1. Critical Reading Strategies

2. Six Strategies that Will Help You Understand and Respond to Any Text
Visualize Ideas
Summarize Ideas
Clarify Information
Make Connections
Respond to Ideas
Ask Questions

3. First Read Before reading, number the paragraphs
Underline ideas or phrases that seem particularly important
Circle any words you don’t understand
Put a question mark by any passages that are confusing
Put an exclamation point next to anything that surprises you

4. Visualizing Ideas
Draw images or create diagrams that show ideas or relationships
Guiding Questions
What does the author want me to understand?
What is the author saying?
What does the author want me to see?
How can I draw this concept or idea?
What visual and/or symbol best represents this concept or idea?
Try this with your partner(s) – come up with at least one symbol or diagrams

5. Summarizing Ideas Pick out the most important information
Use journalistic questions – who, what , when, where, why and how
Include the author’s thesis or theme if there is one, then give supporting information
With your partner, write a summary of one paragraph on your page. Give the paragraph number.

6. Clarifying Ideas Look at your circled words and question marks
Define any words you don’t understand
See if you can connect ideas you don’t understand to other ideas in the text
Ask clarifying questions such as “What does this mean?” or “Why is this important?”
Try to paraphrase the confusing ideas to help you answer your question
Write one clarifying question in the margin of your page, then attempt to answer it.

7. Making Connections
Ask yourself  What do I know about subject?  What is my experience with topic/idea?  What do I believe?  Where have I heard or read this idea before?  How does this idea relate to other ideas in the text?  How does this relate to the world? Make 2 connections on your page

8. Respond to Ideas Students should write responses to:
1. Interesting ideas;
2. Familiar experiences;
3. Emotional arguments;
4. Provocative statements;
5. Author’s claims; and
6. Facts, data, and other support.
Write 2 responses on your page

9. Ask Questions What is the author saying here?
2. What is the author doing?
3. What do I understand so far?
4. What is important about this paragraph/section?
5. What is the purpose of this section?
6. Do I agree/disagree with what the author is saying?
Write 2 questions on your page