Read Like a PRO

1
Read Like a PRO!

• Critical Reading Strategies

2
What is PRO?

• Prepare to read (pre-reading)
• Read Actively
• Organize to Learn

3
Part 1 Pre-reading Strategies

• Concentrate
• Preview
• Use Prior Knowledge
• Ask pre-reading questions and make predictions
• Choose a reading strategy

4
Concentrate

• When is the best time during the day for you to
  read and study?
• Where is the best place for you to read and study?

5
Preview

• Title
• What does each word in the title mean?
• What does the phrase mean as a whole?
• Author information
• Who is the author ?
• When did s/he write the piece?
• Headings, Notes, Pictures, or Side Panels

6
Use Prior Knowledge

• How do you relate to the piece youve previewed?
• Are there any similarities between you and the
  author or any of the characters?
• Have you read or heard any of the information
  elsewhere before?

7
Ask Questions/Predict

• What do you want to learn?
• What can you predict the author will discuss?

8
Choose a Reading Strategy

• What is the purpose in reading this text?
• What is the level of difficulty?
• How will I actively read the text?

9
Part 2 Reading Actively

• Reading Actively means

annotating and making connections between the
material and what you already know or have
experienced
10
Becoming an Active Reader

• Devote time to fully focus on comprehending the
  text
• Apply strategies that will swiftly engage you
  with a text and keep your concentration

11
Preparing to Become an Active Reader

• Be aware of the environmental factors that
  enhance and hurt concentration
• Be realistic about how long reading certain texts
  will take and set aside time for that reading
• Plan to keep a Reading Log for every class with
  required reading

12
Strategies for Reading Actively

• Keep a Reading Log
• Orient yourself to the text
• Create a Discussion Web

13
What Are You Looking For?

• Note the subject matter and authors purpose
• Recognize the organization of the text, structure
  and genre
• Determine the context of the text
• Find the connections to the course
• Decide your purpose and goal

14
Remaining Active

• Interact with the author as you read
• Try to figure out the authors stance
• Monitor your comprehension and act when your
  concentration flags

15
Dealing with Demanding Texts

• Identify the major problem and resolution
• Research the subject matter
• Look up unknown words
• Ask your instructor, peers, family, and friends
  for help

16
Part 3 Organizing to Learn

• Apply Post-Reading tips
• Create a Semantic Map
• Form a Discussion Group
• Mark Your Text
• Outline
• Chart

17
Apply Post-Reading Tips

• Decide if you achieved your goals for reading
• Discuss the accuracy of your predictions
• Summarize major ideas
• Research additional information
• Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant ideas
• Paraphrase relevant details
• Reflect and personalize the text

18
Create a Semantic Map (SM)

• Helps the reader to identify important ideas
• Shows how the ideas fit together
• Uses comprehension/concentration skills and
  evolves in a note taking form
• Represents visually the content of your reading

19
Three Components of SM

• Core question or concept
• Strands
• Supports

20
SM - Spider Map Example
21
SM Fishbone Map Example
22
Form a Discussion Group

• Brings out new ideas youd previously not
  considered
• Takes existing ideas or concepts about the
  reading and expands upon them
• Allows your interpretations to be challenged and
  will fill in some of your blind spots regarding
  what you just read

23
Mark Your Text

• Read first and then mark selectively
• Box transitions and number important ideas
• Circle specialized vocabulary
• Jot down main ideas in the margin
• Write questions as you read
• Make brief summaries at the end of each section

24
Outline What You Read

• Place major/general points to the left
• Indent each more specific point to the right

25
Chart What You Read

• Organize categories into columns
• Record information into the appropriate category
• Tracks conversations and dialogues
• Reduces amount of writing
• Provides easy review

26
Practice

• THEME FOR ENGLISH B - By Langston Hughes
• The instructor said, Go home and write a page
  tonight. And let that page come out of you---
  Then, it will be true. I wonder if it's that
  simple? I am twenty-two, colored, born in
  Winston-Salem.

27
Cont

• I went to school there, then Durham, then here
  to this college on the hill above Harlem. I am
  the only colored student in my class. The steps
  from the hill lead down into Harlem through a
  park, then I cross St. Nicholas, Eighth Avenue,
  Seventh, and I come to the Y, the Harlem Branch
  Y, where I take the elevator up to my room, sit
  down, and write this page It's not easy to know
  what is true for you or me at twenty-two, my
  age. But I guess I'm what I feel and see and
  hear, Harlem, I hear you hear you, hear me---we
  two---you, me, talk on this page.

28
Cont

• (I hear New York too.) Me---who? Well, I like to
  eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to
  work, read, learn, and understand life. I like a
  pipe for a Christmas present, or
  records---Bessie, bop, or Bach. I guess being
  colored doesn't make me NOT like the same things
  other folks like who are other races. So will my
  page be colored that I write? Being me, it will
  not be white. But it will be a part of you,
  instructor.

29
Cont

• You are white--- yet a part of me, as I am a
  part of you. That's American. Sometimes perhaps
  you don't want to be a part of me. Nor do I
  often want to be a part of you. But we are,
  that's true! As I learn from you,I guess you
  learn from me--- although you're older---and
  white--- and somewhat more free.
• This is my page for English B.