Becoming an A C T I V E reader

A C T I V E SK ONNECT RACK DOWN NFER ISUALIZE UREKA!

Ask Strong readers ask themselves questions as they read to make sense of the text. When readers ask their own questions, the reader learns to seek, pursue, and search for answers or deeper understanding. The following are great questions to ASK while being an ACTIVE reader: I wonder… Why? I’m confused about… What does this mean? How come… How do I feel about this story?

Connect Strong readers know how to make connections while they read. The following are ways CONNECTING helps you become a strong reader: It helps readers understand how characters feel and the motivation behind their actions. It helps readers have a clearer picture in their head as they read thus making the reader more engaged. It sets a purpose for reading and keeps the reader focused. Readers can see how other readers connected to the reading. It helps readers remember what they have read and ask questions about the text.

Text to Self Text-to-self connections are highly personal connections that a reader makes between a piece of reading material and the reader’s own experiences or life. An example of a text-to-self connection might be, "This story reminds me of a vacation we took to my grandfather’s farm."

Text to Text These connections are when readers are reminded of other things that they have read, other books, stories, articles, etc. Readers gain insight during reading by thinking about how the information they are reading connects to other familiar text. “This character has the same problem that I read about in a story last year,” would be an example of a text-to-text connection.

Independent Reading Get lost in a book! No drawing! No writing! Just reading  This is our only reading day this week.

Text to World Text-to-world connections are the larger connections that a reader brings to a reading situation. We all have ideas about how the world works that goes far beyond our own personal experiences. We learn about things through television, movies, the internet, etc. An example of a text-to-world connection would be when a reader says, "I saw a program on television that talked about things described in this article.“ This category also contains the connections of: Text to People (I haven’t experienced this but I know someone who has) Text to History (I can connect this to something that has happened in the past)

Track Down Strong readers are able to TRACK DOWN (or determine) the most important information from a text This will help you pull out important points, characters, and events from texts. If you can track down while reading, that means you can cite a source, which is a wonderful reading and writing skill. For example, when answering a question, you should be able to explain or quote how you know/where you found the answer

Infer Making INFERENCES is a must-have skill of all strong readers An inference is a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning. When you infer you are also predicting what will happen in/after a story This gets you thinking about the text on a much higher level!

Visualize Visualizing refers to our ability to create pictures in our heads based on text we read or words we hear. It is one of many skills that makes reading comprehension possible. As readers gain more practice with this skill, the act of visualizing text becomes automatic. Students who visualize as they read not only have a richer reading experience but can recall what they have read for longer periods of time.

Eureka! Eureka is a term for a cry of joy or satisfaction when one finds or discovers something. Eureka (in active reading) represents the reading skill of SYNTHESIZING. Synthesizing is the process where a reader merges new information with prior knowledge to form a new idea, perspective, or opinion or to generate insight.