During-Reading Strategies

During-reading Strategies

While completing your summer reading, you should consistently check in with yourself to ensure you're reading actively, instead of simply looking at a bunch of words on a page (or a screen). There are lots of things you can do to be an active reader, and you're likely already doing some of those things. Below are some strategies you may already use without thinking about it, or may want to consider using, as you read.

1. Visualize
2. Make Connections
3. Make Predictions
4. Take Margin Notes

Visualizing means to "make a mental picture" of what's happening in the story, as you read. Because a book will likely be action-oriented, and the characters will be doing and saying things, this "picture" is really more like a movie. The more detail you're able to add to your mental movie, the more likely you are to understand what is happening in the story. Just make sure that the details you add to your mental movie (accents, background/setting, characters' facial expressions, etc.) are based on the information that the author has provided. If you find that you're unable to make a mental movie while reading, or if that mental picture is vague and not very detailed, that may be a sign that you're not really thinking about what you're reading, or that you're not understanding what's happening in the story.

Making Connections, as discussed in a previous post, is a great strategy to use in order to stay interested in what you're reading and to remember more of what you're reading. You can connect what you're reading to other things you've read in the past, movies you've seen, things that you have personally experienced, or what you know about the world around you. Making connections can also help you to visualize more clearly, and it can help you to make more logical predictions.

Making Predictions is basically just thinking about what will happen next, based on what has happened so far in a story and based on background knowledge and previous experience. Oftentimes, we have to modify predictions about what will happen, as we read and gain more information. Making predictions can keep us interested in what we're reading, and it can also give us a purpose or focus while reading; we'll keep reading to figure out whether or not our predictions are accurate!

The topic of taking Margin Notes deserves a lot more discussion and time than I'll give it right now, but in short, taking margin notes while reading is a great way to ensure that you're being active (and not just looking at the words on the page), and to show off your thought process or what's happening in your mind, as you read. I always suggest that people have something in their hand to write with, while reading. This is so you can jot down those connections and predictions you're making, as well as questions or other ideas you have, while you're reading. It is also helpful to have something to write with in your hand so you can easily underline or star important parts of the story, note down in the margins when a new character appears or when the setting changes, or when you think the author might be emphasizing a certain point over and over again. It can be a good idea to use symbols and abbreviations when taking margin notes, to save yourself some time and to make certain things pop out at you when you go back to review what you've read. For example, a star can be used to denote something you think is important; "Ch." can be written in the margin when a new character appears; you can jot down a question mark in a margin when you're confused, or an exclamation point when something surprising happens; "Set." can be written in the margin when there's a description of the setting (time and place) of the story; and, you can make up other symbols and abbreviations to show what you're thinking and what sorts of connections you're making as you read. The margins of a book, if large enough, can also be a good place to sketch out some of what you're visualizing as you read, if you think it's an important scene or page.

Happy Reading!

Pre-Reading Strategies

Pre-reading Strategies

Before beginning your summer reading, take a look at these tips and the rationale behind using each.

Pre-reading is an important step in the reading process, especially when you're being asked to read something challenging or when the topic of the text is something you don't find inherently interesting.    Using a few of the pre-reading strategies below can very likely help you to understand the text better when you do read, and it can also increase your interest in the topic and increase your motivation to read something that's required. 

Below are 5 strategies you should try BEFORE reading a book:

1. Build Background Knowledge and/or Activate Background Knowledge
2. Skim and Survey
3. Question the Text
4. Make Predictions
5. Make Connections

1. Build Background Knowledge and/or Activate Background Knowledge
Activating background knowledge or Building Background Knowledge prior to reading can help you to be better able to visualize, connect to, and generally comprehend what you're reading. Activating background knowledge basically primes our brains to retain incoming information, because the part of our memory that stores similar information will already be alert and ready to receive more. Clearly there's a better scientific explanation, but I like to think of our brains as velcro and the new information contained in a text as a tennis ball. If the velcro's "sticky" side is facing out because it's been activated, the tennis ball is more likely to stick. If the velcro's sticky side is not facing out because there is not any background information or it hasn't been activated, the tennis ball will likely just bounce off and not stick.

Building background information can be done in any number of ways: watching a movie on the topic that is discussed in the book, or that is set during the same time period as a story; visiting museum exhibits, monuments, or locations discussed in a book; looking up pictures or videos online that relate to the story or topic; or, simply having a conversation with someone who is knowledgeable about the topic or the plot of the book. Having some background information prior to reading can help you to become more interested in what you're reading too, can help you to better visualize what's happening, and it can also help you with coming up with questions, making predictions, and making connections (which will all be discussed below).

2. Skim and Survey
Skimming and surveying a book only takes a few minutes at most. Basically, you'll want to look at and read the front and back covers or inside of any book jackets, then flip through the book to notice text features like the chapter titles or subheadings, and pictures or graphics. It's also helpful to note the length of individual chapters, the font size, and how many pages the book is overall, for planning and time management purposes. Skimming and surveying a book can help in that it can prompt you to activate background knowledge, and also because it will help you to come up with questions about the text, make predictions, and make connections.

3. Question the Text
Don't expect the text to answer you back out loud, but you'll certainly find many answers to your own thoughtful questions once you start to read. While skimming or surveying the book, come up with some questions you'd like to find the answers to while reading. You can turn chapter titles into questions. For example, if a chapter was titled "The Wicked Witch of the West," I might ask myself, Why is she wicked? What does she do that's wicked? What's her name? Is she from the west coast of the United States, or the western part of some other region?
Also, for example, if you skim Seedfolks, you will see a number of pictures and chapter titles that are names of people. So, you might ask a question like,  Is the title of the chapter the person's name whose picture is also on the page? Or, Why does this chapter have a picture of a packet of seeds, while that other page has a picture of a shovel? Or, Is there only one narrator for the whole story, or does it switch each chapter?

Questions can also be general, like the following:

• How does the picture on the cover relate to the story? 
• When and where is this book set?
• Who is the protagonist, and what is his or her problem?
• What is the main character going to learn over the course of the story?
• Why does the font change at different points of the book?

General or specific, asking questions is an important pre-reading strategy because it gives you a focus and purpose for reading- you're reading in order to answer those questions. It can also help you to enjoy the book more, and keep you reading, because you'll want to find out the answers to your questions. Not all of your questions will be answered, and you'll likely change some of your questions and come up with new ones while reading.

4. Make Predictions

Making predictions can get and keep you interested in the book you're reading. Make predictions about what sort of problem a main character may have, why the title of the book is what it is, and how the setting of the book might influence the action. It helps to have some background knowledge, and to have skimmed the book, before making predictions. Making predictions, like questioning the text, is another During-Reading strategy you should use.

5. Make Connections

Activating background knowledge is a form of making connections between what you already know, and what you anticipate reading. Many of the connections you can make to a book before you even read it, will fall into one of three categories: 

• connections to our own life or experiences
• connections to other texts we've read
• connections to what we know about the world around us

Making connections to the book based on its topic, title, pictures, chapter titles, or other features we see by skimming the book, can help us to be engaged in what we're reading, because we can relate to the story or topic in some way. It can also help is to better remember what we're reading, because the new information gets linked to what we already know (whether it's a fact or a personal memory). 

Welcome!

Welcome to Tips from Teachers!

This is the inaugural post, so I'd like to start by giving you an overview of what is to come in future posts.

The purpose of this website is to provide tips to students (and parents of those students) that will help students to achieve to their fullest potential in school. Every week (approximately), I will post a new strategy or tip related to schoolwork, homework, class participation, communication with teachers...basically anything related to helping students find success in school. Specific topics may include managing stress, creating and following effective homework routines, and figuring out the best ways to work with different teachers. I will also hopefully have a wide range of guest bloggers- that is, other teachers - who can provide content-specific tips or strategies for their areas of expertise.

The content on this website will include audio clips, videos, graphics, hyperlinks to other websites, and text; we all learn differently, so this is an example of presenting information in multiple modalities in order to reach a wider audience (which is a best practice FOR teachers)!

If you have any questions or would like more information about a specific strategy, please come to see me in Thayer's Middle School Hale Learning Center, email me at ekeenan@thayer.org, or give me a call at 781-664-2322.

Happy learning,

Ms. Keenan