Six Strategies for Effective Reading

Talking
2 The Text

2.    Effective  readers  make  connections  to  

background  knowledge  and  
1.  Effective  readers  identify  main  ideas   experience.
and  summarize.  
• Good  readers  relate  ideas  encountered  in  a  
passage  to  what  they  already  know  about  the  
• Good  readers  recognize  textual  clues  to  locate  main  
ideas  and  distinguish  important  points  from   topic  before,  during,  and  after  reading.  
subordinate  details.  
• Good  readers  can  connect  their  own  experiences  
to  new  information  and  apply  new  concepts  in  
• Good  readers  can  accurately  restate  the  main  concept  
or  argument  of  a  paragraph,  section,  chapter,  etc.  in   their  own  lives.  
their  own  words.  
“'Tis the good reader that makes a good book; ... in every
“Reading furnishes our mind only with book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides
materials and knowledge. It is thinking that hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear.”
makes what we read ours.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
-- John Locke

3. Effective  readers  generate  and  answer  questions.  

“‘Tis a good reader that
• Good  readers  think  as  they  read,  continuously  forming  questions  in  
makes a good book.” their  minds  and  looking  for  answers  to  those  questions.  
-Emerson
• Good  readers  can  use  questions  effectively  as  tools  to  support  their  
application  of  other  habits  of  effective  reading  like  monitoring  for  
meaning.  
“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.”
- Victor Hugo
 4.  Effective  readers  self-­‐monitor  for  comprehension
“Reading without
• Good  readers  can  independently  apply  a  variety  of  strategies  to  
reflecting is like eating check  their  understanding  of  a  text  during  and  after  reading.  

without digesting” • In  context  of  unfamiliar  vocabulary,  good  readers  recognize  key  
words  and  terms  and  can  apply  a  variety  of  strategies  to  determine  
-Edmund Burke the  meaning.  

•  Good  readers  integrate  new  words  into  their  working  vocabulary  

through  repetition,  association,  and  meaningful  application.  

5.  Effective  readers   6.  Effective  readers  

visualize  and  
recognize  what  is  
draw  pictures  in  
their  mind.
important.  
• Good  readers  create   • Good  readers  recognize  
diagrams,  visual   the  textual  clues  that  
prompts,  and   signal  what  is  really  
cartoons  to  help   worth  remembering  
them  visualize  what   and  what  is  not  so  
they  are  learning. important.  
 
• Good  readers  note   • Good  readers  note  
and  draw  figurative   what  is  trash  and  what  
language  that  paints   is  treasure  along  with  
a  mental  image.   the  golden  nuggets  to  
save.
“Reading is a
discount ticket to
everywhere”
– Mary Schmich “Reading is to the mind
what exercise is to the body.”
-monitor meaning -visualize -- Joseph Addison

-make connections -determine importance

-summarize -question
- make inferences
 In the previous talking to the text checks,
which two strategies did you use the most?
Assignment
_______________________ ________________________

Due: Monday, Which two strategies did you use the least?

February 7 _______________________ ________________________

As you’re reading through the Renaissance Now

How to do Talking
materials, you must use your talking to the text
2 the Text digitally:
strategies for all articles. However, you will
1. Word
hand two in on Monday.
Copy and paste what you
1. Hand in a physical copy of one of your articles. You are reading into word and
use “track changes” to write
must highlight all of your notes according to our
notes.
legend (see below). This you will physically hand to
Miss G.
2. Hand in a digital copy of one of the articles using
one of the three digital ways of talking to the text
(see sidebar). This you will email to Miss G.
2. Adobe (.pdf)
Use the highlighting and
note-taking options in
For the rest of your articles, you can use any Adobe. (see under
“Comment” “mark-up tools)
technique you like (physical or digital).

Summarizing - Purple
Making Inferences - Yellow
3. Read&Write Gold
Visualizing - Blue Transfer your text into the
Read&Write Gold program in
Monitoring Meaning - Orange
order to use the highlighting
Determining Importance - Circle option.

Questioning - Pink

Making Connections - Green