READING STRATEGIES

Discussion Strategies

Bloom's Taxonomy Questioning

Bloom's Taxonomy provides a structured presentation of human cognition from low-level thought processes like
simple recall to higher-order thinking skills like synthesis and evaluation. Bloom offers a "stair step" description of
the levels of human understanding, with each new level building on previous levels. Bloom's taxonomy divides
human cognition into five levels. The reading instructor can use these five levels to devise questions about reading
selections that target higher-order thinking skills.

Recall questions require students to repeat or retell information. Recall involves remembering and reciting key facts,
ideas, definitions, and rules. Drill and practice exercises are the commost common form of recall questions.

Analysis involves separating the main ideas or components of a larger whole—that is, dividing a whole into its
smaller parts. Students can then organize these smaller bits of data into "information clusters," related pieces that fit
together to form the whole.

Comparison refers to noting the similarities and difference among the component parts. Comparison asks how the
component parts are alike and how they are different.

Inference means making predictions or generalizations through deductive or inductive reasoning.

 Using deductive reasoning, students start with a general statement or principle and then explain how
specific details relate to it. Deductive logic interprets supporting details through the main ideas.
 Using inductive reasoning, students investigate specific details in search of an underlying, unifying general
principle. Common ideas or characteristics in the details allow students to generalize— to uncover the main
idea.

Evaluation means reaching a conclusion supported by evidence. Students bring together their analyses,
comparisons, and inferences to synthesize a conclusion.

Intra-Act

Intra-Act is an after reading strategy that engages a group of readers in a reflective discussion. Individual readers
reach personal conclusions or decisions based on their reading experience and this follow-up discussion.

According to Hoffman (1979), the Intra-Act process has four phases:

 Comprehension Phase–Students construct meaning from a text selection.

 Relational Phase–Students relate what they have learned about the topic with other texts and prior
experiences.
 Valuation Phase–Students express personal feelings and value judgments about the topic.
 Reflective Phase–Students reflect on the decisions they have made and the values upon which these
decisions are based.

Question-Answer Relationships

The Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) strategy presents a three-way relationship between questions,
text content, and reader knowledge. Simply put, the QAR strategy shows that students who understand how
questions are written are better prepared to answer questions. These activities help students "demystify" the
question-building process as a step toward better reading comprehension.
Radio Reading

Radio Reading is a "read aloud" strategy designed for maximum interaction between the reader and the audience.
The reader "reads aloud" a selection and then initiates a discussion by asking specific questions of the audience.
Responses and dialogue should be fast-paced.

This strategy improves reading comprehension at two levels. The reader must immerse himself in the text to develop
the discussion questions. The audience, in turn, reinforces learning by responding to the reader's questions.

Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest)

Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) is a variation on the Reciprocal Teaching strategy. Here, students take on the role
of the teacher by formulating their own list of questions about a reading selection. The teacher then answers the
students' questions.

This exercise assists reading comprehension at two levels. Students deeply analyze the reading selection to extract
their "teacher" questions. The teacher, in turn, reinforces learning by answering the questions and, if necessary,
helping students to refine their work into more focused questions.

Seed Discussion

The Seed Discussion strategy is a two-step process to encourage in-depth discussions of reading selections. First,
individual readers identify "seeds" for discussion—key concepts or questions that require further elaboration.
Second, these students present their "seeds" to initiate group discussion. Each "seed" should be thoroughly discussed
before moving to the next "seed."

This strategy encourages both critical thinking skills (required to isolate and articulate the "seeds") and
communication skills (required to adequately develop and discuss the "seeds" within the group).

Steps to Seed Discussions:

1. Explain the dynamics of a seed discussion. Focus specifically on the four roles played by students.
 2. Provide a series of questions about a reading selection that will assist students to identify possible "seeds"
for discussion.
o What new information does the reading selection provide?
o What did you find interesting or surprising about the selection?
o What did you not understand in the selection?
3. Allow students time to write and refine their "seeds."
4. Have students initiate discussion by presenting their "seeds." Wait for at least four comments about a "seed"
before moving on to the next.
5. At the end of the discussion, have students evaluate the strongest and weakest "seeds." Ask them to describe
criteria for determining quality "seed" ideas.

Think-Pair-Share

The Think-Pair-Share strategy empowers every reader to become a discussion participant. This versatile strategy can
be used as a pre- or post-reading activity, as a problem-solving tool, or as a "cognitive break" during a traditional
lecture.

Steps to Think-Pair-Share:

1. Begin the discussion by raising a topic or asking a specific question.

2. Students first "think" about what they know or have learned about the topic. (Think-Pair-Share rests on
constructivist learning theory that knowledge is "constructed" when prior experience confronts new ideas or
situations.) Have the students write down their observations.
3. "Pair" each student with another student or a small group. Encourage each student to "share" prior
knowledge about the topic with others.
4. Expand the "share" into a whole-class discussion.
5. Finally, with the collective prior knowledge "shared," have students read and analyze the text selection

Creative Debate
Creative Debate is a role-playing exercise. Students assume a specific point of view and debate a
controversial topic from this perspective. Creative Debates promote both critical thinking and tolerance of
opposing views.
Discussion Web

A Discussion Web helps students visualize the key elements of an issue and quickly identify opposing points of view
on the matter. This organizational tool guides discussions by allowing students to identify ideas of contention, to
weigh opposing viewpoints, to critically evaluate the arguments, and to draw conclusions.

Discussion Webs are useful tools for readers. This strategy offers a clear "point-counterpoint" visual framework for
analyzing texts.
Active Reading Strategies

Anticipation/Reaction Guide

An Anticipation/Reaction Guide utilizes a twin strategy to increase reading comprehension: stimulate prior
knowledge and experiences before reading and then reinforce key concepts after reading.

 The guide presents students with a series of leading questions to be answered in writing before reading.
 Students then share their answers in a class discussion designed specifically to "activate, or better
"reactivate," prior knowledge. This review of prior knowledge helps students "connect" with the topic.
 Students read the text passage and then evaluate their written answers (prior knowledge). Students should
note when their answers agree or disagree with the text's content.
 Finally, students engage in a summarizing discussion, expressing how the reading selection reinforced or
challenged their prior knowledge.

Directed Reading-Thinking Activity

The Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA) centers on open-ended questions about the reading experience.
This activity is designed to make students aware of their own interpretive actions during reading. The DRTA process
helps students recognize predictions, judgments, and evidence verification.

Steps to a Directed Reading-Thinking Activity:

1. Ask students to skim a reading selection prior to reading it. Have them note titles, subheadings, illustrations,
captions, sidebars, etc. From this preliminary overview, ask students to predict the content or perspective of
the text passage. More importantly, ask them to identify why they reached these conclusions.
2. Pick a reasonable "break point" in the reading selection and have students read up to this point. Challenge
students to evaluate their predictions and refine them if necessary. Press students who change their
predictions to explain "why" and offer specific evidence/reasons for the change.
3. Repeat the process in steps 1 and 2 throughout all the logical "break points" in the text until the selection is
completed.

Embedded Questions

Strong readers often monitor themselves by actively asking questions and making predictions as they read. The
opposite is true of weak readers. They seldom pause during reading to question or predict. In so doing, weak readers
miss valuable opportunities to stop and reflect on a text, a key to improved comprehension.

Embedded questions—questions placed in a narrative flow of a reading selection—arrest the reader's attention and
demand thoughtful reflection. These type questions model the type behavior that strong readers "self practice" during
reading. Embedded questions scaffold, or support, a student's self-questioning process.
Jot-Charting

Jot Charting provides students with a simple outlining tool for organizing related information. The Jot Chart is
especially effective for visualizing information regarding ideas, people, events, and processes.

The Jot Chart organizes data in a two-dimensional matrix with topics/categories/items recorded horizontally and
specific questions/characteristics recorded vertically This tool helps students gather and synthesize information from
data-rich reading selections.

Know/Want to Know/Learned

KWL, a widely used learning strategy, is particularly useful for teaching reading comprehension. This technique ties
together students' prior knowledge, their desire to learn more, and the conclusions of their learning.
K (Know): Students list everything they think they know about the topic of study.

W (Want to
Students tell what they want to know about the topic.
know):

After students have finished reading or studying a topic, they list what they have learned. They can
L (Learned): also check the W column to see which questions were answered and which were left unanswered.
Then they should revisit the K column to see if they had any misconceptions.

Predict/Locate/Add/Note (PLAN)

The Predict-Locate-Add-Note (PLAN) graphical organizer helps students summarize the content of a reading selection.
This instrument incorporates a number of reading and learning strategies into a single note-taking tool.

Using the PLAN organizer students . . .

 Predict selection content based on prior knowledge and experiences.

 Locate familiar and unfamiliar words and concepts.
 Add new information to prior knowledge.
 Note how new information can be applied to everyday tasks.
Pre-Reading Plan (PreP)

The Pre-Reading Plan (PreP) helps students activate prior knowledge as a starting point for better reading comprehension.
The PreP strategy guides students as they . . .

 Make associations between their prior knowledge and the central ideas in a reading selection.
 Reflect on these associations, comparing how the new information reinforces, extends, or challenges prior
knowledge.
 Reformulate their prior knowledge in light of the new information.

This dialogue between prior knowledge and new information greatly increases the student's ability to comprehend a text
and to retain new information.

Steps to a Pre-Reading Plan (PreP):

1. Select a reading passage for the class. Identify its central concept and state it in a brief sentence. Share this
statement with the class as the springboard for their pre-reading activities.
2. Divide the class up into small groups. Ask each group to list words and phrases from their prior knowledge that
are associated with the central concept of the reading selection. Have the students group the ideas into logical
categories. Have the groups share their list of associated terms with the class.

Problematic Situation

The Problematic Situation is a general learning strategy that can be modified for reading instruction. In this strategy, the
teacher confronts students with an important problem. Solving this problem promotes engaged learning in the forms of
research, information organization, and lively classroom discussion. The problems that are best suited for prompting
student exchange are those that are close to students' personal experiences or those that draw clear opposing ("pro" and
"con") responses.

This strategy is applied to reading by using a selected text as a starting point for stating the problem and/or outlining its
possible solutions.

Reciprocal Teaching

The Reciprocal Teaching strategy involves a role reversal: students "become" teachers of reading strategies. After training
students in specific reading strategies and modeling these strategies when analyzing texts, teachers divide classes into
small groups and assign individual students to take turns "teaching" and "modeling" the strategies in their small group.
This metacognitive exercise encourages students to think about their own thought processes when using reading strategies.

Palincsar and Brown (1984) argue that Reciprocal Teaching should always train students in . . .

1. Predicting upcoming information.

2. Asking questions.
3. Identifying and clarifying confusing information.
4. Summarizing as a means of self-review.

Response Journal

Response Journals record student feelings, responses, and reactions to reading texts. This active learning strategy
encourages students to think deeply about the materials they read and to relate this information to their prior knowledge
and experiences. This interaction between reader and text extends the reading experience into the "real life" application of
information.

Response Journals allow students to reflect on and raise questions about a text. These journals are especially valuable for
promoting opinion making, value judgments, and critical thinking.
Strategy Log

The Strategy Log is a simple note-taking tool designed to help students identify the strategies they use while reading.
Students monitor their own reading habits and keep a "diary" of reading activities and the specific strategies they employ.

At a deeper level, the Strategy Log allows students to self-assess their own facility with multiple reading strategies. Logs
often reveal that students overuse some strategies, while failing to use others. Logs also show deficiencies in student
understanding of specific strategies and failures to match the appropriate strategy to a reading task.

SQ3R

The SQ3R strategy is a widely recognized study system that is easily adapted to reading assignments. This method
provides concrete steps for interacting with information that results in high levels of comprehension.

SQ3R (Vacca and Vacca, 1989) stands for

 Survey: The reader previews the material to develop a general outline for organizing information.
 Question: The reader raises questions with the expectation of finding answers in the material to be studied.
 Read: The reader next attempts to answer the questions formulated in the previous step.
 Recite: The reader then deliberately attempts to answer out loud or in writing the questions formulated in the
second step.
 Review: The reader finally reviews the material by rereading portions of the assignment in order to verify the
answers given during the previous step.

Three-Level Guide

A Three-Level Reading Guide is a printed form students use to analyze a text selection. This guide allows students to
record their reading comprehension at three levels:

 Literal Level–Understanding the literal meaning of the words and ideas in a reading selection.
 Interpretive Level–Grasping the "message" of the selection or understanding what the author meant by the
passage.
 Applied Level–Relating the selection's message to other experiences or contexts.

Vocabulary Strategies

Concept Definition Mapping

A Concept Definition Map prompts students to take a key term, concept, or reading selection and . . .

 Uncover its component ideas,

 Show their structure and interrelatedness, and
 Chart these findings on a graphical organizer.
A Concept Definition Map trains students to place information in logical categories, to identify defining properties and
characteristics, and to offer examples (and non-examples) of ideas. This strategy is especially useful for analyzing brief,
but content-rich, reading selections

Contextual Redefinition

Contextual Redefinition offers students specific steps for deducing the meaning of unknown (or unclear) words in a
reading passage by seeking clues from their context in a larger text selection.

This strategy encourages students . . .

 To focus on what is clear and obvious in a reading selection,

 To state, as much as is possible, the author's general intent/meaning in a passage, and
 To use these observations to help interpret unclear terms and ideas within the known context.

Additionally, Contextual Redefinition calls for close attention to word order, syntax, parallel ideas, and examples as keys
for predicting word meaning.

Dictionary Game

The Dictionary Game is a team activity that both builds student vocabulary and strengthens dictionary skills. In this game,
student teams first compete with each other to find a word definition in the dictionary. The fastest team reads the
definition, explains the word's part of speech, and uses the word correctly in a sentence. The other teams are allowed to
challenge this response. Correct answers or challenges receive points.

The "hidden" value of this game is its ability to demonstrate the difference between a word's primary definition and its
specific usage in the context of a subject area or reading. Students quickly learn that the primary definition of a word is not
always its meaning in a specific context.

Frayer Model

The Frayer Model is a graphical organizer used for word analysis and vocabulary building. This four-square model
prompts students to think about and describe the meaning of a word or concept by . . .

 Defining the term,

 Describing its essential characteristics,
 Providing examples of the idea, and
 Offering non-examples of the idea.

This strategy stresses understanding words within the larger context of a reading selection by requiring students, first, to
analyze the items (definition and characteristics) and, second, to synthesize/apply this information by thinking of examples
and non-examples.
 List/Group/Label

The List/Group/Label strategy offers a simple three-step process for students to organize a vocabulary list from a
reading selection. This strategy stresses relationships between words and the critical thinking skills required to
recognize these relationships.

List/Group/Label challenges students to . . .

 List key words (especially unclear and/or technical terms) from a reading selection.
 Group these words into logical categories based on shared features.
 Label the categories with clear descriptive titles.

Possible Sentences

Possible Sentences is a pre-reading strategy that focuses on vocabulary building and student prediction prior to reading. In
this strategy, teachers write the key words and phrases of a selected text on the chalkboard. Students are asked to . . .

 Define all of the terms.

 Group the terms in related pairs.
 Write sentences using these word pairs.

These "possible sentences" introduce the important skill of pre-reading prediction. Students then "check" their predictions
by a close, careful reading of the text selection.

RIVET

Rivet is a variation of the childhood game, HangMan. This game introduces vocabulary terms and encourages better
spelling.

The game is very simple. The teacher draws a blank line for each letter of a vocabulary word. The teacher then slowly fills
in the blanks, one letter at a time, until a student guesses the word. This student is then asked to come to the chalkboard
and complete spelling the word.

For example,
v o l _ _ _ _ _ _.

v o l u n t a r y.

Semantic Feature Analysis

The Semantic Feature Analysis strategy asks students to identify key words in a reading selection and relate these words to
the major concepts of the text. Using a graphical matrix, students . . .

 List the key words of a reading selection.

 Identify the meaning and properties of these key words.
 Group key words into logical categories.
 Relate the words (and categories) to one another.
Semantic Webbing

Semantic Webbing builds a side-by-side graphical representation of students' knowledge and perspectives about the key
themes of a reading selection before and after the reading experience. Semantic Webs achieve three goals:

 "Reviving" or "reactivating" students' prior knowledge and experience,

 Helping students organize both their prior knowledge and new information confronted in reading, and
 Allowing students to discover relationships between their prior and new knowledge.

SVES

The Stephens Vocabulary Elaboration Strategy (SVES) requires students to maintain a vocabulary notebook. Whenever a
new (or unclear) word confronts a student, the student writes and defines the term in the vocabulary notebook. Students
should regularly review these words with the ultimate goal of integrating them into their working vocabularies.

Structured Notes

The Structured Notes strategy offers students a graphical organizer for note-taking during reading selected text. Unlike
most graphical organizers (that tend to provide a single generic form for all tasks), Structured Notes calls on teachers to
create a specific form based on the unique organization of each reading assignment.

This visual tool greatly assists students as they interpret complex reading selections. Most importantly, the teacher-
produced note-taking structure provides a model for the type of organizational strategies students should apply when
reading.

Student VOC Strategy

The Student VOC Strategy combines the strengths of the Contextual Redefinition and Visual Imagery strategies. Students
first identify key words in a reading selection and define them (or deduce their definitions) from their context within the
larger document. Students then "visualize" or imagine the scene described in the reading in vivid sensory terms.

The "visualizations" tie the "unknown"—the current reading content—to the "known"—the reader's past knowledge and
experience. This strategy greatly enhances retention by adding a sensory connection between the reading content and the
reader's prior knowledge.

Word Analogies

Word Analogies allow students to link familiar concepts with new ideas—prior experiences with new information. In this
strategy, students confront two related words and are challenged to explain the nature of their relationship. Next, students
apply this same relationship to other word pairs.
Typically, a word analogy exercise takes this form: "Term A is to Term B as Term C is to what word?" Students think
critically on two levels: first, in describing the relationship between the first word pair and, second, by suggesting new
word pairs with the same relationship.

Vacca and Vacca (1996) outline the following word analogy types:

Word Sort

A Word Sort is a simple small group activity. Students list key words from a reading selection. (Alternatively, the teacher
may provide a list of terms prior to the reading activity.) Students identify the meaning and properties of each word and
then "sort" the list into collections of words with similar features. This "sorting" process links students' prior knowledge to
the basic vocabulary of a reading selection.

Vacca and Vacca (1996) describe two forms of Word Sorts:

 Closed Word Sort–The teacher provides the categories (and the specific features of each) to the students. The
students then match the words with the features to create the word collections.
 Open Word Sort–The teacher provides only the list of words. Students work together to discern the common
features and to describe the categories for collecting the word groups.

Organization Strategies

CONCEPT Diagram

A CONCEPT Diagram is a graphic organizer that assists students in clarifying central concepts in a reading selection and
in relating similar or associated information to this key idea.

The CONCEPT diagram is built on these steps:

 Convey the central idea.

 Offer the overall concept.
 Note any key words.
 Classify characteristics.
 Explore examples (and non-examples).
 Practice with new examples.
 Tie down the definition.

Content Frame

A Content Frame is a visual representation (an outline) of the content of a reading selection. This tool helps students
uncover the organization of a text document, to divide the document into its component sections, and to perceive the
relationships between these sections (how the sections combine to form the single narrative of the document). This strategy
works best with documents that are highly structured and that provide clear indicators of this structure in the text.
This strategy teaches students to look for obvious visual clues to a reading's organization: headings, subheadings,
introductions, summaries, and topic sentences. Students learn to "extract" the outline (content frame) of the document by
piecing together these visual clues.

Graphic Organizer

Graphic Organizers are printed charts or forms that assist students in producing visual representations of the concepts,
organization, or arguments of a text selection. Most often, these tools help students isolate and analyze the main ideas of a
document.

Lenski, Wham, and Johns (1999) describe five types of graphical organizers:

The Enumeration (Description) Graphic Organizer prompts students to identify main ideas and list possible definitions,
related terms, or examples.

The Time Order or Sequence Graphic Organizer helps students uncover the logical progression of ideas in a document—
from earliest to latest, from most to least important, etc.—and then to place specific items or details within this sequence.

The Compare and Contrast Graphical Organizer asks students how two related concepts are alike and different and then to
chart these comparisons on a Venn diagram.

The Cause and Effect Graphical Organizer helps students recognize causal relationships between events and produce a
chart of causes and effects leading to a conclusion.

The Problem and Solution Graphical Organizer allows students to investigate and analyze possible solutions to problems.

Idea-Map
The Idea-Map is a specialized set of graphical organizers. Like all other graphical organizers, these tools help
students produce visual representations of the main concepts of a document.
ORDER

ORDER is an acronym for

 Open your mind,

 Recognize the structure,
 Draw an organizer,
 Explain it, and
 Reuse it.

The ORDER strategy recognizes both the power of graphical organizers to assist students in visualizing the organization of
information in a reading selection and the importance of independent, unguided student thought. This strategy calls for
students, rather than teachers, to produce graphical organizers

Proposition/Support Outline

The Proposition/Support Outline strategy helps students separate factual and opinionated materials in a reading selection.
Students learn to isolate information that reflects opinion, bias, personal viewpoints, and hypotheses from factual
statements.

The Proposition/Support Outline provides a graphical organizer by which students list the "propositions"—statements than
can be argued as true, false, or debatable—of a document. Using this list as a guide, students search the reading selection,
record supporting arguments, and draw conclusions about the nature of each of these propositions.

Record/Edit/Synthesize/Think

The Record/Edit/Synthesize/Think (REST) note-taking strategy requires students to integrate learning from readings,
lectures, and class discussions. Using a single notebook, students combine notes taken during all learning activities, editing
overlapping materials, eliminating irrelevant ideas, and synthesizing information from multiple sources into a single
narrative.

The resulting synthesis of information is an ideal summary for test preparation. Long-term retention of information results
from the REST discipline.

Two-Column Notes

Two-Column Notes is a note-taking strategy that divides a page into two columns. Students write main ideas and concepts
in the left column and supporting dteails and information in the right column. This technique is especially useful for
analyzing well-structured, content-rich, sequential reading selections.

The Two-Column Notes graphical organizer can be used in a variety of forms:

 Main Idea-Detail Notes–Students identify key concepts and their supporting details.
 Opinion-Proof Notes–Students isolate statements of opinion, bias, or limited point of view.
 Hypothesis-Proof Notes–Students identify predictions or theories and evaluate the evidence offered for their
proof.
 Problem-Solution Notes–Students write the nature, causes, and effects of a problem in the left column and
potential solutions in the right column.
 Process Notes–Students describe a process in the left column and then outline the specific steps in the process in
the right column.