Reading for Information

Reading for Information

The first kind of reading Hall identies is reading for information. Materials like newspapers are designed to be read quickly in order to find facts. Most newspaper sentences are no more than fifteen words; paragraphs, no longer than three sentences. The text appears in narrow columns so the reader's eye can quickly move down the page. Typically, readers do not read every word, but skim the page for key facts. Hall describes reading for information as

reading to learn about a trade, or politics, or how to accomplish something. We read a newspaper this way, or most textbooks, or directions on how to assemble a bicycle. With most of this sort of material, the reader can learn to scan the page quickly, coming up with what he needs and ignoring what is irrelevant to him, like the rhythm of the sentence, or the play of metaphor. Courses in speed reading can help us read for this purpose, training the eye to jump quickly across the page. . . . Quick eye-reading is a necessity to anyone who wants to keep up with what's happening, or learn much of what has happened in the past. (Hall 164)

Note Taking: Much of the factual information that students will use in a research paper can be read this way. When taking notes, students should limit their notes to key nouns or phrases, and avoid adjectives or adverbs. Students should be especially careful about "lifting" verbs from their sources. If students use distinctive verbs or lists of nouns from the source, these should appear in quotation marks in the student paper.

Detailed reading

Detailed reading

Detailed reading is a teaching strategy that provides high level support for students. It involves three phases:

• text marking
• note making
• rewriting.

This strategy can be used at the paragraph or sentence level.

• Paragraph level
• Sentence level
• Adaptation of the teaching strategy
• Focus on spelling
• Professional learning

Paragraph level

Detailed reading involves marking key information in each paragraph, note making and rewriting; and making connections between paragraphs to understand the text.

Select a text for students to explore in small groups.

Text marking

The purpose of text marking is to identify key information in each paragraph, after it has been read and discussed.

Prepare by telling students where they could find the words and phrases that will give a sense of what the paragraph is about.

• Most paragraphs begin with a topic that is located towards the end of the first or second sentence. The topic tells the reader what the paragraph is about.
• Many paragraphs come to a point, towards the end of the paragraph. The point is what the author has to say about the topic.
• Some paragraphs do not come to a point, but consist of an explanation or argument sequence. In this case each main step in the explanation or argument may need highlighting.

As one or more students identify and say the relevant words make sure all students have found them and marked them.

It is important to demonstrate to students how to highlight the minimal information they need when note making.

Note marking

Words that students highlighted during the detailed reading are the key information in each paragraph.

Students take turns to scribe the key words.

Rewriting

Point out patterns and key elements in the notes. Ask students to articulate new ways of saying the key idea, by:

• drawing attention to notes
• suggesting alternative words and phrases
• further discussing the topic.

Support students to check grammar, letter cases, punctuation and spelling, and encourage critical discussion of the original text and how they may reconstruct it.

Paragraph-by-paragraph

Repeat the above process for each paragraph. Combine the key ideas from each paragraph. Then:

• students take turns to scribe the key ideas that have been highlighted from each paragraph
• as this occurs discuss new words, concepts, patterns and key elements in the notes.

This teaching strategy supports all learners to use the literary language of the accomplished author they have been reading, at the same time as creating a new story.

This process can be used to support future research and writing in response to texts that are relevant to all domains.

Sentence level

Detailed reading sentence by sentence involves marking key words in each sentence.

Select a short passage or paragraph for students to explore.

Text marking

Students read each sentence in a short passage or paragraph. The three cues which are provided to prepare them when reading are:

• the meaning of the sentence in general
• the location in the sentence of the key word
• the meaning of the word within the sentence.

Students find a key word or words, and highlight. The key word may be elaborated on, including:

• definitions of new or technical terms
• explanations of new concepts.

Note making

Students act as scribes to document the key words. They use dot points to represent each sentence, with a dash between each word.

Students and the teacher:

• say what is in the notes in their own words
• suggest alternative words and/or phrases and write these
• clarify the topic further through discussion and writing.

The teacher elaborates by:

• rephrasing for students
• supporting them to check grammar, letter cases, punctuation and spelling
• encouraging critical discussion of the original text, and suggestions to reconstruct it.

Rewriting

Students brainstorm what they want to write in response to the paragraph.

All ideas are scribed.

The teacher challenges and supports students to follow the patterns of the original text as they write.

This teaching strategy supports students to use inferential comprehension strategies with a small, focused text.

Adaptation of the teaching strategy

The selected paragraph is written onto card. The teacher guides students to identify and cut out words or phrases in each sentence. Students can then put the sentences and paragraph back together, mix them up, rearrange them and construct new sentences.

This will provide additional support for students to:

• recognise and understand the key words in the passage
• manipulate words to create meaningful sequences without the added load of writing
• focus on the spelling of key words.

Focus on spelling

Assess that students can recognise and spell words in and out of the sentences. They could be asked to write key words from memory and then encouraged to self correct.

Students can cut words into letter patterns, including syllables.

This repeated practice of letter patterns and whole words, whose meanings are familiar, rapidly enables students to remember how to spell them. The practice with letter patterns then enables them to transfer this knowledge to recognising other words. This is particularly powerful for technical words aligned to the AusVELS domains.

Professional learning

Identify a small group of students with similar needs, such as students who:

• identify most of the whole paragraph and find it challenging to identify the main idea
• have difficulty getting more than one idea from a sentence (such as cause and effect)
• miss key vocabulary that is crucial to the meaning (such as missing the word 'scant' from 'scant evidence').

Select a text these students would be interested in and work through the process of:

• preparing
• note making
• elaborating

As you work through this process with the students, identify key teaching points and questions to challenge students.

Analytical Reading

Analytical Reading

One key aspect of reading smarter is taking active control of the reading process. Analytical reading techniques help students mentally organize information, make decisions about their reading, and engage critically with what they read. Students integrate speed reading, previewing, and reporting skills into an active, flexible approach that takes into account both their reader’s purpose and the material at hand.

Building an Organizational Map

One important analytical reading skill is keeping track of a book or article’s organization. Building an organizational map helps readers mentally organize information and follow the author’s development of ideas, an important reader’s purpose for nonfiction.

In any nonfiction book or article, the author presents an idea (or ideas), develops that idea, and finally resolves it. Each author does this differently. In order to build an organizational map, students consider what the author is trying to accomplish in each part of the book. Doing this helps them get a solid grasp of the author’s purpose and how the material is organized to achieve that purpose.

Making Decisions Throughout the Reading Process

Another key aspect of analytical reading is making active decisions about which skills to use and when to use them. When making decisions about their reading, students consider both their reader’s purpose (why they are reading the material) and features of the material, like length and difficulty level. Students learn to experiment and figure out which tools are most appropriate for their reading tasks.

The first decision students make with any reading is how to preview: what to look at in order to ensure maximum comprehension, concentration, and recall. Previewing also sets students up to make good decisions as they read, including determining what to read and what to skip, as well as what speed and which speed reading skills are appropriate for particular material.

Once students begin reading, they need to decide how to approach the material. Here are some questions they might ask: What parts of the material do I need to read very carefully, and what parts can I skim or even skip altogether? Which reporting skills will be useful? Will it be useful to create an organizational map of what I’m reading? How fast can I read this material?

Reading Critically

When students read critically, they bring their own thoughts and opinions to what they read. Reading is like engaging in a mental conversation with the author—the reader isn’t merely absorbing what the author has to say, but contributing his or her own thoughts and ideas.

Here are some things students learn to ask themselves as they read:

• What are the author’s main ideas?
• Do I agree with this author’s ideas? What questions do I have?
• What are some additional examples that support or disprove what this author is saying? Have I read other materials in the past that support or contradict this author’s ideas?
• Where might the author go next with these ideas?
• How does this material connect to my own experiences?

Critical reading

Critical reading

Critical reading is a form of language that does not take a text at face value, but involves an examination of claims put forwards well as in the text's section and selection of the information presented. The ability to readability assumed to be present in scholarships and

"...a a story has as many versions as it has readers. Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his measure. Some pick out parts and reject the rest, some strain the story through their mesh of prejudice, some paint it with their own delight. "

There are no simple relations between these levels. As the "hermeneutic circle" demonstrates, the understanding of single words depends on the understanding of the text as a whole (as well as the culture in which the text is produced) and vice versa: You cannot understand a text if you do not understand the words in the text.

The critical reading of a given text thus implies a critical examination of the concepts used as well as of the soundness of the arguments and the value and relevance of the assumptions and the traditions on which the text is given.

"Reading between the lines" is the ability to uncover implicit messages and bias.