Reading Comprehension Lesson 2

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Reading Comprehension

Lesson 2

In Class Today

1. Checking answers homework
2. What do "good" readers do?
3. Six signs you have read it but you don't get it.
4. What to do when you've lost it.
5. Practice.

What do good readers do?

"Good" readers.

• Activate and use their existing knowledge, either from previous study or from their personal experience, to make sense of new information. 
• Ask questions about the text before, during and after reading. 
• Draw inferences from the text .

"Good" readers.

• Monitor their own comprehension.
• Use “fix-up” strategies when meaning breaks down 
• Determine what is important, separating main ideas from details.
• Create images (in their heads) to “illustrate” their reading.  

What happens when you don't get it?

Six signs you have read it but you don't get it.

1. The voice inside the reader’s head isn’t interacting with the text. 
2. The camera inside the reader’s head shuts off. 
3. The reader’s mind begins to wander. 
4. The reader can’t remember what has been read. 
5. Clarifying questions asked by the reader are not answered.
6. The reader reencounters a character and has no recollection when that character was introduced

What can you do when you've lost it?

What to do when you've lost it.

1. Make a connection between the text and your life, your knowledge of the world, or another text.
2. Make a prediction.
3. Stop and think about what you have already read.
4. Ask yourself a question and attempt to answer it.
5. Write about what you have read.
6. Visualize.
7. Use print and text conventions. 
8. Reread.
9. Adjust your speed: slow down or speed up.

Practice 

"talking to the text"

with post-its

How to talk to your text

Use the post-its to address the text directly—by calling it “you”—as though you are having a conversation with it.

3 stages

1. pre-reading
2. After skimming the text
3. Whilst reading

Pre-reading

Complete these writing prompts on a post it about the text before reading:

• I think you’ll be telling me...
• I already know things about you, so I predict...

Stick these to the top of your table

Skim the text

Quickly go through the text. 

Look at the title, sub-headings, illustrations, graphs, text conventions, etc

Post-skimming conversation

• What does the heading for this section suggest about what will come?
• What does this picture (graph, diagram, etc.) suggest about this reading topic?

Now read the text completely

Whilst reading the text ask use the following prompts to interact with the text. Each paragraph should have been "talked to"

• You’re similar to what I’ve learned before, because you remind me of...
• I would have preferred a picture of... (Students can also sketch, describe, or download a picture, graph, or diagram)
• This is not what I expected, which was...
• This gives me an idea for...
• I want to know more about...
• This information could be useful to me because I’m interested in...
• I think this will be on the test because...