Read Like a PRO!
Critical Reading Strategies
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
1
What is PRO?
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Prepare to read (pre-reading)
Read Actively
Organize to Learn
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
2
Part 1: Pre-reading Strategies
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Concentrate
Preview
Use Prior Knowledge
Ask pre-reading questions and make
predictions
Choose a reading strategy
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
3
Concentrate
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When is the best time during the day for you
to read and study?
Where is the best place for you to read and
study?
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Preview
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Title
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Author information
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What does each word in the title mean?
What does the phrase mean as a whole?
Who is the author ?
When did s/he write the piece?
Headings, Notes, Pictures, or Side Panels
6/30/2016
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Use Prior Knowledge
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How do you relate to the piece you’ve
previewed?
Are there any similarities between you and
the author or any of the characters?
Have you read or heard any of the information
elsewhere before?
6/30/2016
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Ask Questions/Predict
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What do you want to learn?
What can you predict the author will discuss?
6/30/2016
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Choose a Reading Strategy
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What is the purpose in reading this text?
What is the level of difficulty?
How will I actively read the text?
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Part 2: Reading Actively
Reading Actively means…
annotating and making
connections
between the material and
what you already
know or have experienced
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Becoming an Active Reader
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Devote time to fully focus on comprehending
the text
Apply strategies that will swiftly engage you
with a text and keep your concentration
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Preparing to Become an Active Reader
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Be aware of the environmental factors that
enhance and hurt concentration
Be realistic about how long reading certain
texts will take and set aside time for that
reading
Plan to keep a Reading Log for every class
with required reading
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Strategies for Reading Actively
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Keep a Reading Log
Orient yourself to the text
Create a Discussion Web
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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What Are You Looking For?
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Note the subject matter and author’s purpose
Recognize the organization of the text,
structure and genre
Determine the context of the text
Find the connections to the course
Decide your purpose and goal
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Remaining Active
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Interact with the author as you read
Try to figure out the author’s stance
Monitor your comprehension and act when
your concentration flags
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Dealing with Demanding Texts
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Identify the major problem and resolution
Research the subject matter
Look up unknown words
Ask your instructor, peers, family, and friends
for help
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
15
Part 3: Organizing to Learn
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Apply Post-Reading tips
Create a Semantic Map
Form a Discussion Group
Mark Your Text
Outline
Chart
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
16
Apply Post-Reading Tips
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Decide if you achieved your goals for reading
Discuss the accuracy of your predictions
Summarize major ideas
Research additional information
Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant ideas
Paraphrase relevant details
Reflect and personalize the text
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Create a Semantic Map (SM)
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Helps the reader to identify important ideas
Shows how the ideas fit together
Uses comprehension/concentration skills and
evolves in a note taking form
Represents visually the content of your
reading
6/30/2016
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Learning
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Three Components of SM
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Core question or concept
Strands
Supports
6/30/2016
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SM - Spider Map Example
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SM – Fishbone Map Example
6/30/2016
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Form a Discussion Group
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Brings out new ideas you’d previously not
considered
Takes existing ideas or concepts about the
reading and expands upon them
Allows your interpretations to be challenged
and will fill in some of your “blind spots”
regarding what you just read
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
22
Mark Your Text
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Read first and then mark selectively
Box transitions and number important ideas
Circle specialized vocabulary
Jot down main ideas in the margin
Write questions as you read
Make brief summaries at the end of each
section
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Outline What You Read
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Place major/general points to the left
Indent each more specific point to the right
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Chart What You Read
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Organize categories into columns
Record information into the appropriate
category
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6/30/2016
Tracks conversations and dialogues
Reduces amount of writing
Provides easy review
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Learning
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Practice
THEME FOR ENGLISH B - By Langston Hughes
The instructor said, Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you--Then, it will be true. I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
6/30/2016
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Cont…
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page: It's not easy to
know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me---we two---you, me, talk on this page.
6/30/2016
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Learning
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Cont…
(I hear New York too.) Me---who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me NOT like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
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Cont…
You are white--yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of
me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me--although you're older---and white--and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
6/30/2016
Offered by the Center for Teaching and
Learning
29