READING TO UNDERSTAND

Strategic Reading

by Dave Gates

LEARNING GOAL

I will be able to help students preview, identify topics, main ideas and details, so that they can construct meaning from challenging academic texts.

Shifrin, Ben. "Executive Functions." United States Department of State - Overseas Schools, N.D., Online Conference

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Ties to the Communication ATLs

• Read critically and for comprehension
• Read a variety of sources for information and for pleasure
• Make inferences and draw conclusions
• Use and interpret a range of discipline-specific terms and symbols
• Paraphrase accurately and concisely
• Preview and skim texts to build understanding
• Take effective notes in class
• Make effective summary notes for studying
• Use a variety of organizers for academic writing tasks
• Find information for disciplinary and interdisciplinary inquiries, using a variety of media
• Organize and depict information logically
• Structure information in summaries, essays and reports

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• Before T.H.I.S
• During Annotation
• After Visualize

Core Strategies

BEFORE - T.H.I.S.

T - Title

H - Headings or Subheadings

I - Introductory Paragraph

S - Summary Paragraph

Dairy food helped ancient Tibetans thrive in one of Earth's most inhospitable environments

TITLE

Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology. "Dairy foods helped ancient Tibetans thrive in one of Earth's most inhospitable environments." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 April 2023. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230412153105.htm>.

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Some texts have them. Some do not. However, text features often help identify important elements of a text.

HEADINGS & SUBHEADINGS

Morris, Paul, and Patricia Deo. Sciences for the IB MYP 3. Hodder Education, 2017.

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH

SUMMARY PARAGRAPH

DURING - ANNOTATE

What do we annotate?

• Vocabulary (important words)
• Main Ideas
• People, Places, Ideas, Things, Concepts
• Types, Parts, Causes, Effects,

ANNOTATION CHECKLIST

• Focused on main ideas not details
• Written in the student's words (Paraphrased)
• Relationships (Cause and Effect, Components, etc)
• Numbered (If multiple causes, effects, types, etc)
• They make sense to the reader.

ANNOTATION IS NOT JUST HIGHLIGHTING OR UNDERLINING!

AFTER - VISUALIZE

• Create a flow chart, mind map, timeline, infographic, concept map, sketch notes, etc. to visualize the main ideas of the text.

Visualizations such as concept maps show relationships

http://www.udel.edu/chem/white/C342/CMap.ppt

This can even be used for very challenging academic texts.

http://www.udel.edu/chem/white/C342/CMap.ppt

Concept Maps can show Parts or Types

Concept Maps can show Examples

Mind Mapping or Concept Maps can show Causes & Effects

This can be done physically with pencil and paper. Or digitally.

Dairy foods helped early Tibetans thrive in harsh mountain conditions

It is difficult to grow crops in the harsh alpine pastures like the Tibetan Plateau

Animals like goats and sheep can live off of the grasses in these harsh environments

Ancient Tibetans ate meat and drank milk from these animals to survive.

Modern archaeologists discovered this by analyzing the proteins in calcified plaque on human teeth from at least 3500 years ago

Questions?

If you would like, I would be happy to help model or co-teach these reading strategies in any of your classes!