The Eight Reading Habits:

1
The Eight Reading Habits

• The Practical Application of Literacy Tools
• By Jennifer Chang, L. Isabella Robertson, Heather
  Bennett

2
The Eight Habits of Great Readers

• Predict
• Visualize
• Summarize
• Make Connections (text to text, self, world)
• Question
• Make Inferences
• Use Prior Knowledge
• Use Text Structure

3
Predict

• Break up suspenseful short stories into sections.
  Students make predictions after each
  cliff-hanging section
• Example Lamb to the Slaughter

4
Visualize

• Instead of asking students to draw pictures after
  reading text, show them a picture and ask them to
  write a story
• Example The Great Migration

5
Summarize

• Read aloud a text that only the teacher has.
  Stop after each page and have students summarize
  what they just heard.
• Example works with any text

6
Make Connections

• Choose a realistic novel or contemporary
  non-fiction piece and have students brainstorm
  connections.
• Example Monster

7
Question

• Choose a text that is slightly above your
  students reading level and have them stick
  post-it notes next to passages that they do not
  understand.
• Example Never Cry Wolf

8
Make Inferences

• This can be combined with a lesson on
  characterization. Have students make a list of
  judgments about a character, accompanied by the
  clues in the text.
• Example A Family Apart

9
Use Prior Knowledge

• Choose a historical piece that relates to the
  time period they are studying in Social Studies.
  Have students apply that knowledge to their
  understanding of the novel.
• Example Red Scarf Girl / Chinas Cultural
  Revolution

10
Use Text Structure

• Choose a novel that uses multiple genres and have
  students identify and copy the genres in their
  own writing.
• Example Tears of A Tiger