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Reading StrategiesThe term "Reading Strategies" is educator speak for different methods that can help a child learn to read or learn to read better. They can include anything from filling in blanks on a worksheet to reading a story aloud. However, if your child does not have a good grasp of the basics these learning strategies can only do so much. Fore more information on reading basics and a free program to help you help your child, go to ABC 123 READ's Free Reading Program.Since all children learn differently it is important to be aware of various reading strategies to help improve reading skills. Reading strategies are basically different ways that a student can interact with text to gain meaning (comprehension). These can more simply be called activities with a purpose. What works best with one child may not work with the next. It all depends on their learning style. Reading strategies are divided up into pre-reading, during reading and post-reading subgroups. Pre-reading strategies are designed to be used before the text is read. During-reading strategies are to be used during the reading and post-reading strategies are for after reading.Before going any farther, let me say that even the best reading strategies will not help if your child is struggling with a vision or hearing problem. A good site for more information on these and other problems, as well as interventions to go with them, can be found at Joy-of-Reading.com. If your child is struggling to read due to a learning disability such as dyslexia or apraxia please visit ApraxiaSpeaks.com for more information.Pre-reading strategiesUnderstanding how the brain works is useful in understanding what works best for reading strategies at the prereading stage. You don't have to know this information to help your student so feel free to skip ahead if you want. Assimilation and Accommodation Child psychologist, Jean Piaget first formally noted that when students are presented with new information the brain will link or "stick in" the new material with whatever has been previously learned on the subject. This process is called assimilation. If there is no previous connection available the brain will squeeze the new material into areas of prior knowledge that are related in someway. This can cause confusion in the mind of the reader. If the brain cannot assimilate the new information it will accommodate it. The process of accommodation requires the brain to create new fields in the brain to handle (or accommodate) the new information. This process is more difficult and requires more of an effort on the part of the learner. This is more difficult for adults than children. As young children develop, the ability to accommodate is at its highest. Older people are not as adaptable. Thus the saying; "you can't teach old dogs new tricks". So, the older your student is, the more important prereading strategies are. Now that you are aware of how the brain processes new information, anything that helps the student prepare for receiving the new knowledge will help in comprehension and retention. Some prereading strategies: 1. Talk with your student about any new material that he may not be familiar with in the text he is going to read. Ask him what he already knows about the subject. For example, if you are going to read a story about a veterinarian and your student is not familiar with the term or what it means, discuss with him what he knows about doctors in general. Tell him that a veterinarian is a doctor for animals. Then later as he reads he can more easily assimilate the new information. He will add it to the information he already knows about doctors in general. This works really well with auditory learners. 2. Use visuals, graphics, pictures on the topic before reading. Look at the pictures in the chapter or diagrams in text books and discuss them. Later when he is reading, these images will come back to mind especially if he is a visual learner. 3. Talk about any new vocabulary terms before your student reads the book or material. 4. KWL The student answers these questions before reading: What do I Know, What do I Want to learn and What did I learn (after reading). I also have a worksheet for this but it can be done just as easily verbally. 5. List some questions that you want your student to be sure to focus on as he reads. Keep it as short as possible. Then as your student reads he will know when to pay particularly close attention. 6. For visual and kinesthetic learners the worksheets with graphic organizers work well.During-reading StrategiesBy far, the best during-reading strategy is to use narration or re-telling as I have describe in the section on comprehension strategies. Depending on the age, attention span and reading ability, designate a certain length of reading material. This can be a paragraph, a page or a whole chapter. As your student reads, have him stop at the predetermined point and narrate what he just read to you. This can be in the form of a drawing, writing or verbally. This is especially helpful for adults who do not remember material that they just read. Too often we get into the habit of reading the print on the page without really paying close attention to what it means. By stopping periodically and narrating it back (even if only to yourself) will do wonders for reading comprehension. Other reading strategies are (notice most focus on slowing down reading speed): 1. 5W's and a K. As students read have them identify who, what, when, where, why and how. This works best with shorter passages but can be expanded for longer works. For example, have your student identify these for each chapter in a novel. 2. Make personal connections. As you or your student reads stop frequently and think or discuss how the material can relate to you personally or where have you heard or seen something similar. 3. Making predictions. This works best if you are reading something out loud to your child or student. Stop at strategic points in the story and ask; "What do you think will happen next?". 4. Ask questions. Have your student or child stop at certain predetermined lengths like in narrating or retelling as explained above, only this time they are to write down one question that can be answered from what they just read. If you are working with more than one student this works well if each student does this and then they can use their questions to quiz a partner. 5. Stop and Jot. This is good for anyone but especially those with weak writing skills. Again, predetermine the length of the amount of material you want your student to read. At the end of each, your student stops and draws something about what he just read. Stick figures are fine, he doesn't have to be an artist. 6. Visualization. This works best with works read out loud. Stop periodically as you read aloud to your student and ask them: What do you see in your mind? Have them describe to you things like; what is the character wearing?, what does she look like?, what does the setting look like? etc. 7. For visual and kinesthetic learners, worksheets with graphic organizers work well. Until I get this site set up to be able to download documents, you will need to click on the link at the bottom of this page to be taken to my TeacherWeb website where you can download the free Reading Strategy Worksheets. There is no direct link back to this site, so you will need to click on your browser's back button.Post-reading StrategiesThere is a whole wealth of post-reading or after reading strategies out there, this area is only limited by the imagination. I don't mean to keep harping on narration or re-telling but again it is probably the most valuable as well as easy to use of any reading strategies I seen. Other ideas: 1. Dramatization. Have your student(s) act out the story they just read. 2. Make a sequel. In one or two paragraphs write down what might come next if the author were to write a sequel. Note what would happen, who would it happen to, why would it happen etc. 3. Re-write (or explain orally) the ending. Discuss with your student how the story could have ended differently. 4. Draw a cartoon strip of the story. Again, stick figures are fine to use. Give your student a set number of frames he has to have. 5. For visual and kinesthetic learners the worksheets with graphic organizers work well. (Have you heard that before?) :) The ones I have available for you to use without cost can be accessed HERE. There are also many good internet sites that have them.5. Ask any good teacher! We have a whole arsenal of ideas. Anything from book reports to making movies, the list for post-reading reading strategies activities is endless.
For Free Reading Comprehension Worksheets CLICK HERE
For some general tips on helping your child learn to read CLICK HERE Return to ABC-123 Read Home from
Reading Strategies
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