Reading Strategies

Reading strategies will be extremely important this year as we explore many types of genres and topics. This week we are paying special attention to becoming an active reader. Specifically, we talked about making connections while we read. Here are some of the scenerios we discussed to show how important it is to make connections...

****The students were instructed to read the italicized passage below.

           

            The Batsmen were merciless against the Bowlers. The Bowlers placed their men in slips and covers. But to no avail. The Batsmen hit one four after another along with an occasional six. Not once did their balls hit their stumps or get caught.

What do you notice about your thinking process? How was your comprehension? Your attitude or feelings?

(The students decided that it didn't make any sense when they read it the first time.) 

Then I told them that it was about the British sport, Cricket. 

They decided that it made sense now. Then I asked them to answer these questions. 

Answer these questions:

1.      Who were merciless against the Bowlers?

2.      Where did the Bowlers place their men?

3.      Was this strategy successful?

4.      Who hit an occasional six?

5.      How many times did the Batsmen’s balls hit a stump?

Can you answer these without looking back? … Probably not. Reading is more about just decoding the words. You probably understood all the words in this passage, but didn’t really comprehend what was being discussed.

Reading is an active, constructive process.

            Good readers have a collection of thinking strategies they use to comprehend texts.

           

Some strategies:         

            *visualize (make mental pictures or sensory images)

            *connect (connect to own experience, to events in the world, to other readings)

            *question (to actively wonder, to interrogate the text)

            *infer (to predict, hypothesize, interpret, draw conclusions)

            *evaluate (to determine importance, make judgments)

            *analyze (to notice text structures, author’s craft, vocabulary, purpose, theme, point of view)

            *recall (to retell, summarize, remember information)

            *self-monitor (to recognize and act on confusion, uncertainty, attention problems)

           

Think about this: Have you ever noticed how you can drive your car across town to a friend’s house, day-dream all the way, and still arrive at your destination without much conscious attention to the steering wheel, brake pedal, turn signal, etc? To survive and arrive, you had to constantly monitor the movements of other cars behind, beside, and ahead of you; calculate stopping distances, etc. While at the wheel, you are simultaneously dealing with issues of time, space, physics, and potentially, life and death—and all the while you were wondering who else was going to be there.

The same thing happens when you read: you can “drive” through some texts without explicit self-awareness, especially when the topic is as familiar as the directions to your friend’s house. That doesn’t mean that, driving or reading, you aren’t really thinking. In both cases, you are using complex cognitive strategies, very actively and creatively at the unconscious level.

However, if you are heading off to visit a new acquaintance, in a new neighborhood (we used Detroit as an example), your awareness is elevated. Maybe you study a map or directions first. You have to watch closely to signs, you notice stores, you watch your odometer, etc.

This is probably how you feel when you read something new. Go back to the cricket passage. Even though we know the text is about cricket, we still don’t really understand what it says. We have to investigate other information before this passage can make sense. To do that, we must be active in our search.

Try this passage:

With hocked gems financing him, our hero bravely defied all scornful laughter that tried to prevent his scheme. “Your eyes deceived” he had said. “An egg not a table correctly typifies this unexplored planet.” Now three sturdy sisters sought proof. Forging along sometimes through calm vastness, yet more often over turbulent peaks and valleys. Days became weeks as many doubters spread fearful rumors about the edge. At last somewhere, welcomed winged creatures appeared signifying momentous success.

This probably puzzles you as well. But now reread this passage using this one clue: Columbus.

Now the passage clicks because you have ample prior knowledge about Columbus and his explorations. The second time through, you were using the information you have in your head already about Columbus.

We discussed how important it is to activate the connectors they already have built in their head.As soon as they were able to activate the connector for Columbus, the passage made sense. We talked about how important it is to make connections while we are reading to help with our comprehension and memory.