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Learn effective strategies for reading actively before, during, and after reading to improve comprehension and critical thinking skills.
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What I do now: *Before I read *When I read *After I finish Reading Actively
Before I read I like to… • Preview what information I will be receiving • Read the title of the book • Read the summary if there is one
while I’m reading… • I think of questions from the text • I also realize some connections I have with the text • Text to self (Reminds me of something with my family) • Text to world (Reminds me of a current event) • Text to text (Reminds me of previous research or an A.R. book) • I am constantly forming images in my head known as visualizing or illustrating • I also locate important text that is italicized, has a different size or font, and bold text • I take notes if necessary
After I finish… • I question what will happen next • I also think of the connections I made with the text
What I should do: *before I read *while I read *After I read
Before I read… • I should chunk the information that I am about to read • Preview all of the text • I should also make my own predictions and to stay interested • Write down questions I come up with or information I want to find out
While I read I should… • Wait to take interesting notes until I finish a section or paragraph so that I don’t get distracted • Record my questions so I don’t forget them • Keep track of the correct amount of notes • I should infer what could happen when there is a problem
After I finish I should… • Create a summary without using the text • Try answering my own questions • Finish my own thoughts about the text • Review all new information
Critical thinking Critical thinking is very important in reading for High School and beyond. Without critical thinking you wouldn’t be able to make predictions, inferences, visualizations, and many other useful strategies. Critical thinking works for all different types of learning styles like visual, logical, interpersonal, and even kinesthetic learners. To practice your critical thinking you can record all of the strategies you use while you read and then try using those strategies more often. To critically think while you read you want to think about what you are reading while you read the text. Another way to look at critical thinking is to picture it as evaluating ideas and information and finding out what to believe and what not to believe.
Critical thinking as a visual learner According to www.inspiration.com students can incorporate visual learning into critical thinking by creating webs to organize their thoughts. By creating these diagrams the students are able to discipline, monitor, and correct their thinking without the help of others. With the help of webbing students are able to generate more complex thoughts and make connections between them. Diagrams and visual representations are a great way to critical think visually.
Critical thinking as a logical learner If you were a logical learner something that could interest you would be logical reasoning or even dealing with numbers. Logical learners like to do activities that involve word puzzles, problem solving and critical thinking, completing brain teasers, finding patterns, categorizing and classifying words and objects, sequencing information, and asking 'why' questions. Activities to do with logical learners: 1. Lateral thinking puzzles. An example would be giving the student background information and have them figure out the entire story only by asking ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions. While doing this be sure to let the students know that they have to listen carefully because you could give them facts that don’t matter. 2. Scrambled directions. For this activity mix up directions and put them in the wrong order and have the students figure out the correct order. For more ideas visit the following site: http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/logmath_rolf.htm
Critical thinking as an interpersonal learner An interpersonal learner likes to be socially involved with others. To be incorporated in learning styles they need to either be with someone else or be talking to someone else to get the full benefit of learning. Activities for interpersonal learners would be: 1.Partner/group projects 2. Class discussions 3. Group presentations
Critical thinking as a kinesthetic learner A kinesthetic learner is one who learns by movement or physical activity. To learn physically the student can be making big movements or small movements like shaking their foot while being taught. Physical activities could be: 1. Learning from different locations other than at desks 2. Using a big marker board 3. Having different postures while learning (standing, sitting, slouching, laying down)
You may have noticed that I should question often, but why? Questioning is a great way to get a better understanding of the information you are trying to process. By writing down my questions I would know what I am interested in about the topic. I should also record the questions I come up with while reading so then I know what I don’t understand. After trying to answer my own questions I may know why the certain part of the text was confusing which would then help get a better understanding of it. Another reason to question yourself would be to make sure you know what’s going on.
How is visualizing/illustrating helpful? By visualizing and illustrating images in your head you can also learn new information. Visualizing and illustrating is helpful for those who are visual learners because then you can see images in your brain. What is visualizing used for? Visualization is used for almost anything from reading and writing to math and history. In reading and writing it is used for either remembering information or creating a story. In math it comes in handy when you have a word problem because then you an draw out your strategy and find the solution that way. In geography when the text or the teacher describes a hot, dry, dusty, sunny place you automatically think of a desert…you just used visualization.
How can making connections be useful? Making connections can be useful because you tend to remember the connections you recognize. These connections can be related to you, to other information you have read, or even to the world. What are reading connections? When you make connections you are communicating with the text in a personal way. There are three different ways to make connections. You can make a text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world. Examples of these would be: Text-to-text is when you read something from your history book and then noticing how the way people dressed in the old days reminds you of how the characters in the Little House on the Prairie dress. Text-to-self would be reading something in the text like how a family has a tradition to carve pumpkins on Halloween and you realize that your family has the same tradition. Text-to-world connections could be something like reading something about wars and you make the connection of the war going on in real life.
Why should I make predictions? Making predictions would be helpful for you if the topic of the text wasn’t very exciting. You would stay interested because you would want to know if your predictions were correct or used. Then you might even end up learning more than you planned. What are predictions? Predictions are the guesses you make about a future event. Predictions are made when meteorologists study weather. The temperatures that they say on T.V. are only predictions proven by research.
Why are inferences helpful? Inferences are useful because they help you draw conclusions about text or real life scenarios. What are inferences? Inferences are made when you use prior clues to make a conclusion. An example of an inference would be reading something about a citizen refusing to follow the rules of their town, and you infer that chaos breaks out and people get put in jail.
Why should you summarize? Summarizing is helpful because you can make a physical review of the text you just read. Then you will understand the text even more. Summarizing is also helpful because you make a conclusion of the text which allows you to understand the information even more. What is summarizing? Summarizing is making the important information short and the unimportant information shorter. Summarizing is making conclusions by reviewing the text you just read. This helps because you have to reread the text or your notes before you repeat them again by writing them down.
How do I preview? To preview scan over the text and notice all bold, colored, italicized, or larger text. Then read the different forms of the text and you should have a general idea of what the text will be about. To review you should go over your notes, questions, and summary. After completing your review you will have a better understanding of the information. Things you should look for while previewing: Titles, main ideas, pictures, charts, study questions, and section reviews.
How can I review? To review you should go over your notes, questions, and summary. After completing your review you will have a better understanding of the information. Is reviewing a great way to study? Reviewing the information is a great way to study since the information will be refreshed in your memory. With the information recalled another time you will have a better chance to do well on a test because the information will be put in your head one more time.
