Reading Strategies Toolkit

Pre, During, Post Reading Strategies
Toolkit

Prepared for Literacy Workshop
October 9, 2007

Special Thanks to Terri Glueck and Katy (arthey, secondary literacy
trainers, for much of the materials.

Coding Text

Coding Text is a during reading strategy that helps students become aware
of and to record mental responses to their reading. If students are not
accustomed to thinking actively as they read, they need to make conscious
efforts to do so, but not so intrusively as to completely interrupt the 110w of
their reading. Symbuls help students remember a strategy. notice when their
thinking has followed it, and then very briefly note the spot in the text where
that thinking occurred. Ifwc want students to think morc deeply as they
read, we need to provide explicit mechanisms for them to do this.

Procedures:
1. Give students the set of codes you want them to use. You can use the
ones provided here which are labeled I.N.S.E.R.T. (Interactive
Notation System for Effective Reading and Thinking) or you can
make up your own.

2. De sure and introduce just one or two symbols at a time and
demonstrate for students when and how they might use them.

3. Have students read the assigned piece of text and usc the coding
system as they are reading.

4. Students could add brief comments or phrases explaining their
thinking to the margins of the article or on the post-it note.

5. Ask students to shared their coded responses later, when they discuss
or work with the reading.

Double Entry Journals

Double entry journab are a during reading slralegy that helps students show
what they are thinking as they read an assigned text. These journals give
students a powerful way to take notes and respond at the same time. Double
entry journals can be constructed in a variety of ways, but the essence is
always the same; left hand side (a quote or a summary) is lifted directly from
the text; the right hand side is reader's reaction to words copied from text.
The reaction might be a connection, a question, an emotion, or even a visual
symbol to help them remember something.
r=-----c-;c----c-c------.------~__;__c;_-
Direct quote [rom text or summary Student' s reaction to the selected
of passage read. Include page piece of text. Sec idcas below for
number. stem starters.

---------_.---------

Reaction Starters
This reminds me of..._.
r wonder. .....
r infer. ....
This is important because .
r am confused hecause .
r will help myself by .
I think this means ....
The picture in my head looks like .....

More Content Area Double Entry Diary Prompts:
*List interesting facts or details Reaction: What is the author's message?
*Confusing part in text Reaction: What I did to try to get unstuck_
*Term/vocabulary word Reaction: What r know about the term
causing confusion

1.

3-2-1

This is a post reading technique Lhal can be used in a variety of ways. You
can use it in oral, artistic, or written fOlIDS. Often it is used as a [mm of exit
card or entry card in a classroom. IL is a short individual summary straLegy.

Procedures:
I. Have students number 3, 3, and 1 down the left side of their paper
leaving a couple oflines between each number. You could use half
sheets of paper or index cards.

2. Give (orally and on the board) prompts for each number. Ask studenLs
to write three of something, two of something, and then one of
something. For example students might write three Lhings tbcy
learned, two things Lhey have questions about, and one Lhing they will
apply in a different classroom. Prompts will vary with the content of
the lesson and your instructional goals.

Example:
3 -IdentitY three dillercnces beLween acids and bases.

2 - List two uses of acids and tVO uscs of bases.

1 - State one reason knowledge or acids and bases is important.

Give One - Get One

Give One -- Get One is a interactive way for students to tap into their prior
knowledge as well as build background knowledge for a text or unit. !l is
similar to a brainstorm session but has more of a communication twist built
into it.!l is also a take-off on K-W-L but not as teacher directed.

Procedures:

1. Generate a topic from the text and put it on the board or on your
handout. Some examples are:
*Reasons to exercise
·Keywords for studying space
*Favorite idioms, metaphors, simi1l's
*What do we know about gravity

2. Have students fold a piece of paper in half horizontally and number 1-
4 above the fold and 5-8 below the fold or use the handout provided.

J. Have students Tite down ideas related to the topic you gave.

4. Have students move around the room and exchange their ideas for at
least three ditTerent ideas Ii-om others which go on lines 5-8. They
need La get the student's name for each corresponding idea and write
it in the from column.

5. After several minutes have the students regroup and share with the
class the ideas they heard from other students.

6. Discuss all the responses and then introduce the texl or lesson.

Anticipation Guide

Anticipation guides are a pre-reading strategy that helps students activate
their prior knowledge, make predictions, and cotmect to ideas. The best
anticipation statements aren't about factual recall, but invite students to thiok
about big ideas in the reading or lesson.

Procedures:
I. Identity major concepts in the reading or lesson.

2. Create 3 - 5 statements that question certain notions, beliefs, or
opinions that may challenge what students already know. Students
should mark each statement as agree or disagree rather than as true
or false. You don't wart them considering the truth of the
statement; instead, you want them exploring what they believe
about the statement. There should not be a right or wrong answer.

3. Hand out the guide and briefly explain the statements. Have
students mark their responses of agree or disagree.

4. Have students give reasons for their opinions by answering the
"Why?" question on the leH under each statement. It is up to you
whether you want the students to share their opinions or read the
text, watch the movie, hear the lesson etc.

5. After reading and follow-up activities, have students mark the
"After Reading colunUl and fill in they why section.

6. Conduct a discussion comparing the before and aHer results.
Discussion should refer to evidence in the text and should cover
students' reasons for changes in their before and after answers.

Cube It

This is a post-reading strategy that gets the students actively reviewing and
talking about the text selection tbey have finished reading. You could use
this strategy in many different ways by changing the questions/activities
around. You want to try to have six levels of activities for the students to
participate in. This strategy can be used as a way to review a unit or watch a
video.

Procedures:

I. Students are in groups and each group has a die with a Set of
instructions.
2. Students take turns rolling the cube and participating in the activity. If
time students can roll more than once.
3. Here is a sample of what can be done:

I. Describe it aloud. (Comprehension)

2. Sketch it. (Application)

3. List words to tell about it. (Knowledge)

4. Tell us what is good and bad about it. (Evaluation)

5. Compare it. .. What is it like? (Analysis)
What it is different from?

6. Connect it... What does it make you (Synthesis)
think of? Why?

Post-It Response Notes

This is a during reading strategy that engages students to actively think as
they are reading selected passages of text. Students use small sticky notes to
write comments about parts of the text that elicit some type of response from
them. They can then refer to these notes when discussing the text in class or
for doing other work after they've read. This strategy helps students become
aware of information and their responses to it without taking lengthy notes.
You can also have students mark particular concepts, facts, or thinking
strategies that you have emphasized and want them to Jook for in their
reading.

Procedures:

I. When students first use this strategy give a few simple directions
about what they should watch for. Example: As you read find two
places in the text that affirm what you already know about this topic
and explain how you knew this. Also frnd one place in the text that
confuses you and write a question on your post-it note.

2. Students like using multiple colors of notes to distinguish between
various kinds of responses. Examples:

Yellow - Write a response that shows surprise by what you read.
Green - Write a question about a part that confused you.
Purple - Write a response to a part that you disagreed with.
Pink - Write a response to something you read that you already knew.

3. [fyou need to assess this work, ask students to place the page number
where they'd attached it on each note, and to then transfer the notes to
a separate sheet of paper with their name on it.

7

Anchor Lines

Anchor Lines is a pre-reading strategy that helps students to access prior knowledge,
make predictions and create expectations about the texl. This strategy is especially
helpful when the ideas or the language is complex.

Procedure:

1. The teacher chooses four to six lines from the text. These quotes may be central
ideas, ideas that support the theme or point, provocative slatements, or opinions.
These quotes are arranged on the page in the order they appear in the text. The
teacher leaves space between (he quotes so that students have room to write.

2. Before handing ant the text, students arc given the Anchor Lines sheet, and asked
to work individually to do (he following:

• Line one: explain what the quote means.
• Lines two through four: explain what each quote means
and explain how it might connect with the ideas in the
previous quote(s).

3. Students now meet in pairs or small groups to talk about what they have written,
and to make predictions about the text. The teacher may then ask selected
students to share their predictions with the whole class, or have them write those
predictions on the board.

• Ibe teacher may ask students to revisit the anchor lines after they have read the text.
Students use the back of the sheet to commenl on their own explanations and predictions,
and articulate how the actual text differed (or was similar to) what they wrote,

INSTRUCTIONS FOR A WRITE AROUND
(Suggestion: turn these steps into overhead transparencies)

Form a group of fou r.
Each person have a large blank piece of paper ready to use.
Each member put their initials in the upper left-hand margin.

EXPLAIN the TWO RULES:
1. Use all the time for writing.
2. Don't talk when passing.

WRITE FOR ONE MINUTE: Write yonr thoughts, reactions, questions, or rcelings
about the article. (You may expand this with topic-specific suggestions if needed.
Keep time not by exact minutes and seconds, but by walking and watching kids
write. When most students have filled 1/4 of a page, it is time to pass).

PASS the paper when asked to do so. Here teacher reiterates instructions by saying:

READ all the entries on the page, then WRITE for one minute. You can offer a
comment on any or all ortbe above eutries, ask questions, or raise a new topic.
Keep the conversation going! (You need to allow a little more time with each entry
because kids will have more to read with each successive exchange).

PASS at the sigual.

RINSE And REPEAT.
(4 times, total)

READ OVER: The paper you started and ended up witb.

DISCUSS IN WRITE-AROUND GROUPS: Continue the conversatioll out 10lld for
about 2 minutes.

SHARE HIGHLIGHTS OR KEY IDEAS WITH WHOLE CLASS: Now use kids'
writc-around idcas to cxtcnd and deepen their thinking about thc subject. Possible
prompts: What was one highlight of your written conversation? A topic that
sparked lively discussion? Something people disagreed about?

DEBRIEF: discuss the process. How could we make it work bettcr next time?

Word Sorts

Word sorts can be used as a pre-reading or post-reading activity. Before
reading, a word sort can be an activation strategy to encourage students to
make predictive connections among the words. After reading, word sorts
allow students to claritY and extend their understanding of key concepts and
vocabulary.

The object of a word sort is to group words into categories according to
some shared feature. Word sorts can be conducted two ways: closed and
open.
• A Closed Word Sort: the teacher predetem,ines the categories for the
students and thus establishes the criterion that the words must have in
common in order to fonn a group or category.

'An Open Word Sort: there are no predetermined categories and thus
no shared characteristics have been decided in advance. Students are
asked to decide for themselves what the words have in common and to
group them accordingly.

Procedures:
I. IdentitY key words from the unit of study. Make sure you have some
words that you think students will know.

2. Students can work individually or in groups. It is a good strategy ror
group work as the students can have dialogue about the meanings of
words and why certain words should be clustered together.

3. Invite the students to sort them into logical arrangements of two or
more. In an open word sort the students need to label each category of
words.

4. Once the students have arranged their words into groups you can
invite them to share the word sorts with the rest ofthe elass and have
them explain why they grouped words in the manner that they did.

10

Tea Party

Tea Party is a pre-rcading strategy that gives students a chance to look at
parts of the text before thcy actually read it. This strategy encourages active
participation and gives evelyonc a chance to get up and move around as they
talk about lines from the text. Students have a chance to make predictions,
make inferences, compare and contrast, practice sequencing, and draw on
their prior experiences.

Procedures:
1. Decide what phrases, sentences, or single words you want to place on
index cards or strips of paper. Try to select halfas many phrases as
students in the class. Choose some phrases that might be interpreted in
multiple ways.

2. Don't paraphrase the text- You can omit words if you Ileed to shorten
a phrase, but don't change the words.

3. Give one card to each student. Ask students to get up and move
around sharing their card with as many students as possible. It is
important that thc students understand they not only share their card
but listcn to the other person's card and discuss how the cards might
bc related.

4. Have students get in groups of 4 or 5 to discuss what they presume is
going to happcn in the text. They will havc their phrases in front of
them and hopefully remember what some orthe other phrases said.

5. Ask students to record their predictions by writing a "We think that
this selection is about. ..." paragraph. They could actually insert their
phrases into this paragraph.

6. Have groups share their "We think" paragraphs making sure they
explain how they reached their predictions.

7. Rcad the selection.

8. Discuss the predictions. This isn't about being right or wrong it is
about seeing relationships between words.

(t

Save the Last Word for Me

Save the Last Word for Me is a discussion strategy that can be used during
reading or after reading a selected text. It works well when students are
keeping double entry diaries or some other during reading strategy where
they have copied or marked pieces of text they lelt were important. This is a
structured form of group discussion that helps students see how the meaning
of any piece is recreated by the reader and can take different points of view.
As students share their selected passages and hear others' responses, they
hear similarities and differences in one another's thinking. The author of the
card gets the final word by stating why that passage was picked aftcr
everyone else has shared their viewpoints.

Procedures:
I. Students earmark important passages in the selected text. This can be
done in the form of a double entry diary, with post-its, marking the
text, or keeping note cards and writing down key quotes. To help
everyone locate the passage being discussed, students should indicate
by eaeh quote the page number.

2. Have students star the quotes that are most important to them. If they
have marked a couple of quotes thcy can have more to choose from if
someone else selects one of their passages.

3. Students should write down why those quotes were selected. They
need to explain what kind of reaction they had reading that passage,
did it bring up some other kind of connection or a strong feeling. Did
they pick it because it caused a question in their reading or because it
was a key sentence to the understanding of the text.

4. In a small group students takc tunIs reading their important quote and
in a circle each student responds to the quote. They could make their
own connection to it, mention they also had selected that quote, share·
a question they had when reading that passage. The author of the card
gets the last word by saying why this quote had been selected, perhaps
sharing a new vjew than what others had said or now maybe changing
their original interpretation of the line after listening to the group.

12

Mindstreaming

Purpose: Mindstreaming is a strategy that helps students to artieulate what they know.
It can be used as a pre-reading activity to help students activate prior knowledge, or as a
post-reading strategy to clarify, question and help students to retain what they have
learned.

Process: Students work in partners for this timed activity. The teacher assigns a topic,
and then one student begins listing! describing everything he or she can recall about that
topic. He or she may use notes, textbooks, or other assignments to stimulate this recal1.
The listening student cannot add anything to the discussion or answer any questions yet.
He or she is only supposed to listen and encourage the student who is mindslreaming.
The length of time for the first student's mindstreaming depends upon the topie, but it is
generally 1-3 minutes.

When the fust student is fmished the second student is then asked to mindstream, either
about the same topic, in wrueh case he or she is given half the amount of time the fust
student was given, or about a related topic, in which case he or she is given an equal
amount of time.

Students may then be asked to share questions with the whole cla<;s, or to make a list of
key information that they gathered from their mindstreaming.

I?,

I.N.S.E.R.T.
'"Interactive Notalion System for Effective Reading and Thinking "

. ~f a section ofthe text:

Confirms what you thought

Contradicts what you thought

7 Raises a question

" . Confuses you

Seems important

1 Is new or interesting
•

iIa word
Gets repeated
Seems important
Is unknown

Box it:

Also:
Jot down your reactions in the margins:
words, phrases, questions, dood les.

Double-Entry Journal

iQ'IOtc from thctcxt ~-,__M): reaction

---- ------------ - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - ------------ ------

3-2-1

Three things you were reminded of or learned today:

Two questions that arc now formulating in your head:

One stratcgy you will try in your classroom:

3-2-1

Three things you wcre reminded of or learned today:

Two questions that arc now formulating in your head:

One strategy you will try in your classroom:

I'; b

Give One - Get One

Why are strategies needed when students are asked to read a piece of text?

Ideas I will give:

1. _ -------

2. _

3.. _ ---._-

4. _

Ideas I got: Prom

5._ _

6 ._... _

7. _

8. _

II"

Auticipation Guide

Read each statement, and indication whether you agree or disagrcc by pUlling either a +
(agree) or a - (disagree).

____ It is important 10 us~ supplementary reading materials in order to leach s(ud~nts
your subj~l:l.

___ It is easy to find supplementary reading materials to complement my subject.

.... - - It is possible to use a variety of texts simullaneously to teach the same concept.

It is just as easy to create a lesson around multiple lexls a<; it is to create a lesson
using only one text.

____ There is a two lo thrce year reading range ill the typical Hliddle school or high
school da:'isroom.

Four Square Graphic Organizer
Write the strategy you used in the circle. Then in the top left square describe what you did; in the top right square explain what went well; the the

bottom left square describe student feedback or student outcomes; and in the bottom right square explain what you would do ddfferently

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ABC Brainstorming
A B C

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Three important ide;I:'; I was rcmimkd of. ...

One thing :,till "going round" ill my head is ....

('''L~ idea that "squares" ,.,.iLII Illy thinking is .....

20

Strategy Workshop Feedhaek Form
_ . -. . -
Str:lte~ics Strategies 1',,('. Strategies I'm
.---- --=---
Strate~ies
1'11I not
used p1au.I!ing to~sC i_~c~o=m=f~o~r=ta=bc·l=e~u=s='in=g_1
VO~~ Son__.
-----::
__ Giv~_:9ne, ~ict-olle
----+-- - - +--_··------1
------;~~a Par~x__... ---_. ..._- . - --- +--
AI3~~
13rai.!lstom2.i,,!g
Carousel Brainstoml
-_._-_._. - _ .. -----
Anchor Lines
--,._------- -- - - - - -
Anticir~tion <,-~~Iidc ,, _
f--~Fra~yer Mode,-I +_ _ . ...
__ CoJil~g Text. _+-
Double Journals
_ . - _
... - ._---
3 Minute p~us-c--· - - . - - - -
---. .- - - - -
Read/Say
.. _ _~ol1H.~!hing _ - - - - - _ . - . _ . - _ . - .. _ - - - ..
Sticky Note
- -Disl.:ussions-
-_.-
.._._--- -
Think Pail' Share ._.. - ._.+-_.. . __.. _.
EngageJ!1c:nt Ch_,:cb . +_.__.._. _ _. __. _ __ ... ._-_.
Save the Last Word
.-_.- ----
- .._._-
Trite Around -_. -------- - - - - --_.
_._-_ 3-2-1. - _ .. - - - _ ..- . _ . - . - -_._._-
._~indstrcaming
_ _... QAR
Cuhe It -
--_ ...•- - -
_

Geometric Clasun: - - - - -
-_._---
What did you like most about thc sessions?

What is one suggestion you could give us to improve these sessions for llt:xt year?

What would you likt: to se0 us oJTt:r in tenns of literacy ·opportunities for next year?

Qut:stions or ComOlt:nls;

Reading Strategies Toolkit

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