READING STRATEGIES

1
READING STRATEGIES
2

• Good readers develop strategies to help them
  understand, synthesize, and evaluate new
  information.

3

• They may get confused but they figure out how to
  go on with their reading and get some
  understanding of a text, even when the subject is
  outside their area of expertise.

4
There are many reading strategies. Most fit
into the following seven categories
5

• Make Connections
• Ask Questions
• Determine Importance
• Infer and Predict
• Visualize
• Synthesize
• Use Fix Up Strategies

6
Make Connections

1. Text to Self (similar events in your life)
2. Text to Text (books, movies, T.V., music, etc.)
3. Text to World (real life events, both current and
   past)

7
Text-to-Self

1. Has anything like this ever happened to me?
2. How would I feel or react if this happened to me?
3. How are these characters like me or like people I
   know?
4. How are these situations or events similar to
   those I have lived?
5. How does this relate to my life?

8
Text-to-Text

1. Have I ever read a book, seen a film or play, or
   heard a song that reminds me of this text?
2. How are the characters and situations in this
   text like those in another written, visual,
   auditory, or multi-media text that I have
   experienced?

9
Text-to-World

1. Does this person, situation, event remind me of
   another person, situation, or event in history?
   If so, how are they alike? And different
2. Does this person, situation, event remind me of
   another person, situation, or event in the news
   today? If so, how are they similar? and
   different?

10

• Try to make SUBSTANTIAL
• connections. This means, try to
• find several (three or four)
• similarities and several differences
• in the two texts.

11

• Avoid shallow connections like, Were both
  human or Weve both experienced love. These
  are a starting point but they do not constitute
  substantial comparisons.

12
Ask Questions
Where and when does this event occur? Who is
speaking? Can I trust this person? What do I know
about this situation? What seems to be happening
in this passage? Does this information match up
with what I already know? Why are people doing
the things they are doing? What do the characters
want?
13
Determine Importance

• Everything cant be important! Try to figure out
  what really matters.
• What words, images, or ideas are repeated?
• What seems to be the main focus of the passage?
• What items seem essential to unlocking the
  meaning of this text?

14
SUMMARIZING and PARAPHRASING are common
determining importance strategies which require
that the reader understand the text, figure out
what is important and retell the text in his/her
own words.
15
HIGHLIGHTING select portions of a text generally
indicates that these sections are key passages,
that they are important and worth a second look.
16
Infer
Good readers use textual clues to make informed
guesses about what is happening in a story. This
is called inferring or making an
inference. Example One man is chasing another
down an alley. He pulls out a walkie-talkie and
calls for back-up. Conclusion I infer that the
second man is a police officer.
17
Predict

• Good readers are not passive, patiently waiting
  to see what will happen next. Instead, they
  speculate or imagine what will come next.
• The term for this strategy is predicting.
• (e.g. In Night Elie Wiesel is sent to a
  Auschwitz. I predict that he will suffer
  physical and emotional hardships in the
  concentration camp.)

18
Visualize
Good readers try to picture the images that the
writer creates with words. They close their eyes
and try to see the things that are described in
the text. Some go a step further and draw what
they imagine. This is a great strategy for
visual learners who think in images.
19
Synthesize

• Synthesizing is a way of saying putting
  everything together. Ask yourself
• How does this fit with what I already know?
• If I take what I learned here and add it what I
  learned before, what do I get?
• What new possibilities are available to me now
  that Ive learned this?

20
Fix Up Strategies
When none of the previously mentioned strategies
work for you, try one of the following fix-up
strategies.
21

• Re-read
• Skip ahead and come back
• Underline or highlight
• Use a dictionary or encyclopedia
• Check the atlas
• Peruse the Table of Contents
• Draw a graphic organizer
• Identify the genre

22

• Put away the text and come back later.
• Check out graphs, charts, legends
• Look for bold or italicized words
• Watch the film
• Listen to the audio-book
• Mark up the text with personal comments.
• Identify the genre

23

• Look for context clues
• Search for word roots, prefixes, or suffixes
• Discuss with a friend
• Skim the text
• Dissect/chunk the text
• Think of an example

24

• Check out pictures or art work
• Read the blurb on the back of the book
• Skip ahead and come back
• Read aloud
• Persist. Dont give up!
• Ask for help

25
This term, we will consciously practice the seven
reading strategies using news and magazine
articles, poetry, speeches, historical documents,
letters, advertisements, manuals, and textbooks.
We will analyze and interpret these texts using
one or more of the listed reading strategies.
26

• Eventually, you will become more conscious of how
  you think. When you begin to read a text, you
  will think about how you think and prepare
  accordingly.
• You will start to know which strategies work best
  for you, and you will be able to plan a strategy
  to decipher an unfamiliar or difficult text.

27

• HAPPY READING!