Skimming
We skim texts to get the gist of it. Confident readers move their eyes over the lexical
words (the subject specific words) to gain the main sense of the text’s meaning. We
make judgements about what the words refer to (their ‘semantic fields’) and whether
the text seems formal and impersonal by looking at the grammatical words (‘the’, ‘of’,
‘in’) that gum the lexical words together.
Tasks to help teach skimming
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Give pupils a series of ‘mystery’ texts – texts about your subject in different styles
and genres – and present them as starter activities for pupils to guess their
origin. Make it a competition.
Give pupils a text bit by bit, with a multiple choice question to answer in timed
conditions.
Scanning
We scan texts to find specific information. Confident readers know to look for key
words; they know that questions are often given according to the chronology of the text.
Task to help teach scanning
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Play ‘hunt the word’ in a text. Start with the actual word then move on to a
definition of a word or an anagram or a riddle.
Put exam questions into a PowerPoint, one question per slide. Give pupils a list of
key words they should be looking for, then flash the slides up, getting pupils to
point out the key words and explain them. Give them copies to annotate or
highlight.
Active Reading
In order to read beneath the surface pupils need to interact with texts. The following
activities might be more effective when worked on by a pair or small group whereby a
discussion of possibilities leads to a closer look at the text.
Tasks to help teach active reading
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Cloze – choosing words using existing knowledge, working out if words fit with
the style and sense of a whole text and closer reading of sentences. Mix it up by
including some grammatical words as well as lexical words.
Sequencing – give pupils a text that has been cut into chunks so that have to
look at the structure and organisation of a text, look for link words and use
previous knowledge.
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Text marking – underlining, highlighting, annotating, numbering a text to show
sequence.
Text restructuring – get pupils to interpret a text in a different form. Text
restructuring involves reading and then remodelling the information in a
different format e.g. flow chart, Venn diagram, grids, lists, maps, charts, concept
maps or in a different genre.
Reading analytically
Confident readers have moved from ‘what’ (a basic level of comprehension) to ‘who’
(being able to comment on who wrote a text and who it is aimed at) to the higher level
skills, which involve analysis and evaluation: the ‘how’ of a text. Use this framework
when reading a text:
WHAT:
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What is a text about?
What type of text is it (information, persuasive, entertaining)?
WHO:
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Who wrote it?
Who is it written for (general audience, specialist, younger/older)?
HOW:
Structure:
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Chronological (a story) or non-chronological (a report)? Why?
Short/long paragraphs? Why?
How are ideas linked (connectives such as ‘first’; pronouns such as ‘he’)? Why?
Sentences:
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Statements, questions, commands? Why?
Short or long? Why?
Formal or colloquial?
Words:
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Formal (‘is not’) or informal (‘isn’t)?
Personal (‘I/you’) or impersonal (‘it’)?
Serious or humorous?
General (‘ill’) or specialist (‘supra-renal’)?
Accessible (‘clumsy’) or inaccessible (‘maladroit’)?
The stages of reading in secondary school
Students start to move from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’:
Emerging readers:
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The teacher models how to read certain types of texts and questions – e.g. how to
analyse, how to spot main themes, how to untangle and make sense of
complicated expression.
We explicitly teach key vocabulary – subject-specific terms and the essential
connectives of our subject (e.g. ‘therefore’, ‘however’, ‘similarly’).
We give students additional reading to work on semi-independently so that they
practise what they have learnt.
Dependent readers:
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Students routinely read a range of increasingly demanding texts and respond to
questions and tasks.
Students routinely use the key vocabulary of the subject.
Students’ wider reading is prescribed and monitored.
Independent readers:
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Students routinely read analytically, and can cite the key thinkers/ideas in their
subject.
Students routinely use the key vocabulary of their subject – in speech and
writing.
Students show a reflective ability to question the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of sources and
ideas - an ability to make judgements about what they read.
Students have greater self-direction and employ a range of strategies to deepen
their understanding of a subject.
Tasks to encourage independence:
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Model making decisions about the links we follow and reject; how we decide if
something is trustworthy or not; and how useful the information is.
Provide pupils with access to appropriate material (texts, website addresses)
when asking them to undertake independent research.
Develop ‘reading communities’ by grouping pupils around a text with time for
discussion.
Use the library: organise a coffee morning where pupils are offered a range of
journals, newspapers, magazines etc. to read and discuss.
Organise subject reading lists and reading boxes.
Questions pupils can ask about a source
Developing criteria for readability
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Can I read and understand this on my own?
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Can I understand most of the words and not lose meaning if I have to skip words?
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Is it a "just-right" read for me?
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Is the layout easy enough to follow?
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Can I stop and retell what I have just read in my own words?
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Are there pictures or charts that help me understand the text better?
Developing criteria for trustworthiness
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Is there an author or photographer identified with the source?
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Do I recognize the author or creator?
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Does the URL seem official or real?
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Have I found this same information in other books or websites?
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Does my gut feeling tell me that what I am reading and seeing is trustworthy?

Does this information fit with what I might already know about this subject?
Developing criteria for usefulness

Does this resource have what I am looking for?

Does it follow my research plan?
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Do I need it?
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Is this worthwhile, or am I wasting my time on this resource?
Research notes using R-T-U (Readable-Trustworthy-Useful)
Resources
Is
Research question
(two per
Details
it
question)
R
T
U
R
T
Likert Scale – use with pupils as a self-assessment:
Statements
Strongly
Strongly
Agree Undecided Disagree
agree
disagree
1. Making and following a
research plan makes my job
as a researcher easier.
2. I can easily find information
that helps me complete my
research plan, on my own.
3. I know how to find
resources at my reading
level to use in my research,
on my own.
4. I am confident in reading,
interpreting, and
summarizing the
information that I find, on
my own.
5. I know ways to check that
resources are trustworthy
and good to use, on my
own.
6. I feel it is important to find
more than one resource that
verifies the information that
I have found.
7. On the whole, I feel like I
can research topics on my
own.
8. I like to do research.
Bibliography:
Barton, G. (2013) Don’t Call it Literacy, Routledge.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/27428/