reading

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Readers:

1. Activating = "Priming the cognitive pump" in order to recall relevant prior knowledge and experiences from long-term memory in order to extract and construct meaning from text.

2. Inferring = Bringing together what is spoken (written) in the text, what is unspoken (unwritten) in the text, and what is already known by the reader in order to extract and construct meaning from the text.

3. Monitoring-Clarifying = Thinking about how and what one is reading, both during and after the act of reading, for purposes of determining if one is comprehending the text combined with the ability to clarify and fix up any mix-ups.

4. Questioning = Engaging in learning dialogues with text (authors), peers, and teachers through self-questioning, question generation, and question answering.

5. Searching-Selecting = Searching a variety of sources in order to select appropriate information to answer questions, define words and terms, clarify misunderstandings, solve problems, or gather information.

6. Summarizing = Restating the meaning of text in one's own words--different words from those used in the original text.

7. Visualizing-Organizing = Constructing a mental image or graphic organizer for the purpose of extracting and constructing meaning from the text.

Wonderful websites for reading comprehension:

• Audio books are absolutely worth the cost and/or time to check out from the library. Using audio books while reading along has been proven to improve speed, accuracy, spelling, and comprehension.

• Spark Notes break down novels to focus on the major points. Readers often struggle to pick out the major points when they are covered with rich details and these will help.

• No Fear Shakespeare - similar to Spark Notes but guess what they specialize in?