Lesson 1D - Active Reading Strategies
The Theory of Multiple Intelligences and learning processes give you strategies to help you take in and apply information. In other words, they help you appreciate your unique style, and they help you learn.
Next, let’s turn our attention to active reading strategies. These strategies focus on how to engage with what you read and discover why it is important in your life. This is a handy lesson - especially in a language arts class. This lesson is even more important in life. Active reading strategies will help you in two main areas:
- As a student, you explore stories more deeply and understand what they mean.
- As a lifelong learner, you make connections between the story, your life, and the world in general which makes the story meaningful.
By using Active Reading Strategies, you take responsibility for what you learn. You make a decision not to read information quickly. Instead, you will actively pay attention to what you learn.
Look at the following interactive chart that explains the variety of responses you can make to literature. Click on each type of active reading strategy to learn more about how to use it while reading.
Read and Apply
Let’s do a quick practice to make sure you understand each type of reading response. Think about the fairytale “Cinderella.” If you need a quick review of this story, read this first: https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/cinderella?search_id=9923023 Links to an external site.
In the coming week, practice active reading strategies on something you read. It could be a book you are reading for fun, a short reading assignment for a class, or a longer reading task. Then, select at least three pages from that reading. Practice each of the reading responses at least once for each page — predicting, reacting, questioning, connecting, and evaluating.
Take your time with this activity. Your goal is to see how using active reading strategies helps you better understand and connect with the book. With some practice, these responses will help you really know information instead of struggling hard to remember it for a quiz or test.
Reflect
Once you have practiced active reading strategies on something you read, ask yourself these questions:
- For this reading, which responses were easiest to do? Which were more challenging? Why?
- How was your reading experience different than if you had simply read straight through?
- What did you understand or think differently by responding to what you read?