Reading techniques are as versatile and as numerous as the students
who use them. You will need to try a few different techniques and see which feels right to you.

Are you ready? Do have all necessary items? Have a pencil and note pad in reach? Have a well lit, private reading area to concentrate? Then selest a technique and practice it with reading of a few paragrahs at a time. Find what works for you!

Choose 3 areas to focus on: BEFORE reading DURING reading and AFTER reading.

Some standard reading techniques are listed here, but this list does
not exhaust the possibilities. In setting up techniques it is important
to separate reading into 3 steps; Before, During and After.

BEFORE Strategies

KWL (Know Want Learn) - Students organize their information about a topic using a three-column chart. K stands for Know, what do I already know about this topic? W stands for Will or Want What do I think I will learn about this
topic? What do I want to know about this topic? L stands for Learned. What have I learned about this
topic?

Reciprocal Reading - Students working in small groups of four are assigned a role before they read for that purpose: Predictor Questioner Clarifier Summarizer During the reading they take notes and then discuss the text from the point of view of their role. They then switch roles and repeat the process.

Scaffolded Reading Experience (SRE) - SRE uses teachers' questions as the basis for the pre-reading engagement of students with text.

Directed Reading Activity (DRA) - This process uses teachers' questions to activate prior knowledge, create interest, and establish the purpose for reading.

DURING Reading:

Story Grammar Mapping - Students create a story map and then refer to the map to answer student or teacher questions.

Questioning the Author - As students read, they develop questions for the author about the author's intent for the selection and his or her success at communicating it. One format uses these questions:

* Why is the author telling you that?
* Does the author say it clearly?
* How could the author have said things more clearly?
* What would you say instead?
Another modification of this approach is to have students rewrite a selected passage.

Learning Logs - Students record their questions about the text in a notebook, on a handout, or by using sticky notes. Students enter their reaction during reading and after reading a text.

Double Entry Journal - In the left-hand page or column, students ask questions. After reading, in the right-hand column, they answer the questions.

Guided Questions Guiding Questions are teacher-constructed questions that help students focus on essentials of the text to be read. For example:

* What might you do in a similar situation?
* Why do you think the character did it her way?
* What is the character feeling? How might this affect his actions?
* How does the setting help you understand the character's feelings?
* If you were telling this story, how might you end it? Why?
* How might this story be different if it happened in another time period?

Think-Aloud - The purpose of a think-aloud is to capture the student's thinking about the text during the reading process. The teacher selects a piece of text to model the strategy to the students. While
reading the text aloud, the teacher asks herself questions such as,

"Why did this character say that? Maybe if I keep reading I will find out."

Discussion Webs - A discussion web uses a graphic aid for teaching students to look at both sides of an issue before drawing a conclusion. Students are asked to respond to a yes-no thinking question individually, in pairs, with another set of pairs, and then with the whole class.

Self-Questioning Using the title of the text and the pictures, students generate questions. They ask questions before they start to read and then stop at different sections of the story to answer their questions and ask new ones.

Think-Pair-Share Students are given a question. They think about the answer individually, in pairs, and then in small groups to reach a consensus.

Literature Circles Students participate in open-ended discussions in small self-selected groups. Teachers guide students toward insights or interpretations particularly suited to the text.

Online Literature Circles Literature circles are created by using email from one classroom to another classroom.

After Reading:

Journal Writing On a regular basis, students record their questions, comments, reflections, and reactions in a journal.

Teacher Questions - The teacher leads large and small group discussions using various sample question guides.

Literature Circles - Students participate in open-ended discussions in small self-selected groups. Teachers guide students toward insights or interpretations particularly suited to the text.

Online Literature Circles Literature circles are created by using email from one classroom to another classroom.

Large Group Discussions - The teacher leads a class discussion with a set of prepared questions.

ORQ - Observe, Ruminate, Question - Students make an observation based on the reading, and then they ruminate or extend it. They end with a final question.

Impersonations - Students write in the role of a character and ask questions of another character using email.

Quick Write - Students write ideas, feelings, and questions after reading.

Questioning the Author- As students read, they develop questions for the author about the author's intent for the selection and his or her success at communicating it. One format uses these questions:

* Why is the author telling you that?
* Does the author say it clearly?
* How could the author have said things more clearly?
* What would you say instead?
* Another modification of this approach is to have students rewrite a selected passage.