paragraphs well. In addition, students must develop reading skills specific to reading certain kinds of texts – like textbooks, newspaper articles and editorials. In this column we will focus on the theory of close reading. Structural Reading Structural reading is a form of close reading applied to the overall structure of an extended text (usually a book). To read structurally, ask these questions: What does the title tell me about this book? Go to top
The Art of Close Reading (Part Two) In the previous article we introduced the idea of close reading, which is reading with an emphasis on: understanding your purpose in reading understanding the author’s purpose in writing seeing ideas in a text as being interconnected looking for and understanding systems of meaning In this article, we discuss the art of engaging a text while reading. To read closely, students must get beyond impressionist reading. They must come to see that simply deciphering words on a page and getting some vague sense of what is there does not translate into substantive learning. Avoiding Impressionistic Reading and Writing The impressionistic mind follows associations, wandering from paragraph to paragraph, drawing no clear distinction between its own thinking and the author’s thinking. Whatever knowledge the impressionistic mind absorbs is uncritically intermixed with prejudices, biases, myths, and stereotypes. Engaging a Text The reflective mind interacts with the author’s thinking. Go to top
15 terrific resources for close reading Snap Learning is a longtime partner and supporter of The Cornerstone, and they have sponsored this post. Though their products are not included in the roundup below as these resources are free, I encourage you to check out their Close Reading Portfolio or request a demo of the product here. They’re a fantastic company and I believe their interactive close reading exercises are among the best on the market. Close reading is an important part of Common Core because it helps students think and reflect deeply on the text. However, it think it’s a great strategy for ALL teachers to use, regardless of whether your state has adopted Common Core. I remember teaching my third graders to use “think marks” like stars, question marks, and exclamation marks as far back as 2001. There is no one set way or “right” way for teaching kids to do close reading. Hopefully your students aren’t doing THAT kind of close reading. All of the resources below contain FREE info and valuable ideas in the post.
The Art of Close Reading (Part One) To read well requires one to develop one’s thinking about reading and, as a result, to learn how to engage in the process of what we call close reading. Students not only need to learn how to determine whether a text is worth reading, but also how to take ownership of a text’s important ideas (when it contains them). This requires the active use of intellectual skills. It requires command of the theory of close reading as well as guided practice based on that theory. In this and the next few articles we focus on some of the fundamentals of close reading. Reading For a Purpose Skilled readers do not read blindly, but purposely. When we read, we translate words into meanings. "I have devoted especial pains to learn, with some degree of numerical accuracy, how far the reading, in our schools, is an exercise of the mind in thinking and feeling and how far it is a barren action of the organs of speech upon the atmosphere. In general, then, we read to figure out what authors mean. Go to top
Close Reading Passages, Middle School |Elementary School Passages and Lessons, grades 1-6| |Middle School Passages and Lessons| |High School Passages and Lessons| |How to Teach Close Reading| Close Reading of President Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural AddressThis structured handout guides students through a close reading of a short passage from the address. One page; requires a word processor for access. Farewell to Manzanar (Houston) and Unbroken (Hillenbrand)This lesson exemplar will allow students to participate in critical discussion of two stories that illuminate important, yet divergent, experiences of war and conflict. Middle School ELA Curriculum Video: Close Reading of a Text: MLK "Letter from Birmingham Jail"This is a 15-minute (downloadable) video in which David Coleman, a contributing author to the Common Core State Standards, models a close reading. One-Page Fiction Readings: Grade 7Links to 11 printable passages. Frederick DouglassStudents will explore the point of view of a man who survived slavery.
How the brain reads… | Robyn Stephen By Robyn Stephen Converging research indicates that reading difficulties are due to inadequate connections between key brain areas rather than due to a lack of function of these brain areas themselves. These inadequate connections result in under-activation of these key brain areas. Brain imagining studies can show us which areas of the brain are working when someone is a typical reader or reading fluently. The research agrees that we need the rear left side of the brain* working to be able to read fluently. The beginning reader uses the front and centre of the left side of their brain*** to labouriosly work out the sound that each letter makes and to then blend these sounds together ie. After we have encountered a word between five and forty times, we own it: we know how to pronounce it, spell it, and understand its meaning. Brain imagining studies can also show us which areas of the brain are working when someone has dyslexia.
Speed Reading - Study Skills from MindTools.com Learning to Read More Efficiently Learn how to speed read, with James Manktelow & Amy Carlson. Think about how much reading you do every day. Perhaps you read the newspaper to catch up with what's going on in the world. When you look at it, reading could be the work-related skill that you use most often! Maybe not. But what does becoming a better reader involve? How We Read Although you spend a good part of your day reading, have you ever thought about how you read? When you actually think about it, reading is quite a complex skill. Scientists now believe that each of your eyes lock onto a different letter at the same time, usually two characters apart. Advantages of Speed Reading Many people read at an average rate of 250 words per minute. However, imagine if you could double your rate to 500 words per minute. Another important advantage of speed reading is that you can better comprehend the overall structure of an argument. Note: Speed reading is a useful and valuable skill. Regression Tip: