Reading & Learning New Terms Lesson
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Reading & Learning New Terms Presentation Lesson
Topic: Reading Strategies & Learning New Terms (20-50 Minutes)
Lesson Plan:
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SQ3R Overview& Survey the Textbook (10 Minutes)
Fixing up Your Reading (5-10 Minutes)
Reading with Headings (10 Minutes)
Learning New Terms Chart (10 Minutes)
Homework: Students need to bring a textbook to class
Materials
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Reading & Learning New Terms Packet
Optional:
1. Reading without Headings Activity (10 Minutes)
2. Learning New Terms Group Activity (15 Minutes)
Materials
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Reading & Learning New Terms Packet
Goals:
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To experience active reading with questions
To practice extracting main ideas from texts
To better understand the format of textbooks
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Activity 1: SQ3R & Surveying Textbooks (10 Minutes)
*For this activity, students need to bring a textbook with them to class
Purpose:
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To learn how a textbook is organized
To learn how to survey the chapter
To learn to generate questions from headings and subheadings
1. Textbook Reading Worksheet (7 Minutes)
a. “We are going to discuss how to survey a textbook” (Read aloud the Survey section of
the SQ3R Worksheet.)
a. Survey  Before you read, Survey the chapter
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Titles, headings, and subheadings
Captions under pictures, charts, graphs, or maps
Review questions or teacher-made study guides
Read introductory and concluding paragraphs
This helps to formulate background information
b. Have the students survey their textbook with the worksheet provided Textbook Reading
Worksheet. (If everyone does not have a textbook they can share with a partner). They
will begin by looking at the textbook as a whole and will check off relevant categories.
Then they will look at one specific chapter in more detail (The students should spend
around 7 minutes surveying their own textbook and completing the worksheet).
2. Discussion (3 Minutes)
a. Question: Did you find out any new information about how your textbook is
organized? What features did you find most helpful? (Have a couple of students
respond to how it was to survey the textbook for them and why they think it is helpful)
b. “You should have discovered that your textbooks are organized very intentionally. For
example, there may be an introduction at the start and a summary at the end of each
chapter. This strategy is a very effective way of staying completely engaged and
learning as you read for details in your textbooks. Remember, you are learning while
you’re reading. With this strategy, you do NOT have to go back and re-read your
highlighted pages because you have already done the critical thinking.”
Modification Option
To Lengthen: Have a longer discussion about how the process was to go through the worksheet.
To Shorten: go through the Textbook Reading Worksheet together as a class.
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Activity 2: Reading with Headings (15 Minutes)
Purpose
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To learn how to create questions for readings that have headings
To understand the importance of creating questions prior to reading the chapter
To learn to read for answers and develop answers prior to reading the material
1. Overview of Questions (3 Minutes)
a. Active Reading is creating questions about your reading BEFORE you read. But how can
you do that? Question: Can you give me some examples from your readings to create
questions? What to create questions from:
i. Headings, Subheadings, Pictures/diagrams, Introduction/conclusion, Summary
paragraph, Utilize questions already there, First sentence of each paragraph
b. Read aloud the Question section of the SQ3R worksheet
Questions  Question while you are surveying
 Turn the title, headings, and/or subheadings into questions
 Read questions at the end of the chapters or after each subheading
 Ask yourself, “What did my instructor say about his chapter or subject when it
was assigned?”
 Ask yourself, “What do I already know about this subject?”
 This helps your brain seek information
2. Reading with Headings Worksheet (8-10 Minutes)
a. Tell the students that they are going to pretend that they have already read a chapter
titled “Spain: The Coming of the Civil War” and have done a survey of the chapter to
identify four main headings.
b. Have the students find a partner to work with on this. They will be turning the four
headings into a question. They are able to use the title of the chapter in their questions.
They might want to consider “what question do you think would be answered in the text
that would follow each of the headings?” (Give the students around 5 minutes to
complete this)
c. Have the partners share a question they came up with from the headings. (You may
want to have the students write their answer on the board for this)
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3. Using Headings for an Essay Question (5 Minutes)
a. Using the questions that the partners generated, discuss with the class how you might
use those main points to generate an essay question. It might be helpful to draw a
diagram of the main points in an essay.
Subtopics:
Opposition from the Right
Opposition from the Left
The Civil War
Details:
Clericals, Royalists, Landed
Aristocrats
Syndicalists, Communists,
Anarchists
The Popular
Front
Foreign
Interventio
n
Modification Option
To Lengthen: Discuss the essay possibilities in more depth. You can have the partners come up with
their own essay question instead of discussing with the class as a whole.
To Shorten: The students can work on their own instead of with a partner to write the o
questions.
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Activity 3: Fixing up Your Reading (5-10 Minutes)
Purpose
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To learn how to understand what to do when you have trouble with reading comprehension
1. Overview of Worksheet
a. Explain the purpose of the worksheet-that it provides an overview of what to do if you
get stuck when you are reading
2. Identify Each Box
a. Have students indicate which strategies they already use when they are reading
b. Have student indicate which strategies they think would be realistic for them to use
when they are reading
3. Optional: Group Activity
a. Assign small groups a category on the worksheet
b. Give the group five minutes to come up with a creative way to teach the strategy for
fixing up reading
c. Have the groups share what they came up with to the class
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Optional
Reading without Headings Activity (10 Minutes)
Purpose: To give students first-hand experience of reading actively
1. Reading Without Headings Worksheet (10 Minutes)
a. Explain that you are going to have them experience a reading strategy. You want them
to experience what active learning is. The reading without headings strategy will be the
one they will use when they are struggling with complex materials.
b. The students should follow the directions at the top of the worksheet:
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Read the 3 sentences below. These sentences are the beginning of a paragraph in an essay.
Underline the words that you think are important in each sentence.
Circle the MOST important word in each sentence. If you are having trouble choosing just one, you may
choose two.
Write a possible essay question using all of the words you circled.
c. Have students “Think, Pair, Share” by doing this exercise independently, then discussing
the essay question they developed with a partner, then have a few of them share with
the class.
d. Now have the students read the information about CCSU at the bottom of the page.
Review the SQ3R information on Reading:
Read  When you begin to Read:
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Look for the answers to the questions you just raised
Answer questions at the beginning or end of chapters or study guides
Note all the underlined, italicized, bold printed words or phrases
Reduce your speed for difficult passages
Stop and reread sections that are not clear
Only read one section at a time and recite after each section
This helps to remember what you read
e. Students may want to rewrite the essay question they created. (or they will probably
realize that they like the question)
f.
“We just learned about reading to answer questions. In the activity, there were no
headings, but you were able to use the first sentence of each paragraph to come up with
a question to help you read with the purpose of answering your questions. When you
have materials without headings like journal articles, you can use this strategy.”
g. Question: What was different about reading like this as opposed to just reading from
start to finish? What would have been different if I had just handed out the reading
and told you to read it? (Because you are looking for an answer, you have more of a
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focus on your reading. Also, as with creating questions from your notes, you are
predicting exam questions.)
b. Review the SQ3R Recite & Review Tips (2 Minutes)
Recite  Recite after you have read a section
 Ask yourself out loud your questions about what you have just read or
summarize, in your own words, what you read
 Take notes from the text but write the information in your own words
 Use repetition (in order to recall information)
 Practice (Need to practice seven times to move to long-term memory)
 Make it relatable to your life so that you can remember it better
 This helps to move the information from your short-term to your long-term
memory
Review*  An ongoing process
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Write questions in the margins of your notes
Actively recite the information by answering questions, making flashcards, etc.
Identify what is important to remember
Organize the information for an essay or a test
Input  Organize (compare/contrast, like information together)  Output (test, exam, essay)
Modification Option
To Lengthen: Spend more time discussing the Recite and Review process
To Shorten: Go through the worksheet as a class instead of doing “Think, Pair, Share”
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Activity 5: Learning New Terms (Regression Example) (10 Minutes)
Purpose:
 To learn how to read for examples
 To build a glossary of terms
 To understand and remember new terms
1. Discussion of Learning New Terms (3 Minutes)
a. “Many courses require you to learn “the language of the field” and this is often tedious.
Terms take on different meanings in different contexts.”
b. Question: When faced with new vocabulary terms, how do you learn them? (Allow
time for students to share.)
2. Regression Definition and Chart (5-10 Minutes)
a. Imagine this paragraph on “Regression” is out of your psych text. (This is in the student’s
packet)
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Regression is the display of earlier, less mature, behavior after more mature behavior has been
learned. Regression appears to be both a return to habits learned in childhood and a primitive,
irrational response to the environment. In general, it is a dysfunctional reaction to a frustrating
or fearful situation.
Regressive behavior is often found in young children facing emotional distressing situations. For
example, a child who is lost at a carnival or one who is anxious at the birth of a sibling might
regress to crying, talking baby talk, or displaying other infant-like behaviors.
Regression is not limited to children. Frequently, one hears of movie stars having childish fits of
anger over minor difficulties. Or, someone who comes down with a slight cold and enjoys being
pampered might regress to childlike behavior.
b. Have students volunteer to read the paragraphs out loud.
c. Read some directions to the students to answer:
I. First, I want you to ignore the technical language. What is the technical
language?
II. Next, look for some examples of regression. There are at least three—what are
they?
d. Read some additional directions to the students:
I. Write your favorite example in the glossary chart.
II. Now, think of your own example of regression and write it down in the box.
Take a minute to do that. (Go around the room and have some share their
examples.)
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III. Do you think you know what regression means? Take a minute and write down
what regression is in your own words in the space provided. (Allow enough time
for everyone to finish. Have them get up and write their definition on the board
once they have completed it.)
Developing a Glossary
Glossary Word
Example From the
Text
Your Own Example
Your Own
Definition
Draw a Picture
Regression
2. Discussion
a. “Does regression make more sense now than if you had just memorized “a display of
earlier, less mature behavior after more mature behavior has been learned….primitive,
irrational response to the environment….dysfunctional reaction to a frustrating or fearful
situation?” Would you recognize and understand a question on an exam that required
you to know what regression means without memorizing the formal definitions? Before
we continue to practice this strategy, let’s review the steps for learning new terms:
To build a glossary of terms by example:
 Step 1 – Ignore technical language and look for examples.
 Step 2 – Choose an example you like and jot it down next to the new term.
 Step 3 – Come up with your own example of the term.
 Step 4 – Come up with your own definition.
 Step 5 – Quiz yourself. You can use the list you created and cover up the answers. You can
make flashcards and practice with those. Or, use any other self-testing strategy you find useful.
The important thing is to practice until you get it into your long-term memory.
Modification Option
To Lengthen: Have students use their textbook to come up with some additional terms for the chart
To Shorten: Walk the students through each step of the chart
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Optional
Learning New Terms Group Activity (15 Minutes)
Purpose: To practice the learning new terms technique
3. Activity
a. Have the students count off by 3’s.
b. Assign the three vocabulary words to the students: Everyone who is a 1 will be doing
“Generalization.” Two’s will be doing “Fixation.” Three’s will be doing “Extinction.”
c. Assign the group with the task of teaching their term to the class. They will decide how
they would like to do this. There are no rules to teaching – you can utilize the board, act
out a scene to just lecture the class.
d.
(Give adequate time for this. Once everyone seems done, have each group go up and
teach their word to the class. Each group shouldn’t spend more than 3 minutes each.
Give positive feedback to each group.)
e. “Remember, you will be asked to use these new terms in all sorts of contexts. The word
may be part of a multiple-choice question, an essay question, a true-false question, or a
matching question. You’ll know the term in all different contexts, if you use these
techniques. Distributed practice is one of the memory principles we learned for moving
information into long-term memory. When you quiz yourself in an on-going manner
until you know the terms, you will do better on your exams.”
Learning New Terms Exercise
Generalization
Fixation
Extinction
Modification Option
To Lengthen: Have students write all three terms on the glossary chart and complete the additional
information on the chart
To Shorten: Ask the group for some suggestions on how they would teach this to the class