Notes 2

2/5/09

The Reading Process

Before Reading:
1.) Set a purpose
a. Usually your teacher sets the purpose

i. Read a chapter and find examples of theme
ii. Determine the validity of that author’s argument
iii. Gather the essential background info on a topic
b. Ask yourself who, what, when, where, why, how
2.) Preview
a. Skimming
i. Find vocabulary bold-faced
ii. Organization with subheadings / italics
iii. Poetry – rhyme scheme
b. Skimming will also tell you if the material does NOT answer your questions, so you know whether or not to bother reading it
c. You know you’ve skimmed effectively when you answer these questions
i. What is it about?
ii. How is it organized?
iii. What else do I know about this subject?
d. Consider your own prior knowledge before you read
3.) Plan
a. Have a strategy
i. Note-taking
ii. Timelines
iii. Cause-Effect organizers
iv. Graphic organizer
v. Paraphrasing
vi. Visualizing
vii. Thinking out loud
viii. Outlining
ix. Skimming

During Reading:
4.) Keep remembering your purpose
a. If you read something and it makes no sense back up and revisit your purpose
b. Sometimes your purpose changes while you read, or you read for multiple purposes

i. Example: State exams
c. Make predictions and adjust them as you read
5.) Connect
a. Tie what you are reading to your life or what you know already
b. Questions to help stay connected to what you’re reading:
i. How do I feel after reading this?
ii. Do I agree with this point of view?
iii. How does this affect me?
iv. Have I read anything else by this author?

After Reading:
6.) Pause and Reflect
a. Take a moment to think about what you’ve read
b. Have you understood it all?
c. Have you achieved your purpose?
d. If there are gaps in your understanding, identify where they are
e. If you can’t figure it out alone, work with someone

7.) Reread
a. Not every text requires rereading
b. Reread parts of a novel or play that were hazy to you the first time through
c. Textbooks get clearer the second time you read them
d. Use another reading strategy when you reread
i. You might have to do an outline or do close reading the second time
ii. Using another strategy the second time around allows you to uncover more / different information
8.) Remember
a. The key to remembering the information you read is to make it yours
b. Do something with the info. Make a summary, write a review, start a conversation.


**The reading process is designed mostly for academic reading, not for reading for pleasure

Journal Entry #2

Prompt:  Write about your favorite book from your childhood.

Response:  My favorite book as a child, and even now, was Bill Peet’s Autobiography.  It was the first biographical novel that I read.  I think the first time I read it was in second or third grade.  Even though it is the story of Bill Peet’s life, it has a magical quality to the way it is written that makes it so enjoyable.  And the illustrations are incredible!  Bill Peet was an illustrator for Walt Disney’s storyboard department, and in his autobiography he recreates many of the drawings he did.  Writing about it now makes me want to read it again.  I love looking at the cartoony pictures and bringing them to life in my mind.

Prompt:  Write about your first memory of reading during your childhood.

Response:  The first memory I have of reading is from when I was around two.  My stepdad is flying me into my bedroom in our old apartment.  He brings me over to the bookshelf on the wall and lets me pick a book.  I grab a big one with a shiny red cover.  It has a picture of some animal on it that I don’t know.  We sit down, with me curled up in my stepdad’s lap.  I listen as he reads the story to me.  The words mean nothing to me and the pictures are only something to look at.  I don’t know why there are pictures of animals on the page.  Once in awhile, the page turns and there are new words and new pictures.  Again, the page turns and everything changes.