How you Read

Living History
While you are reading and after you finish reading, you can use strategies to help you understand and enjoy what you read. Reading strategies are the tools you can use to read better. They help you take charge of your reading.

What strategies do you see in this video?

Read silently or out loud, whichever works best for you. Try reading out loud in your mind.
• Which way of reading works best for me?

Predict what you will read next. For a narrative, predict what will happen in the story. For a non-narrative, predict what will be in the next section. As you keep reading, check to see which of your predictions were right.
• What will happen next?
• What will this part of the text be about?
• How do I know?

Stop and think when you reach a difficult part. If what you read does not make sense to you, decide what to do next. You could do any of the following.
• Take a guess and move on.
• Reread the difficult part.
• Try to picture it in a way that makes sense.
• Ask for help.

• How can I figure this out?
• What would make sense here?
• Can I use what I already know to help me understand the part that doesn't make sense?

After reading, ask yourself questions to get a deeper level of understanding from the text. You may need a deeper understanding if you are reading a novel, doing research or preparing for a presentation.
• Did I find the information I was looking for? How does this compare with what I know? With what I have experienced?
• How does it apply to my life? Is what I have learned useful to me? How? Is there anything I might want to change about myself or my life as a result of reading this?
• How does this compare with what I have read or seen before? If there are similarities to other stories, did the author create these similarities on purpose? What effect does this have? If there are differences in information, why are they there?

Think about how the text made you feel. Consider what the text was about and how it was written.
• Did I enjoy reading this? If so, what did I enjoy about it? If not, why not?
• Are there related texts that I can read?
• Would I recommend this text to someone else? Why or why not?
• Did the author use any techniques that I might try in my own writing?

Try watching the video again. Can you see where the boy uses each of these strategies?

Tools of the Trade
Reading textbooks and other material at school can be a challenge. Often, you have to try to understand all the information and also remember things for tests.

What reading strategies does the girl in this video use?

Write down the main ideas. Try listing the keywords, or put the ideas into your own words. Taking notes helps you think about and remember the ideas.
• What are the main ideas?
• What are important details and keywords that I will need to remember?

Think about what you have read.
• What was it about?
• How did it compare to what I thought it would be about?
• How does it fit into what I already knew?

Try out the steps you read about, if the text is something like a set of instructions. If it is not safe or smart to try out the information, imagine yourself using it.
• Do the steps work? If not, do I need to reread parts of the text using different strategies?
• What would happen if I did it this way? Would it work?

Share the information with someone else.
• Does the information make sense to the other person?
• How does my understanding compare to theirs?
• Do I need to go back and check my understanding?

Think back to your purpose for reading
• Have I achieved my purpose?
• Do I need to reread parts of the text or find information somewhere else?

Reflect on the strategies you used.
• Which ones worked well?
• Which ones didn’t work? Why not?
• What would I do differently next time?

Charting Your Career
Many of the strategies you use for books will also help you read on the Internet.
• Think about the context and decide what information you will need.
• Ask yourself if the source is reliable.
• Who wrote this? Why might they have written it?
• Does the author seem biased? Is he or she trying to persuade me of something? If so, how can I respond intelligently?
• How can I learn more about this author?
• Do other sources on the same topic say the same thing or something different?
• Overall, can I trust this author? Why or why not?
• Find the table of contents or a menu that tells you where you can find what you need.
• Take a “best guess” if you come to a word you don’t know. Does your guess make sense when you keep reading?
• Ask yourself if the information is useful to you.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
Watch this video and list all the strategies you see.

Did you notice how the girl in the video worked with a friend? When you are working in groups or pairs, you can:
• help each other decide on your purposes for reading and focus on the information you need
• share strategies you use and help each other choose the best strategies
• question each other on what you have read
• share opinions and new ideas
• review important information to check if you have remembered it correctly.