How to Understand What You Read!
Did you know that reading strategies help you increase how much you REMEMBER and UNDERSTAND from any text?
Teachers ask you to use reading strategies all the time, but if you remember to use them on your own, you will be able to...
Teachers ask you to use reading strategies all the time, but if you remember to use them on your own, you will be able to...
- Study better for classes that give reading assignments!
- Get higher scores on reading comprehension tests!
READING STRATEGIES:
Consider the Purpose
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What was the author's purpose when they wrote this? If you can answer this, you will better understand the text before you even read it! What's your purpose in reading this? If you can answer this, it will sharpen your focus while you complete the assignment.
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Recall Prior Knowledge
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Prior Knowledge: New information stays in your brain longer if you can connect it to information you have already stored in your brain. Therefore, thinking of your prior knowledge before you read something new guarantees that the new information will stay longer.
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Preview the Text Structure
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Preview: Look at the length of the reading. Look at the headings, pictures, bold words. Knowing what's coming ahead will help you understand the text better.
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Summarize
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Summarize: Students who summarize while they are reading a text or after reading will remember what they read on average 50% better. Putting the main ideas into your own words also help you understand the text better.
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Visualize & Organize
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Visualize: draw a picture of what you read, or represent what you read in a symbolic form! Organize: make charts, webs, timelines, maps, diagrams...these all help you understand what you read with greater depth and complexity.
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Make Connections
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Make Connections: while you read, think about how the text connects to other things. How does it connect to your life? How does it connect to current or historical events? How does it connect to other texts (like books, articles, movies) that you have read? Making connections is like recalling prior knowledge - it allows your brain to remember more information.
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Make Reactions
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Make Reactions: How did you react to the text? Did you like or dislike something you read? Did it cause you to have any feelings? Does it make you wonder anything? Making the text more personal helps you remember it better.
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Make Inferences
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Make Inferences: Combine what you already know with what you just read in the text, and draw new conclusions. What do you think will happen next? What other guesses or assumptions can you make? This strategy makes your understanding of the text more deep and complex.
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Make Judgements
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Judge whether ideas in the text are good or bad. Judge whether ideas in the text are right or wrong. Do you agree or disagree with something said in the text? Do you think the text is credible, or not credible? This strategy makes your understanding of the text more deep and complex.
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Ask Questions
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Write your own, open-ended questions about the text. This forces you to interact with the text on a deeper level.
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Answer Questions
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When your teachers ask you to answer questions about a text, that also increases your understanding by making you re-read and reflect.
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Clarify Words & Ideas
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Clarify: if the text confuses you, there are a few things you can do to make it easier to understand. Google the definition of a word. Try to re-write what the text says in your own wording. Ask a teacher for help.
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Assignment:
- Go to Newsela.com and choose any news article that interests you. Click here to join our class instantly.
- Adjust the reading difficulty of the article so it's not too hard but not too easy.
- Everyday before we work on your illustrations, we will try new reading strategies using the article you chose.
Schedule:
- Day 1: Purpose, Prior Knowledge, Summary
- Day 2: Make Connections, Reactions, Judgements
- Day 3: Ask Questions, Answer Questions, Clarify Words
- Day 4: Visualize & Organize