Reading Comprehension Strategies
Great readers make connections!
We make personal connections with the text by using our schema (our background knowledge).
There are three main types of connections we make while reading text:
Text-to-Self (T-S) -- connections made between the text and the reader's personal experience, feelings, or life.
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Great readers ask questions!
Questions help us clarify and deepen our understanding of the text we are reading.
When do we ask questions? We ask questions before we read, while we read, and after we read.
Questions we can ask BEFORE we read:
Think about our schema - our backpack of knowledge.
Think about how much you understand so far...
Questions we can ask AFTER we read:
We respond, make connections, extend our comprehension, analyze our ideas, and read between the lines.
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Great readers create mental pictures as they read!
Great readers make inferences when they read!
Inferring is often referred to as "reading between the lines."
We when make an inference, we:
Great readers identify the important information when they read.
We are surrounded by lots of information each day.
When we know our purpose for reading, we can determine what's important and what's not important.
When we read, we need to distinguish between:
Great readers add new thinking to their brains as they read.
Thinking evolves through a process.
Our thinking changes as we gather new information.
New information makes the us re-evaluate our schema to form new schema.
We make personal connections with the text by using our schema (our background knowledge).
There are three main types of connections we make while reading text:
Text-to-Self (T-S) -- connections made between the text and the reader's personal experience, feelings, or life.
- I can relate to this book because...
- The text says... which reminds me of...
- The same thing happened to me and...
- I know how the character feels because...
- That made me think of the time...
- This story reminds me of...
Text-to-Text (T-T) -- connections made between a text being read to a text that was previously read. - The character in this book is similar to the character in...
- I read another book where...
- These two stories are alike because...
- This part is just like...
- This setting is the same as...
- This is similar to...
Text-to-World (T-W) -- connections made between a text being read and something that occurs in the world. - This happened in real life...
- This event was like the real event...
- I think this happened in history before...
- This reminds me of something I heard on the news..
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Great readers ask questions!
Questions help us clarify and deepen our understanding of the text we are reading.
When do we ask questions? We ask questions before we read, while we read, and after we read.
- "I wonder..."
- "Why?"
- "It confused me..."
- "What if..."
- "I don't understand..."
- "How could..."
- "How is it possible..."
Questions we can ask BEFORE we read:
Think about our schema - our backpack of knowledge.
- What clues does the title reveal?
- What genre of writing does this text represent? Fiction? Nonfiction? Poetry?
- Based on the genre of writing, how will you read this selection?
- What expectations do you have when you read nonfiction? Fiction? Poetry?
- What information do you know about this topic?
- What information could be researched to deepen your understanding of the text?
- Why are you reading this text? What is your goal? What is your purpose for reading?
- What information do you hope this text will include?
- What questions do you hope this text will answer?
- Do you know this author? Have you read other pieces by this author? What do you know about other kinds of writing this author has composed?
- Why do you think this author wrote this text?
- When you scan the text features, including title, headings. illustrations, captions, bold print, italicized phrases, what details can you collect to help you prepare for reading?
Think about how much you understand so far...
- What do you understand from the text you just read?
- Could you summarize its key ideas?
- What are its key ideas? What clues in the text reveal those key ideas?
- Do you need to reread the text in order to understand the ideas? What strategies can you use to unlock the meanings in this text?
- What images can you visualize using text details in order to increase your understanding?
- Do you need to stop and check the dictionary or online resources for any unfamiliar words? Is it essential to know its definition in order to understand the main ideas of the text? Or, can you read on?
Questions we can ask AFTER we read:
We respond, make connections, extend our comprehension, analyze our ideas, and read between the lines.
- Look at your pre-reading questions. Did this text answer those questions?
- Which of your predictions were confirmed?
- What predictions did you change?
- What are the main ideas of the text?
- What "big" ideas can be made using the details from the text?
- What conclusions can you draw from the details in the text?
- What cause and effect relationships were revealed?
- How did the author reveal descriptive information?
- What is the main theme of the text?
- What connections did you make with the information in this text?
- Would you recommend this text to other readers? Why or why not?
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Great readers create mental pictures as they read!
- Mental pictures are the cinema unfolding in our minds that make reading three-dimensional.
- Visualization helps us engage with text in ways that make it personal and memorable.
- We adapt our images as we continue to read.
Great readers make inferences when they read!
Inferring is often referred to as "reading between the lines."
We when make an inference, we:
- Make a best guess using evidence -- context clues, picture clues, etc.
- Make predictions
- Draw conclusions
- Find the meaning of unknown words
Great readers identify the important information when they read.
We are surrounded by lots of information each day.
When we know our purpose for reading, we can determine what's important and what's not important.
When we read, we need to distinguish between:
- Fiction and nonfiction
- Important from unimportant information
Great readers add new thinking to their brains as they read.
Thinking evolves through a process.
Our thinking changes as we gather new information.
New information makes the us re-evaluate our schema to form new schema.