Teaching Devices: Reading Strategies for All Content Areas

Before, During, & After Reading Strategies

The reading process involves three phases: Before Reading, During Reading, and After Reading. This basic model can be used whether students are reading expository or narrative text.

Before Reading:

• Identify what you know about the topic. List specific ideas.
• Write specific questions which you would like answered.
• Make specific predictions about what you think you will learn.
• Preview the selection with attention to bold print, captions, and graphics.

During Reading:

1. Generate mental pictures about what you are reading.
2. Summarize what you have just read.
3. Try to answer the questions you asked.
4. Alter your predictions.
5. Identify items or facts which are confusing. Reread to try and clear up confusions.

After Reading:

1. Create a final summary of what you have learned.
2. State how you can use the information you have learned.
3. Revisit text for clarification.
4. Respond to questions.

SQ3R

SQ3R is a five-step study plan to help students construct meaning while reading. It uses the elements of questioning, predicting, setting a purpose for reading, and monitoring for confusion. SQ3R includes the following steps:

Survey

• Think about the title: “What do I know?” “What do I want to know?”
• Glance over headings and first sentences in paragraphs.
• Look at illustrations and graphic aids.
• Read the first paragraph.
• Read the last paragraph or summary.

Question

• Turn the title into a question.
• Write down any questions that some to mind during the survey.
• Turn headings into questions.
• Turn subheadings, illustrations, and graphic aids into questions.
• Write down unfamiliar vocabulary words and determine their meaning.

Read Actively

• Read to search for answers to questions.
• Respond to questions and use context clues for unfamiliar words.
• React to unclear passages, confusing terms, and questionable statements by generating additional questions.

Recite

• Look away from the answers and the book to recall what was read.
• Recite answers to questions aloud or in writing.
• Reread text for unanswered questions.

Review

• Answer the major purpose question.
• Look over answers and all parts of the chapter to organize information.
• Summarize the information learned by drawing flow charts, writing a summary, participating in a group discussion, or by studying for a test.

Reciprocal Teaching

Reciprocal teaching is a technique that actively engages both teacher and students in the use of prior knowledge. The teacher needs to model this strategy.

• Summarizing - After students have silently or orally read a short section of a passage, a single student acting as teacher (i.e., the student leader summarizes what has been read. Other students, with guidance from the teacher, may add to the summary. If students have difficulty summarizing, the teacher might point out clues (e.g., important items or obvious topic sentences) that aid in the construction of good summaries.
• Questioning - The student leader asks some questions to which the class responds. The questions are designed to help students identify important information in the passage.
• Clarifying - Next, the student leader tries to clarify confusing points in the passage. He might point these out or ask other students to point them out. For example, the student leader might say, “The part about why the dog ran into the car was confusing to me. Can anyone explain this?” Or, the student leader might ask other students to ask clarification questions. The group then attempts to clear up the confusing parts. This might involve rereading parts of the passage.
• Predicting - The student leader asks for predictions about what will happen in the next segment of the text. The leader can write the predictions on the blackboard or on an overhead, or all students can write them down in their notebooks. Keeping those predictions in mind, the class then silently or orally reads the text. Then a new student is selected to be the teacher (i.e., the student leader), and the process begins again. During each successive summarizing stage, the student leader addresses the predictions that were made.