 Reading is a tool to help you understand and function in your daily life.  Reading is a skill. It takes work to achieve proficiency. You have to practice it just like with other skills, like sports.  Reading is an ability. Having a strong ability to read helps you achieve your goals and makes life easier.

 Enjoyment – Read for fun and escape to another world. Reading can relax and calm the mind.  Information – reading is a source of information and improves your understand and enjoyment in life.  Meaning – Reading puts you in touch with ideas and experiences of others and helps bring meaning to your own life.  Depth – Reading teaches you important things about people, experiences, ideas, other places, and more.  Beauty – Writers can string together words in a beautiful, artful way. It can touch your heart and expose you to new insight and emotion.  Fun and Ease – Fun texts like comics, poems, music lyrics…are easy to read and enjoyable.

 Reading has a process just like writing has a process. It is broken into three categories.  BEFORE Reading  DURING Reading  AFTER Reading

 There are three steps you should follow before you read.  Set a purpose: Decide what your reason is for reading. Ask yourself a question and then look for the answer. “What is the plot of this novel and why is it interesting?” Looking for an answer to a question gives you a reason to read.  Preview: Look over what you are going to read. It can be long or short, brief or in-depth. Previewing gives you a sense of what to expect and to start thinking about what you might already know about the subject. Learn something about what you will be reading will help you decide HOW YOU WANT TO READ.  Plan: Make a plan for your reading. Find a strategy for reading the text such as note-taking, using a graphic organizer, or creating a Cause-Effect organizer to accomplish your purpose.

 There are two steps you should follow as you read.  Read with a purpose: Look for the information you need to find while you read. Be an active reader and look for the information you need to find. Don’t simply pass your eyes over the words – think about what you are reading! Save yourself time. This helps you to create an understanding about what the reading will mean for you.  Connect: You want to connect to what you read. Do this by relating the reading to your life. Ask questions to find connections. How do you feel about the text? Where have you seen or heard something like this before? What did you find surprising? When did something like this happen to you? What do you think about it? Is it believable or not?

 After you read, there are three steps you should follow.  Pause and Reflect: Take time to pause, look back, and ask yourself how well you met your reading purpose. Did you learn what you were suppose to learn? Was it confusing? Why? If you find that you are confused or didn’t stick with your reading purpose, you might have to reread.  Reread: Many kinds of reading require the extra time to reread. Be patient. Reading for enjoyment won’t require much rereading but nonfiction and informational text (science and history) may require a second read. When rereading, focus on what confused you the first time. Insist upon getting what you started out to find – don’t give up!  Remember: Do not give yourself permission to FORGET! Write down what you learned, create a graphic organizer or drawing. Be resourceful and do it right the first time. Don’t waste your time by “forgetting” the information. Make the information your own!

 Final Note on the Reading Process:  Think of the reading process as a road map leading you through different kinds of reading, making sure you don’t get lost.

1. MAIN IDEA and SUPPORTING DETAILS  What is the selection saying?  What is the main idea or message of the selection?  What details are important? 2. SUMMARIZING  What is the selection about?  What are the main ideas/events?  What details are important?

3. VOCABULARY  What does this word or phrase mean? 4. MAKING INFERENCES and PREDICTIONS  What does it mean?  What will happen?  What details are important? 1-4 are Building Blocks and Basic Comprehension (What is going on?)

5. UNDERSTANDING LITERARY ELEMENTS AND TEXT FEATURES  How do they create meaning?  What details create this meaning? 6. MAKING CONNECTIONS (Cause and Effect)  How do people/events interact?  What details show how they interact? 7. COMPARING & CONTRASTING  How are things different and similar?  What details reveal their differences and similarities? 5-7 are Analysis Blocks (How did things happen?)

8. EVALUATING  Why is a character - event right or wrong?  What details support this conclusion? 9. ANALYZING AUTHOR’S PURPOSE  Why did the author write the selection?  What details indicate the author’s purpose? 10. EXTENDING BEYOND THE TEXT  Why is the selection meaningful to me?  What details make the selection useful? 8-10 are Critical Thinking Blocks (Why did it happen?)

 Mark or Highlight  Ask a question  React and Connect  Predict  Visualize  Clarify  Find a reading place to help with focus  Finding time to read

 READ! Recipes, cartoons, newspapers, directions, manuals, articles, poems, songs, novels… just read!  Set goals for your reading (time, pages, days)  Challenge yourself with new material and different genres  Keep a book with you at all times. You never know when you will have time to read.  Follow the reading process and set a purpose for your reading. This will help give your reading time direction and make it more enjoyable.

Before Set a Purpose Preview reading Plan a strategy During Read with purpose Create a Personal Connection After Pause, reflect, and check on purpose Reread if needed Remember what you read!