ENGAGE:
Purposeful Rereading

The belief behind interacting with text has always been grounded in the concept that students need to read a text multiple times to thoroughly understand and engage with the complexities of what they are reading. This instructional practice addresses the concept of purposeful rereading as a strategy for students to choose why and how to interact with a text. There are several reasons that students should purposefully reread texts, including deepening comprehension and retention, clarifying or summarizing information, connecting visual information to the surrounding text, organizing information, and increasing enjoyment of a text (Ebbinghaus, 1885; Faust & Glenzer, 2000; Millis & King, 2001).

Additionally, there are a variety of strategies that educators can employ for students to purposefully reread a text multiple times that don’t feel monotonous. The strategies that are selected and the questions that are used are tied to the educator’s understanding of the text and the desired learning outcomes for the students. What is missing in the equation is the students’ understanding of why they are reading a text again and how the interaction they are being asked to make with the text during this reread will set them up for success with the reading purpose and learning objective.

The following strategies and materials are meant for students to explore why and how to read a text multiple times, gleaning new information and a deeper understanding with each read.

HANDOUTS and RESOURCES:

Rereading to Deepen Comprehension and Retention

Rereading to Clarify or Summarize Information

Rereading to Connect Visual Information to the Surrounding Text

Rereading for Greater Enjoyment of the Text

Reading to Gain a Stronger and Clearer Definition of an Abstract Concept

PREPARATION:

Select a challenging text that will require students to read the text multiple times for a thorough understanding of the text.
Create a reading prompt, writing prompt, or Essential Question that employs the use of content-specific thinking skills.

STEPS:

Introduce the text to the class and inform students that they will be using multiple reading strategies based upon the reading prompt, writing prompt, or Essential Question.
Students work in pairs to analyze the prompt or Essential Question, including the context of the question within the unit of study, the academic thinking skill employed in the question, and a possible writing or speaking activity to be used after interacting with the text.
Students read the text individually the first time, circling key terms and underlining main ideas.
In the same student pairs, they then decide how they will read the text a second time and what instructional practice they will use to interact with the text by reviewing one of the student resources. The four listed below focus on multiple reads of one text:
The remaining student resource allows students to explore three texts focusing on a single topic:
1. 1. 1. - Reading to Gain a Stronger and Clearer Definition of an Abstract Concept
Use a classroom Whirl-Around to allow each student pair to share what strategy they will use for the second read-through and why they chose that strategy.
After the second read-through, students find a new partner and discuss what they understand about the text and prompt. After doing so, they will choose another strategy and justify to the class why they are using that strategy during another Whirl-Around.
After the third read-through, students complete an extending activity associated with the text.
Finally, students reflect on the assignment, the strategies they chose, and whether they were the most effective strategies to use to complete the reading assignment.

VARIATIONS:

If students are not familiar with multiple strategies, the educator can provide a limited number of options for students to choose from.

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ENGAGE: Purposeful Rereading

ENGAGE:
Purposeful Rereading