Reading Comprehension Strategies

Understanding What You Read

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Reported by: Jolina Mae G. Natuel (BEED IV)
 Seven Strategies of Successful Readers

1. They use existing knowledge to make sense of new

information.
2. They ask questions about the text before, during, and
after reading.
3. They draw inferences from the text.
4. They monitor their comprehension.
5. They use “fix-up” strategies when meaning breaks down.
6. They determine what is important.
7. They synthesize information to create new thinking
 Signals of Confusion

1. The voice inside the reader’s head isn’t interacting

with the text.
2. The camera inside the reader’s head shuts of.
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.
 Fix-it Strategies
• Make a connection between the text and your life,
your knowledge of the world, or another text.
• Make a prediction.
• Stop and think about what you have already read.
• Ask yourself a question and try to answer it.
• Reflect in writing on what you have read.
• Visualize.
 Fix-it Strategies
• Use print conventions.
• Retell what you’ve read.
• Reread.
• Notice patterns in text structure.
• Adjust your reading rate: slow down or speed up.
 Making connections helps
readers!
Remember the following techniques to make connections:
• Relate to characters.
• Visualize.
• Avoid boredom, if you start to get bored…take a short
break.
• Pay attention, take your reading seriously.
• Listen to others’ ideas about the reading.
• Read actively.
• Remember what they read.
• Ask questions.
 Voices
What you “hear” when you are reading:

• Reciting Voice- The voice a reader hears when he is only reciting

the words and not drawing meaning from the text.

• Conversation Voice- The voice that has a conversation with the

text. It represents the reader’s thinking as he/she talks back to the text
in an interactive way. It can take two forms:

1. Interacting Voice- This voice encourages the reader to infer,

make connections, ask questions, and synthesize information.
2. Distracting Voice -This voice pulls the reader away from the text.
 Text-to-Reader Connections
How to relate to your reading:
• Text to self: Connections between the text and the
reader’s experiences and memories. The more experiences
and memories a reader has about a topic, the easier the
material is to read.
• Text to world: Connections the reader makes between
the text and what he knows about the world (facts and
information).
• Text to text: Connections the reader makes between two
or more types of texts. The reader may make connections
relative to plot, content, structure, or style.
 Questioning/I Wonder…
Questions can be more powerful than answers. Good
readers ask questions throughout the reading process:
before, during, and after reading. Readers who ask
questions when they read assume responsibility for their
learning and improve their comprehension in four ways:
• By interacting with text.
• By motivating themselves to read.
• By clarifying information in the text.
• By inferring beyond the literal meaning.
 Correcting Confusion
Comprehension Technique

• Sticky Notes- Place sticky notes next to passages that

cause confusion so that you can return to them.

• Highlighters- Use highlighters to mark places you

understand (pink) and places that are confusing
(yellow).
 Understanding Purpose
A reader’s purpose affects everything about reading. It determines
what’s important in the text, what is remembered, and what
comprehension strategy a reader uses to enhance meaning.
Comprehension Technique:
• Read the article and circle what you think is important.
• Read the piece again, and this time use a pink highlighter to mark
places in the text that a _____ would find important.
• Read the piece again, and this time use a yellow highlighter to
mark places in the text that a _____ would find important.
• What did you notice about the three times you highlighted.
The first time was probably the hardest because you had no purpose.
 Discovering Meaning/Vocabulary

What to do when you find a new word when you’re

reading…

1. Ignore it. Continue reading.

2. Look at it.
3. Cover it up with your finger and try to read the sentence.
4. Think about the general idea of the text.
5. And if nothing else works and you still can’t understand
the main idea of the text, use the dictionary.
 Reading for General Meaning

 Predicting / previewing: Looking quickly at

the text before beginning reading

 Skimming: Reading quickly to get a main idea.

 Finding the main idea: Understanding the

writer’s principal message.
 Thinking Aloud
Good readers engage in mental processes before, during, and after
they read in order to comprehend text. They stop often to think out
loud and describe what is going on in their minds as they read.
Comprehension Technique:
• Select a short piece of text.
• Foresee difficulty.
• Read the text out loud and stop often to share your thinking.
• Point out the words in the text that trigger your thinking.
1. I am reminded of _____
2. I wonder _________
3. I am confused _____________
4. I notice that this piece is organize like this _________.
 Marking Text
Marking text helps readers pay attention and remember
what they read.
Comprehension Technique:
• Assign codes to the types of thinking in which you engage.
As you read, mark these codes next to the passages in the
text that trigger these kinds of thinking and explain the
connection.
C = connection reader makes to own life and text.
? = questions reader has about text.
I = inference or conclusion reader draws from text.
 Marking Text

• Read the text.

• Use sticky notes to attach to appropriate spots.
• Use highlighters.
-Use yellow to highlight portion not understood.
Write a fix-up strategy next to it.
 Double-entry Diaries (DED)

DEDs are similar to taking notes.

Comprehension Techniques:
• Divide page in half with questions and main ideas on
the left and specific information on the right.
• Divide page in half with direct quote from text and
page number on the left and thinking options on the right
(reader’s reactions).
 Double-entry Diaries (DED)

• Divide page in half with facts or details on the left and

author’s message on the right.
• Divide page in half with confusing part in text on the
left and reader’s attempt to get unstuck on the right.
• Divide page in half with new/confusing vocabulary on
the left and reader’s knowledge on the right.
Comprehension Constructors
This requires readers to use two or more thinking
strategies.

Comprehension Technique:
• Call up any background knowledge you have about topic
in the text.
• Read the text.
• As you read the piece, you should have a number of
questions. Jot them down (at least 3) in the margins where
they occur to you.
Comprehension Constructors

• At the end of the piece, write a response. It should be

a paragraph of at least four sentences.
• Look back at the questions you asked. Write the three
best questions below and then decide where the answers
to the questions can be found: in the text, in your head,
in another source.