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READ THE RESEARCH: Which is more effective for learning: typing or writing by hand?
Reading strategies are behaviors that good readers use automatically to improve comprehension and retention of information found in text. Unfortunately, many students do not use strategies as they read, and simply skim the text.
How do you know who is not using reading strategies? When you ask the class to read, look for the students who refuse to read, ask to leave the room, look around the room instead of the text, distract others, pull out their phones, or struggle with sounding out the words. Also look out for the students who finish reading quickly as they are most likely skimming the text, and not reading critically. In other words, these are the students who struggle with reading and make every effort to avoid it. These are the students who NEED strategies to help them understand the text and gain meaning from it.
NOTE: When using the below strategies, you do NOT have to choose one from each category. Of course, using one from each will improve overall comprehension, however, you may find benefits from using just one. Also feel free to tailor the activities to address your standards.
Use these strategies to introduce the text and difficult words, activate prior knowledge, establish purpose, or spark interest in the text.
Use these strategies during reading to ensure that students are getting the most out of the text. These strategies are also useful if you are assessing the students after reading.
Use these strategies after reading for deeper comprehension, analysis, and evaluation of text. These strategies are particularly useful for those struggling readers.
Whole Group Activities
Whole Group Activities
The following activities are just a few suggestions that will improve the comprehension of all students while allowing the struggling students to benefit from group work. Most of these activities combine reading, writing, and vocabulary strategies for deeper understanding. The key to success in these activities is to assign roles for every student while actively monitoring the groups. The more you use these activities, the easier it will get for you and the students.
This page will updated periodically with new strategies and activities.
Concept Maps
Best for: Use during introduction of content or review of overall unit; making connections across the unit
Description: Concept maps allow students to visualize and connect ideas across the unit. They can be used in a variety of ways. According to Adlit.org, "concept maps have been shown to support struggling readers (Lovitt & Horton, 1994) by building off of students’ prior knowledge and asking them to reflect on their understanding while reading. They are easy to construct and can be used across all content areas." (Concept Maps)
When to use: Best for introduction of unit, review for summative, vocabulary, and making connections during reading
Directions: (click here for a sample concept map)
Students create a mind map with the overall topic in the center. Students will add the subtopics to the surrounding circles. Provide leveled reading material for each subtopic to further the students understanding of the concepts. You can also add related vocabulary, images, charts, etc.
Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Best for: Nonfiction informational text, all contents, struggling readers
Description: This active reading strategy scaffolds before-, during-, and after-reading strategies in the form of predictions and questioning. This is a great activity to use when you first introduce nonfiction text in your lessons. Be sure to explain the directions, and walk the students through the steps (Jeudy, Gedeon).
When to use: Best when used early in the year for establishing expectations
Directions: (Click here for more information about this strategy)
D - DIRECT - Teachers direct and stimulate students' thinking prior to reading a passage by scanning the title, chapter headings, illustrations, and other explanatory materials. Then teachers should use open-ended questions to direct students as they make predictions about the content or perspective of the text (e.g., "Given this title, what do you think the passage will be about?"). Students should be encouraged to justify their responses and activate prior knowledge.
R - READING - Teachers should have students read up to the first pre-selected stopping point in the text. The teacher then prompts the students with questions about specific information and asks them to evaluate their predictions and refine them if necessary. This process should be continued until students have read each section of the passage.
T - THINKING - At the end of the reading, teachers should have students go back through the text and think about their predictions. Students should verify or modify the accuracy of their predictions by finding supporting statements in the text. The teacher deepens the thinking process by asking questions such as:
What do you think about your predictions now?
What did you find in the text to prove your predictions?
What did you find in the text that caused you to modify your predictions?
Six Hats
Best for: All texts, all reading levels, whole group
Description: Each group consists of six different color "hats". Each hat is assigned a different role while reading. You can also modify this to include only four hats at first. Students focus on one particular aspect while reading then share their findings with the other hats. Students within the same hat group can also discuss their findings before sharing out to promote collaboration and clarify understanding (Dyck).
When to use: This activity works well when used repeatedly, especially when reading long texts or multiple texts (such as a DBQ). Works for any content.
Directions: You can assign these based on complexity and student ability. Examples of roles and the template can be listed here (from easiest to more difficult). You can also create roles based on your standards for further differentiation. Allow time for sharing after each grouping. You can first group by the same hats (especially if you have several struggling readers) then group with a combination of hats.
Reading Guide
Best for: Both fiction & nonfiction; comprehension checks; individual and small group, especially SST students
Description: This activity works best for struggling readers and does require the teacher to do some preparation ahead of time. This is also recommended for those students who have a tendency to skim through the text and finish early. It is suggested that you create questions ranging from simple identification to evaluation and analysis.
When to use: Best when used with longer text, monitoring comprehension, and promoting active thinking.
Directions: (click here for more information about this strategy)
The teacher determines the major ideas from a book or an assigned reading and considers each student's knowledge related to the concepts.
Teachers then write questions or statements designed to guide readers through the major ideas and supporting details of the text. Guides may be phrased as statements or as questions.
Teachers begin the procedure by introducing the assigned book, discussing the main ideas, and new vocabulary.
Teachers then discuss the statements or ask the questions on the Reading Guide.
Teachers may read the selection aloud or students read the assigned text as teachers monitor reading.
Teachers and students work together to respond to statements or questions on the reading guides during the reading process. Teachers should monitor and support students as they work.
(Reading Guide: Classroom Strategy)
Reciprocal Teaching
Best for: Content-heavy informational text, Independent Readers
Description: Reciprocal teaching (RT) is an instructional procedure developed by Palincsar and Brown (1984) to improve students’ text comprehension skills through scaffolded instruction of four comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring strategies (Palincsar & Brown, 1984; Brown & Palincsar, 1989; Rosenshine & Meister, 1994).
When to use: This activity works best for independent readers (such as Honors students), or in monitored small-groups. Students should be given at least an hour to read and complete. This activity works well when you want students to gain a deeper comprehension of content.
Directions: Provide a scaffolded graphic organizer that requires each student to do the following. The key to this activity is to provide students time to share and collaborate after (this is the reciprocal teaching part).
Step 1: Questioning
Write down 1-3 questions for each paragraph / section. Questions should demonstrate that the reader is inferring and thinking about concepts in the text.
Step 2: Summarize
Summarize each paragraph. Summaries should be one sentence, and include who, what, when, where, why, & how.
Step 3: Clarify
Identify unfamiliar words in the text and their meanings. Also explain confusing passages in the text.
Step 4: Predict / Connect
Predict what will happen next or make connections to how the text connects to the enduring understandings or essential questions.
(Spörer, Nadine, et al.)
Document Based Question (DBQ)
Best for: Social Studies, Literature, World Language content, all grades, in-depth study of a topic, unit summatives, independent or small group work
Description: This activity requires high-level critical thinking of multiple documents in order to develop a thesis. This 6-step process was founded in 2000 by The DBQ Project. The investigation starts with an open-ended evaluative question. Students critically read multiple primary and secondary documents, pull evidence from the text, and provide a written response to the open-ended question (with supporting evidence). While this activity works at all levels, it will be most successful when students have basic reading strategies in place.
When to use: Best towards the end of the year for end of unit summatives, projects, and assessment of multiple standards.
Directions:
Click here for a sample of a mini-Q
Click here for The DBQ Project site (instructions, samples, directions, etc.)
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