Active Reading

Active Reading StrategiesMany of us, while we are reading, daze off into space and after a few pages wonderwhat in the world did I just read about? In an effort to make the most out of the time we are spending reading, these strategies will help us practice reading actively. Ultimately, this will save us time because we wont have to reread or go over the ideas that we have already read about.

Active Reading Strategies: These strategies can be done in a notebook (where you record page #s and quotations) OR on sticky notes adhered directly to the relevant pages!1. ASK QUESTIONS: Write down questions that you have while you are readingand speculate about possible answers. What does this mean? Why is the character doing this? Why is the author focusing on this? Why is this significant? Questioning will help you think more critically about a text.

2. CLARIFY/SUMMARIZE: Take notes that clarify ideas and details learned from the particular chapter. A great deal is happening when you are reading. You are taking in information and responding to it at the same time. For example, jot down a sequence of events or list of important details.

3. VISUALIZE/REENACT: Imagine the people and actions an author describes. Visualizing helps you see and remember the main ideas that the author is presenting. Make a detailed drawing or series of sketches of a particular scene that will help you understand and remember what happened. Putting yourself in the role of a character helps you feel what they do and understand the conflicts and themes.4. PREDICT: Active readers constantly ask themselves: how will things turn out? What will happen next? Stop and write your predictions as you make your way through a chapter.

5. REFLECT ON QUOTATIONS: Record important words, phrases, and sentencesthings that stand out as being significant (to the plot, characters, etc.) or revealing something central to the meaning of the story. This will help you later when you are studying for a test or rereading for a writing assignment. Put quotes around these words, phrases, or sentences if they are direct quotes and also explain why you think they are significant. 6. REACT AND CONNECT: Record your own thoughts, feelings, and reactions while you are reading. Think about how the writing makes you feel and how it reminds you about in your own life (or the world around you). Compare and contrast the authors ideas or a characters experiences to your own.Annotation: If you have your own copy of a book, story, article, etc., a great way to read actively is to read with a pen and/or highlighter! The process of highlighting important or interesting information and writing comments (to remind yourself why you thought this information was noteworthy) on the text is called annotation.

This is not only a useful strategy for comprehensionit also helps a great deal when planning a summary, commentary response, or when preparing for and revising your own writing. By making a map of your thinking and realizations, you can see how you arrived at your understandings and remember why you made the changes you did.

Below is an example of annotation for a modified selection from Geraldo No Last Name by Sandra Cisneros:She met him at a dance. Pretty too, and young. Said he worked in a restaurant, but she cant remember which one. Geraldo. Thats all. Green pants and Saturday shirt. Geraldo. Thats what he told her.

Writing Interpretive Questions: While this strategy works well with the above strategies, this is especially helpful for students preparing to lead discussions. As you read, generate at least two interpretive questions. Interpretive questions are not yes or no questions or simple factual questions, but open-ended questions that ask the listener to reflect and offer an opinion on some aspect of the reading, such as a characters motivation in a particular scene, an element of the plot, why the author presented an event in a given way, how an event relates to another piece of literature, movie, or issue/event in the world, and so on. Typical examples might sound something like this:

Why would [character name] decide on this course of action when all his friends were advising him not to do it?

How would you feel if you were [character name] in [a specific situation]?

Did the author give us any clues about how [character name(s)] would react?

Do you think this character is a hero? Why or why not? What relationship does the setting in this chapter have to do with the action? How is [this event] like [a specific event in history]?Reciprocal Teaching: As part of a group, you will assume the responsibility for helping your group to use one of four reading strategies to discuss the section of the assigned reading: summarizing, questioning, predicting, and connecting. As you read, take notes based on your assigned strategy and be prepared to lead a discussion for your role in your group and share your ideas. When it is your turn to listen, be sure to record what your group members have said.

SummarizingQuestioningPredictingConnecting

Beyond retelling what happens in the reading, identify what you think are the three most important events/details from the reading and explain why they are important and how they are connected.Pose at least three questions about the reading; these could include questions that address confusing parts of the reading, or thought questions that the reading makes you wonder about.Identify at least three text-related predictions; these predictions should be based on new developments in the reading and your predictions should help the group to anticipate what will happen next.Make at least three connections between ideas or events in the reading to your experience, the world around you, and/or other works of literature. Be prepared to explain these connections to your group.

Double Entry Journal: Experienced readers dont just read the words to understand the plot and significance of a piece; good readers think while they read, asking questions, making connections, and reflecting on the potential importance of what they are reading.

The double entry journal is a strategy to develop these active reading skills by making you aware of your thinking and requiring you to record your notes, so that you can recall these gems after you read for discussion and further application. Double entry journals also help you to slow down and pay attention when you read so that you can find the deeper meaning behind the authors words. (The best readers arent always the fastest readers!)

Different Ways to Make Entries a Double Entry Journal

Left Hand SideRight Hand Side

Quotation from the textWritten/visual (sketches) reactions, reflections, commentary, musings (Hmmm)

Quotation from the textConnections

Text to text: How is this like a book, movie, or other story Ive read/seen?

Text to Self: How is this like my experience?

Text to world: How is this like life?

Observations, details revealed by close readingSignificance: why is this important?

What the text saysThe text says this because/ This shows that

Questions: I wonder whyPossible answers: Maybe because

Quotation from the textQuestions (Clarifying & Probing)

Quotation from the textSocial Questions (equal treatment, gender inequalities)

Quotation from the textNaming Literary Techniques (Simile, Metaphor, Irony, etc)

What follows is an example of a double entry journal entry for Beowulf:What Happened in the TextResponse

Malignant by nature, he never showed remorse. (page 137)

Whoever escaped kept a weather-eye open and moved away. (page 142-143) Can someone really be evil by nature? Why is Grendel so merciless? Was he abused, or is he a sociopath? Do the Anglo-Saxons need to believe in pure evil? Why?

Why did they run away from the problem? Why didnt these warriors create a plan to fight the monster? It seems like human nature to run from monsters instead of standing up to themkind of like the initial reaction to the Holocaust; few stood up to Hitler until it was too late for millions.

So, they are probably in middle school or high school

What kind of job?

This connects to the title.

What does this tell us about the time/place? I wouldnt wear green pants!