Do you ever start reading a text and then find yourself reading the same sentence again and again? Or do you get to the end of the page and find that you have no idea what you read but you have been wondering what you’re going to have for dinner? Maybe you think, I’ll have highlighter in my hand, so that I can make sure to get the important details–but alas, you go back to the next day and find yourself reading the same passage again without a clue as to what you just read.
If this sounds familiar read on for strategies that may help:
Step One. Ask yourself what you already know about the subject you are reading or summarize what you have read before.. This is called activating prior knowledge. Why does this help? Reading without context or connections is, well, boring. And if it’s boring, then naturally you’re mind is going to drift.
Step Two. Read the title. Ask yourself, “What is this about?” This is like the hypothesis part of the scientific method. Even if you’re wrong, you’re already engaging your brain and looking for information to either support or refute the hypothesis of what this is about.
Step Three. Ask questions before you begin. When looking at a piece about the Opium Wars (thank you, Jazmine!) students needed to analyze primary sources. A student I was working with asked the questions: How will this person portray Britain and China? This question was answered in the first few sentences. The next question then naturally became (because of what was written in the text): How does this person glorify Britain? Now, not only do we have a reason to keep reading, but now we have a heading for a possible outline. Perhaps there will be three or four bullet points that might be able to answer this question.
Step Four: Read! But read keeping in mind the questions that you’ve asked.
Step Five: Make connections as you read. These can be connections to your own experiences, to other texts and to the larger context about which you are learning.
Step Six:After each paragraph (or few sentences, depending on attention span) stop and recite back what you’ve read. Write down (no more than a sentence) summarizing what the paragraph is about, making sure also to write down the answers to the questions that you’ve asked.
This method, which may sound familiar, is referred to as SQ3R (Survey, Question, Review, Recite). I added the extra step of connections as we know that when we can make text meaningful to us then we are more likely to remember it.
Want more strategies for reading? Curious about what executive functioning coaching looks like? Schedule a complimentary Destressify Yourself session here.
Wishing you a wonderful week!
Warmly,
Sarah
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