Reading+Strategies

R﻿﻿eading Strategies 

﻿ “No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” -Confucius Reading Strategies

Reading comprehension is the overall goal a reader strives for when actively engaged in reading and good readers use a variety of reading strategies throughout the reading process to obtain the meaning of the text. It is through the use of effective reading strategies that students can learn to become life long readers. Students do need to know, conciously, that smart readers use a variety of different cognitive lenses to spot the meaning in tough texts (Daniels, 2004). Reading strategies are deliberate, conscious techniques that readers employ to enhance their comprehension or retention of the textual information (Li, 2010). Reading experts often refer to [|mental strategies]that readers use to understand what they are reading. There are specific and documented mental processes that effective readers use: questioning, predicitng, connecting, visualizing, synthesizing and more (Harvey 2000; Zimmerman and Keene 1997) (as cited in Daniels,2004). But they also talk about [|instructional strategies]that teachers use to help students learn those mental strategies (Daniels, 2004 ). In order to help students become proficient with expository text, all educators need to focus on how to choose and use the most appropriate instuctional strategies for their students (Miller, 2010). Students who naturally use learning strategies are more successful in school than those who do not (Biemiller & Meichenbaum 1992) (as cited in Frank, 2006).

The Origins of Reading Strategies

In 1946, F.P. Robinson published the book,[| Effective Study], which provided a detailed description of the [|SQ3R]method of study. It was from Survey, Questioning, Read, Recite, and Review that a myriad of learing strategies evolved. By the late 1960's and early 70's, many types of directed reading thinking lessons were presented along with structured overviews, note taking systyems, study guides, and instructional frameworks. In 1970, H.L. Herber published Teaching Reading in Content Areas, which contained many of the original forms of learning strategies used today all over the United States. By the 1980's, it bacame apparent through research that students who took an active srategic role in their learning performed more successfully. In the 1990s and early 2000s...researchers began developing a comprehensive manuscript that purports the theory along with practical applications regarding content area reading, the idea of providing students with independent learning through self-owned strategies evolved (Frank, 2006).

Application of Reading Strategies (Elementary & Secondary)

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The following books, taken from Subjects Matter Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading, can be used to teach reading strategies effectively across the content areas:

Science and Technology: //Black Stars: African American Women Scientists and Inventors//, Otha Sullivan and Jim Haskins Twenty-fice moslty unsung women of color and their contributiions.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883//, Simon Winchester <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Recounts the ctaclysmic volcanic explosion heard roud the world: 40,000 died in fire, ash, and tidal waves.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//Lincoln's DNA and Other Adventures in Genetics//, Philip Reilly <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Thoughtful and fact-filled vignettes on the burgeoning applications of the genome: genetically engineered crops, DNA fingerprinting, cloning, gene therapy, and more. Highlights moral dilemas, but mostly leaves them to the reader to wrestle.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Mathematics: <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//The Adventures of Penrose, the Mathematical Cat//, Theoni Pappas <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">A humurous and approchable tour of mathematical concepts from fractions to infinity.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure//, Hans Magnus Enzenberger <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Illustrated fantashy starring a little red guy who calls prime numbers "prima donnas," irational numbers "unreasonable," and roots "rutabagas."

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper//, John Allen Paulos <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Paulos lookss at 52 different news stories, from sports to the stock market, politics to war to health, and finds fascinating puzzles and concepts that call on mathematical thinking.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">﻿Social Studies: <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//Rethinking Colombus: The next 500 years//, Bill Bigelow, ed. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">This book has changed the way tht "the discovery of America" is taught in classrooms across the country.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//The Future of Life//, Edward O. Wilson <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">A comprehensive look at the perils facing the planet by one of our leading scientist, the father of sociobiology.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//Girls: A History of Growing Up Female in America//, Penny Colman <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">An upbeat history of the roles of girls (and women) including native Americans, pioneers, former slaves, mill workers, children of farmers, and imigrants, told through excerpts from letters, diary entries, and published memoris.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">History: <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the U.S.S. Indianapolis//, Peter Nelson <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The ulimate sciene fair and history project. The research of 11-year old Hunter Scott, which was inspired by a passing reference in the movie Jaws, uncovered the truth behind a historic WW II naval disaster. //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Maus: A Survivor's Tale, //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Art Siegelman <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The stunning, eloquent Pulitzer-Prize winning depiction of Nazism in comic-book form.

//<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">A Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">, Victor Martinez <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">A lyrical, episodic, multiple award-winning Mexican American coming of age story.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Refrences:

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Daniels, H., & Zemelman, S. (2004). //Subjects Matter Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading//. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Frank, C. B., Grossi, J. M., & Stanfield, D. J. (2006). //Applications of Reading Strategies within the Classroom.// Boston: Pearson.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Li, F. (2010). //A Study of Engligh Reading Strategies Used by Senior Middle School Students//. Asian Social Sciences, 6, No.10, 184-192

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Miller, M., & Veatch, N. (2010). //Teaching Literacy in Context: Choosing and Using Instructional Strategies//. [Editorial]. The Reading Teacher, 64, No.3, 154-165